Paul McDevitt
Dutch courage
IN VINO veritas, as the Romans would say, but the linguistic benefits of alcohol might include more than just a predisposition for blunt honesty. Researchers at Maastricht University in the Netherlands wanted to know if there was any truth in the belief that imbibing alcohol can also improve your second language skills.
Fifty native German speakers who had recently learned Dutch were given a “low dose” of alcohol or a placebo, and then took part in a standardised speaking test. Tipsy Germans were consistently rated as having better pronunciation skills than their sober counterparts.
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