Does Alcohol Actually Help You Speak A Foreign Language Better?

Here's a question that comes up quite a bit in the language learning community: what is the relationship between alcohol and language learning? Does a drink make you more fluent?

It's a really interesting question, and the answer isn't necessarily what you think it's going to be.

It depends very much on you and your relationship with the language, as well as the experience you have actually speaking it.

If you prefer listening to reading, hit play on the podcast version of this post below. Otherwise, here's what you'll discover in this article:

The Background To This Question

I once took a trip to the US and passed through LA. While I was there, I met up with some friends and we had a fantastic afternoon hanging out in the warm LA sunshine, drinking coffee and eating burgers. It was a great time talking about languages.

While I was there, I met Dave and Ana – a fantastic couple from LA. Dave's from LA originally, and Ana is from Ukraine. We talked a lot about languages, so you can imagine my surprise when I received a question from them recently.

Dave has been learning Ukrainian and Russian for a few years now with his wife, and Ana is learning Spanish and English. Their question was about something many language learners wonder about: alcohol and language learning.

Dave mentioned that he and Ana have met a lot of Ukrainians in the LA area recently, and as friends do when they get together, they have a few drinks.

He's noticed it's kind of a crapshoot with how well his language goes – sometimes it feels super fluent and great, and sometimes he's just slurring and forgetting words.

He wanted to know how I deal with drinking and speaking another language at the same time.

Why Relaxation Matters More Than You Think

One of the major factors here is going to sound silly, but it's actually more important than you realise: relaxing – which is what alcohol typically helps you do – is a huge plus for all kinds of things related to languages.

The problem that many language learners have is that we just think too much.

We're studying every day, and then we finally get an opportunity to speak. Our brain goes into overdrive and we think: “Okay, what's the correct grammar structure?” and this, that and the other.

The fact that we're thinking too much means we don't let ourselves just live. We don't let ourselves just use the language.

Let's remember what language is ultimately for: communication. When you're hanging out with native-speaking friends and you're drinking, the language doesn't matter anymore.

It really doesn't matter if you make mistakes, because the only reason you're using that language in the first place is to communicate with your friends.

Yes, you want to improve and you want to get better – I get that. But your native-speaking friends don't really care. The novelty of hearing you speaking their language only lasts the first couple of times they meet you.

After that, they just see you as a normal person, as a friend, as someone they want to build a relationship with. As long as you're at a good enough level where you can communicate, mistakes here or there or the quality of your language really doesn't matter.

What matters much more is whether you can join in with a joke, tell an interesting story, or ask interesting questions. That's the stuff that matters – actual human communication and socialising.

To the extent that alcohol helps you relax and just talk, it's fantastic because it gets us out of our heads.

The Jazz Improvisation Analogy

A great analogy for this is jazz improvisation.

I have a background in jazz, and it's a common adage that you study improvisation – you study harmony, chord progressions, the science of melody, rhythm – so that when you come to actually play, you forget about all the practice and can just improvise.

All the hard work is done in the practice room in preparation for the moment where you play. You improvise, you're just there to make music – not to demonstrate your skills, but just to make music, pure and simple.

With languages, it's the same. We should be studying hard in our own time. But when it comes to actually socialising and being with real people, you forget about all that stuff and just concentrate on communicating.

Yes, you may make mistakes. You may not know that grammar point yet. You may forget the odd word. But who cares?

Here's the thing: if you are spending regular time with people communicating, socialising and using the language, that is by far the biggest win. All of that exposure and time using the language brings so many more benefits long term.

The Hidden Benefits Of Regular Social Exposure

If you're out a few nights a week with native speakers, think about the amount of time you're going to spend listening to the language. Your reactions are going to speed up.

You're going to get better at responding to things. Your body language is going to start adapting and becoming more natural. All of these things are results of spending time with people.

People often ask me how to develop a good accent, and I always say it doesn't come through study – it comes from joining a community of people and spending time with them.

When you do that, you observe and you become more like them naturally. It's really the ideal situation because in many respects, you can kind of stop studying as much. You just spend time with the people.

The big caveat here is that you've got to be at a decent level in the first place. If you're still a beginner, you can't join in with group conversations – it's too hard.

You've got to get to at least an intermediate level before you can start doing that. Immersion is only useful once you can cope with it. Before you reach that level, immersion is often not a good study technique or strategy.

How Does Alcohol Affect Language Anxiety?

For many people – and let's not gloss over this – one of the biggest problems they have in using their language is nerves or social anxiety. We've all experienced this.

You want to go and speak to somebody, you want to practice your language, but you get really nervous before doing it. You clam up, freeze up, forget everything you've learned. They speak to you in fast language and you panic.

This is a completely normal reaction, but it's a reaction that comes from inside you. Whether it's voluntary or not (and I understand it's usually involuntary – that's the nature of nervousness), it comes from you.

Now, if when you drink alcohol you get less nervous and relax more, you have in one fell swoop annihilated the one thing that is actually preventing you from practising your languages in the first place.

In other words, if when you drink you don't get nervous, you talk more and you have longer conversations as a result, that's probably a net positive.

What The Research Says About Alcohol And Language Learning

I should probably caveat all this by saying drink responsibly. But I think alcohol does impact some of the aspects of language learning that people find really hard.

I've certainly found in most cases that when I go out and have some drinks, my language skills seem to improve.

It's probably because I relax more and I'm just more concerned with the message – more concerned with communicating with the person I'm talking to about real, normal, everyday things.

Interestingly, research backs this up. Studies have found that people who drank an alcoholic beverage were more fluent in a foreign language than those who drank water. The relaxation effect appears to be real and measurable.

Alcohol And Language Learning FAQ

Alcohol And Language Learning: Finding What Works For You

Ultimately, when it comes to alcohol and language learning, you've got to do what works well for you. If drinking makes you relax and you have more fun, then go with it – that's what matters, because the language learning will follow.

But if you find that you have a different reaction, that when you drink you become more concerned about your language or it has an adverse effect, then it's not a good thing for you.

It depends very much on the personal reaction that you have. If you're someone who enjoys a drink and enjoys chatting in foreign languages, lean into that.

The combination of relaxation, reduced anxiety and genuine social connection creates the perfect environment for natural language acquisition.

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.