{"id":1959,"date":"2026-01-05T17:16:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T17:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pk-pharmakommunikation.de\/?p=1959"},"modified":"2026-01-05T17:16:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T17:16:24","slug":"new-years-eve-sparkling-wine-and-foreign-languages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pk-pharmakommunikation.de\/en\/blog\/new-years-eve-sparkling-wine-and-foreign-languages\/","title":{"rendered":"New Year\u2019s Eve, spar\u00adk\u00adling wine and foreign languages"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Year\u2019s Eve, spar\u00adk\u00adling wine and foreign languages<\/b><\/p>\n

Were you hosting inter\u00adna\u00adtional guests at the turn of the year? If so, you may have noticed how many peop\u00adle\u2019s school English suddenly improves after the first or second glass of spar\u00adk\u00adling wine. People who would normally intern\u00adally correct every English sentence several times suddenly speak fluently, confi\u00addently and audibly more relaxed.<\/p>\n

What sounds like a party anec\u00addote is actually a well-docu\u00admented pheno\u00admenon \u2013 and in 2025, the topic even caught the atten\u00adtion of the Ig Nobel Prize Committee: The Ig Nobel Prize, which honours rese\u00adarch that \u2018first makes people laugh and then makes them think,\u2019 last year reco\u00adg\u00adnised a study on precisely this effect, inte\u00adres\u00adt\u00adingly in the \u2018Peace\u2019 cate\u00adgory . The Dutch study shows that acute alcohol consump\u00adtion can, under certain condi\u00adtions, improve the ability to speak a foreign language. Not just a feeling, not anec\u00addotal, but measurable.<\/p>\n

Unin\u00adhi\u00adbited by alcohol<\/b><\/p>\n

This is expli\u00adcitly not about more voca\u00adbu\u00adlary or better grammar. The study, published in the Journal of Psycho\u00adphar\u00adma\u00adco\u00adlogy in 2018, examined speech inhi\u00adbi\u00adtion. In other words, that inner control mecha\u00adnism that perma\u00adnently slows down many foreign language lear\u00adners because they check every sentence for mistakes in advance.<\/p>\n

After mode\u00adrate alcohol consump\u00adtion, Dutch test subjects spoke \u2013 from the outside perspec\u00adtive \u2013 more fluently and compre\u00adhen\u00adsibly in English in an expe\u00adri\u00adment, without conside\u00adring them\u00adselves to be better. It was not about conceit, but about effect.<\/p>\n

The reason: alcohol lowers inhi\u00adbi\u00adtions, dampens perfec\u00adtionism and suppresses the fear of making mistakes. Conver\u00adsa\u00adtion gains space \u2013 and the obli\u00adga\u00adtory \u2018Sorry for my bad English\u2019 that some people use simply disappears.<\/p>\n

However, be careful: what improves foreign language use does not apply to the native language. As another Dutch study shows, pronun\u00adcia\u00adtion dete\u00adrio\u00adrates measur\u00adably with incre\u00adasing blood alcohol content. Native language expres\u00adsion is usually not influenced by lingu\u00adi\u00adstic uncertainties.<\/p>\n

So if you happen to meet someone whose English clearly improves after a few drinks, it\u2019s not a New Year\u2019s miracle or any other kind of miracle. It\u2019s evidence-based.<\/p>\n

The 2025 IG Nobel Prize winners<\/a><\/p>\n

Renner F et al. Dutch courage? Effects of acute alcohol consump\u00adtion on self-ratings and observer ratings of foreign language skills. J Psycho\u00adphar\u00admacol. 2018<\/a><\/p>\n

Offrede TF et al. The Impact of Alcohol on L1 versus L2. Lang Speech. 2021<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Year\u2019s Eve, spar\u00adk\u00adling wine and foreign languages Were you hosting inter\u00adna\u00adtional guests at the turn of the year? If so, you may have noticed how many peop\u00adle\u2019s school English suddenly improves after the first or second glass of spar\u00adk\u00adling wine. People who would normally intern\u00adally correct every English sentence several times suddenly speak fluently, [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1957,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Year's Eve, sparkling wine and foreign languages • PK Pharmakommunikation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pk-pharmakommunikation.de\/en\/blog\/new-years-eve-sparkling-wine-and-foreign-languages\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Year's Eve, sparkling wine and foreign languages • PK Pharmakommunikation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New Year\u2019s Eve, spar\u00adk\u00adling wine and foreign languages Were you hosting inter\u00adna\u00adtional guests at the turn of the year? 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