Drunk = able to speak other languages better

[water bottle]

So, I met some illegal immigrants from Mexico (yes, they've penetrated Canada now) while I was out last night and I was kinda surprised to find I could talk to them with very few problems (the occasional 'cómo se dice ...' granted, of course). I was surprised because I have very little experience speaking Spanish in the real world, but I was able to have a pretty good conversation for like 20 minutes. Now, it was a Friday night, so, of course, I had some liquor in me.

Does anyone else here find it's easier to converse in other languages when drunk? I suppose it has something to do with the decreased self-consciousness one gets when speaking another language... you know, it can be somewhat embarrassing at times when you just can't find the right word or if your grammar gets kinda fucked. When you're drunk, little mistakes seem to matter less and its more fun to really put some effort in to the accent. Yes, alcohol sure is great.

What do you guys think?

[Cephalotus]

I find it's easier to be more poetic and trivial when speaking other languages when drunk. My gf (and most of our friends for that matter) are Filipino, and normally they extend the courtesy of speaking English to me as I'm, well, less than fluent in Tagalog. But when I'm drunk I can happily ramble on in their language for half an hour or so about day to day things so much so that it surprises people.

Plus I'll agree, it's fun trying to do accents.

[AtrainV]

I'm in a similar situation as vaka here (my girlfriend and most of our mutual friends are filipino), and I'm always trying to speak in tagalog with them when we're drunk.

My guess, however, is that this phenomenon comes about as a result of either of these possibilities (or both!):

1. In your drunken state, you're not actually speaking as well as you think you are. You're probably just making a fool of yourself.

2. The alcohol lowers your inhibitions to the point that you're less wary to try and speak in a language that you know you can't speak that well (and normally wouldn't attempt).

This is just speculation, of course, and I would bet that there's some credible research out there on the topic.

[Revvy]

In poland I found when I was talking to people their English got better and mine got worse, as my Polish got better... Not sure if their Polish got worse though :/

[Mankonaut X]

A Colombian friend of mine told me that when he went out drinking with his English class buddies they'd all be much better at English drunk. I do remember him saying that there was one chick who got much worse though, and they all made fun of her for it. Fun times.

[water bottle]

1. In your drunken state, you're not actually speaking as well as you think you are. You're probably just making a fool of yourself

Certainly a possibility, but I doubt that was the case in the situation I wrote of in the OP. I wasn't that drunk. Lack of inhibition or just being in a relaxed state helps you communicate not just in other languages, but in general. But I do appreciate you putting the "you're probably just making a fool of yourself" possibility first :p.

[Dog]

1. In your drunken state, you're not actually speaking as well as you think you are. You're probably just making a fool of yourself.



I don't think people in static's situation (which is common, btw, static) have any illusions about the quality of their speech. It's more just the fact that they are communicating in the foreign language relatively fluently (albeit with tons of mistakes and limited knowledge).

And yeah, the answer is lack of inhibitions.

[SHARP]

Does anyone else here find it's easier to converse in other languages when drunk?

Apparently my English improves when I'm drunk, at least in speech...

Or so I've been told by people with English as their first language, usually they drop by my bar and bump into me, for some odd reason.:)

EDIT: Perhaps it has something to do "thinking too much about the correct wording when I'm sober, and just letting it flow when I'm not".

[Young Meth]

So, I met some illegal immigrants from Mexico (yes, they've penetrated Canada now) while I was out last night and I was kinda surprised to find I could talk to them with very few problems (the occasional 'cómo se dice ...' granted, of course). I was surprised because I have very little experience speaking Spanish in the real world, but I was able to have a pretty good conversation for like 20 minutes. Now, it was a Friday night, so, of course, I had some liquor in me.

Does anyone else here find it's easier to converse in other languages when drunk? I suppose it has something to do with the decreased self-consciousness one gets when speaking another language... you know, it can be somewhat embarrassing at times when you just can't find the right word or if your grammar gets kinda fucked. When you're drunk, little mistakes seem to matter less and its more fun to really put some effort in to the accent. Yes, alcohol sure is great.

What do you guys think?

Definitely

I can speak some Spanish but it's awkward and if they say anything not-so-common I'm confused. Went clubbing in Colombia and got hammered and I was spitting game and shit.

[Jerry]

I always want to talk in Irish when I'm drunk, but no one else understands so it's not as fun

[Mankonaut X]

I always want to talk in Irish when I'm drunk, but no one else understands so it's not as fun

I use that to my advantage, no one can tell if you really know the language so you can be whoever you wanna be. By day I'm a mild-mannered computer geek, by night, a mild-mannered computer geek.
I need some friends, man.

[NamelessNom4d]

lol... Last summer I got really drunk with these South Africans and while I wasn't speaking their language my accent slowly started to sound like theirs apparently, along with of course slurred speech. This makes sense to me though. I bet if I spent some time in France or with French people I could get re-accustomed to the language and if I got drunk with some Frenchies I could probably have a long conversation with them.

[Ambient]

Hmm I wonder if people on dilerients or dissacociatives have ever started speaking in tongues?

I for one am simply lingual [english], and at least in terms of articulacy I have been told that I am far more succinct and rational in a good o'l philosophical debate over a few joints.

This by my militant rationalist atheist freind who is generally relativly agitated by my "uninformed" thiestic imagination :)

[Mankonaut X]

Hmm I wonder if people on dilerients or dissacociatives have ever started speaking in tongues?

I for one am simply lingual [english], and at least in terms of articulacy I have been told that I am far more succinct and rational in a good o'l philosophical debate over a few joints.

This by my militant rationalist atheist freind who is generally relativly agitated by my "uninformed" thiestic imagination :)

I think he's "generally relatively agitated" by your tautology and your faggotry.

[Jerry]

I use that to my advantage, no one can tell if you really know the language so you can be whoever you wanna be. By day I'm a mild-mannered computer geek, by night, a mild-mannered computer geek.
I need some friends, man.

awwww :)

it'll come good man - start heading out a bit more n chat shit (ya rly) to random people. Tell them of how you just got back from fighting polar bears in the North Pole. Do with a serious face, and it's much more fun :D

[reggie_love]

Definitely not.

I downed a 40 and tried to see how good my Russian was while inebriated (since conversing with Russians while drunk is probably a valuable ability in Russia) and my accent became really bad all of a sudden.