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Does drinking help you speak a foreign language?

| 136 comments | Category: learning languages, positive mentality

drinking

So here I am, a lad from Ireland (a country famous for its drink and its drinkers) in the Czech Republic (ditto).

The nightlife in Prague is great, but of course a lot of party-goers take advantage of the cheap beer! From the armies of 3-day tourists to the local 20-somethings, and of course to the expats. I have been lucky enough to be able to start socialising with some Czechs, although there have been some expats in the group too. None of them were English speakers, since I tend to avoid them (these were actually Portuguese, French etc. speakers).

I saw something interesting in how the other expats dealt with attempts to speak the language that I’d like to share and hear your thoughts on! They drank to have the confidence to be able to speak in Czech, as many other language learners that I’ve met do too. But before I get into that, I have a secret to confess!! Maybe I shouldn’t even be writing an article like this at all because…

I don’t drink!!

Nothing – zilch. No beer, no whisky, no vodka, no rum, no Irish coffee. I tasted beer once out of curiosity and found it revolting. I’d drink wine or champagne, but only when the social situation demands it, and never more than a single glass. No amount of peer pressure (and I’ve gotten lots!!) has ever convinced me to start drinking, and I honestly believe that the main reason that a lot of people start drinking is simply because of cultural norms and peer pressure; they can’t imagine going out to a pub or nightclub and not drink because everyone else is drinking! It would just be “weird”.

Rather than bore you with why I think it’s not healthy (including the famous glass of wine), why simply not drinking despite going out a lot has saved me heaps of money and thus helped me travel the world and have fun that I can remember the next day, and how much I adore not waking up with a hangover (I imagine it’s annoying; I wouldn’t know :P ), and the many many other reasons, I thought I’d give you my unique perspective on the common belief that drinking helps you speak a foreign language.

The illusion that beer creates

When people ask me why I don’t drink, instead of going down the path of a very boring conversation I don’t want to have (again) in a nightclub when I’d rather be dancing, I remind them of the Asterix comic strip; Asterix drinks a magic potion that gives him superhuman strength and he drinks it specifically when he needs to fight off the Romans or generally save the day. But Asterix’s sidekick Obelix fell into the cauldron full of the magic potion as a boy, and so he’s actually always strong and never needs to drink the potion.

This may just be a comic book, but the metaphor works for me; I’m Obelix! (Well, a little slimer!) I go out plenty, but I’ve never needed to drink to be able to enjoy myself. I’m always the first person to sing at karaokes and the first person on the dance floor, and I love talking to as many people as possible when I’m out. Based on this, and all of the many negative possibilities from drinking, you will have a hard time convincing me to try it; I just don’t see why I would need it.

And this is true for many people; there are plenty of very social people that could very easily be more relaxed and sociable if they just tried instead of waiting for beer’s permission to do so. Sorry for the big rant, but this is all leading up to the crucial point of people believing that they speak a foreign language better when they are drunk.

I honestly think it’s nothing more than an illusion. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, since I’m (obviously) purely speculating, but from my perspective getting drunk “helps” people speak a language for the following reasons and others similar to them:

  • They don’t actually speak it better, but think that they do.
  • They lose their inhibitions and feel more confident and less worried about making mistakes.
  • They stop thinking so much and just speak, without hesitating to search for the “right” word
  • They are usually shy, but suddenly become extrovert thanks to the alcohol

All of this can be done without drinking

Even if I’m completely wrong, and beer does actually help you speak a foreign language, it still has the big problem of it only being effective when you actually drink. You would then need to drink a lot and every day to be able to keep conversing; in that case you have much bigger problems in your life than just learning a language!!

Why should you wait for the small amount of hours a week that you are in a pub or knocking back some beers somewhere? Why not have all of these abilities all week long? :) Be Obelix!! Each of the points above and any others can easily be achieved when sober.

CONFIDENCE

Why do you need alcohol to achieve this?

In terms of language confidence, learning to ignore unhelpful negative criticism and remembering the compliments will make you feel that your level is quite high. I’m sure many people could tell me that my Czech is currently horrible, but I create situations where the results can only be positive such as acutally downplaying my level. I have found that starting by apologising for how bad my Czech is since I’ve only been learning it for 6 weeks (and apologising in pretty good Czech) almost always works as a method of fishing for compliments with someone telling me that it’s great how much I’ve learned in a short time and how they are amazed at how well I’m communicating.

Throwing in some slang words also helps as a break for them used to listening to the formal language from foreigners, and this almost always gets a good laugh or some form of a pat on the back. Getting compliments like this is a great external booster, and you should create situations where people will be positively reinforcing your progress.

I’ll admit that without this encouragement, I would find it very difficult to progress in a language. Otherwise, for general confidence go read self-help books or talk to your friends about it! If it is a psychological problem, then it has a psychological solution.

MISTAKES

If you make mistakes, who cares?!! The other expats I was with definitely know more Czech than I do (I kept asking them how to say particular words, or how a particular case declension was for some word and they knew), and yet for the early part of the night they would either speak English to the Czechs (even though English isn’t their native language), or simply not speak at all.

They waited until they had drunk enough so that they would be “ready” to speak. On the other hand, I was speaking non stop with an incredible amount of mistakes (I doubt I said a single sentence correctly all night), but I was communicating. I got to tell them about myself and learn about them, hear some jokes, make plans for the night etc.

Let me repeat that word; communicating.

This is what language is all about, not a list of grammar rules. If you wait until you don’t make any mistakes you will probably never speak, because you have to practise to iron out those mistakes. While I talked, they occasionally corrected my more serious mistakes and I learned a lot! When I’m ready, I’ll ask that they correct me more, but right now I’m focussing on communicating as best as I can.

My placebo of choice: Orange Juice!

It is definitely true that alcohol has a physical effect that can alter your state of mind, but at the end of the day it’s still a state of mind. Sometimes the alcohol may even just be acting as a placebo if you are naturally confident and extrovert.

What I do, is pick a nice healthy placebo! When I order my drink I look the barman in the eye and very seriously request his finest pint of OJ… on the rocks! I will very readily act silly, and talk about ridiculous things, maybe flirt a bit or get myself into some trouble and blame it all on the orange juice. If I’m dancing really badly then I can just use the excuse that I’ve had way too much OJ tonight! I have even been known to pour some OJ into shot glasses and knock it back and gasp a big Aaaah afterwards.

In fact, I’ve decided to add an option to this site for my readers to treat me to an orange juice! So if you’ve enjoyed any of my articles (not necessarily this one), or if my suggestions have helped you with your language learning progress, why not thank me by helping me have another one of my crazy nights out on the town? :P I’m not rich yet unfortunately, so an extra even tiny financial boost would always be appreciated :)

Am I mistaken in what I think about drinking and how you can achieve the same results sober? I have never tried getting drunk after all, so who am I to make such claims! Prove me wrong in the comments, or share your drunken language learning stories! Maybe someone can educate me about what I’m “actually” missing out on :) Of course, if you agree with me, I’d also love to hear that :D !

Cheers!

***********************

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Comments: If you liked this post or have anything to say, please leave a comment! I love reading them :) You don’t even have to write in English! I will reply to all comments in any language listed on the right with the flags.
Just keep in mind that I’ll delete any comments that:
1. Are unnecessarily nasty and mean to me or any other commenter or otherwise totally inappropriate.
2. Are irrelevant to the particular post they follow, or leave a link to a site that is totally irrelevant or are clearly spam. If you have a general language learning question, please ask it in the forums.
3. Use a commenter name of a business or brand instead of a human being or a spammy temporary disposable e-mail service, or a clearly fake address.
But that’s not you, so don’t worry! Can’t wait to see what you have to write… don’t be shy!! :)

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Tagged as: drinking, socialising

← Older Comments
  • Luciana

    Ei Benny!
    Como você vai ser carioca se não bebe uma cerva! Rsss
    Aproveita que nossas cervejas tem 0,0001 de alcool!
    Brincadeira menino eu tenho que concordar com você, é possível alcançar o estado mental próprio pra uma festa com um suco de laranja, afinal é mais uma dependência psicológica (nesse caso é claro). Mas eu acredito que é uma convenção social que muitas pessoas usam pra ‘conectar’ umas com as outras. É tipo um rito de passagem, sei lá. Tipo “eu confio na pessoa que eu fico bêbada junto” . No entanto eu já usei a bebida pra ter coragem de praticar meu inglês no início e depois de conquistar alguma confiança parei – não de beber é claro, mas de depender da bebida pra praticar uma lingua! Rss

    • http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/ Street-Smart Language Learning

      Eu aproveitei muito de suco de laranja no Brasil. Mesmo assim conectei com as outras que ficaram bêbado ao meu lado.

  • Luciana

    Ei Benny!
    Como você vai ser carioca se não bebe uma cerva! Rsss
    Aproveita que nossas cervejas tem 0,0001 de alcool!
    Brincadeira menino eu tenho que concordar com você, é possível alcançar o estado mental próprio pra uma festa com um suco de laranja, afinal é mais uma dependência psicológica (nesse caso é claro). Mas eu acredito que é uma convenção social que muitas pessoas usam pra ‘conectar’ umas com as outras. É tipo um rito de passagem, sei lá. Tipo “eu confio na pessoa que eu fico bêbada junto” . No entanto eu já usei a bebida pra ter coragem de praticar meu inglês no início e depois de conquistar alguma confiança parei – não de beber é claro, mas de depender da bebida pra praticar uma lingua! Rss

  • RayRay

    That's pretty cool that you do not drink! It *sometimes* seems impossible to not to, it's quite a cultural norm consuming the liquid-legal drug. I recall that even as I was growing up, alcohol was a frequent part of my family's gatherings.

    Although I want to share with you a unique situation in which something happened to me that has never happened before. I hadn't thought it plausible.

    My boyfriend is Russian. He speaks English fluently, although with a slight accent. He immigrated to Canada when he was just 17. His parents still reside in Russia and they sadly do not know very much English.

    In an attempt to communicate with them; I've purchased a self-teach Russian book and have been watching Russian cartoons in an attempt to perhaps learn some Russian. My attempts haven't been futile; I've learned about 50 different Russian words. I also attempt speaking with them and we do have long conversations – without either party comprehending.

    But one day, when I was entirely intoxiated, my boyfriend spoke with me in Russian. He claims that he had an entire conversation (with me understanding and responding) in Russian. This conversation is a “black-out” to me. I don't remember it at all. Now, I by NO MEANS push ANYBODY to drink to the point where they can't remember. I also don't recommend drinking everyday. I seldom drink. My boyfriend isn't a liar and has a pretty stable memory.

    Now, keep in mind that my story has nothing to really do with learning Russian. It's very possible that perhaps because I was intoxiated I wasn't conscience about my accent in Russian; and that I wasn't nervous about finding the proper words. It's also possible that I know more Russian than I thought I had. (Hey, I've been hanging around Russians for months and watching Russia media.)

    I just found it funny that it happened. XD

  • stacy

    hey man, basically what you're saying is that you're extroverted as fuck. And that's all great and dandy for you, but some people aren't that way, and they aren't gonna talk until they've had those few beers. And if that helps them, then it's great, and maybe they can learn to be more like you, and not need the booze, but the booze is a tool that they are using, and there's nothing wrong with that.
    Normally I enjoy your articles, but this one sounds like you're saying, “hey, look at me, I have an absurdly extroverted personality so I don't to drink to make as ass of myself”. It makes the rest of us who probably do need to drink to do be friendly like you are naturally feel shitty. Alcohol's a tool, and it's fun, but if you don't need that tool then you don't have to knock on people that do.
    Also, not gonna lie, it's pretty creepy when guys don't drink. You're putting yourself at an unfair advantage in terms of looking for that special someone for the night, and a sober guy can really easily take advantage of drunk girls/guys. If that's not you, I apologize.

  • Lan

    Wow, did you really read all this in his post? I didn't interpret it like this at all. The fact is that there really is something called peer pressure, and he's probably making a statement against it, in a way. I'm a non-drinker because, as an Asian, my metabolism doesn't help and I feel sick after just one beer. My social life would be so much better if I could actually hold my drink and just “blend in” with my friends who drink a lot. It's tough to explain that I don't drink, and being known as that person who doesn't drink and being made fun of, etc. etc. Anyway, regardless of my or anyone's reasons for not drinking, I have to say that it's pretty annoying that so many people just don't respect those who don't drink! My guess is that Benny just had his share in life of getting peer pressure to do something that he simply doesn't want to do, and that he wrote this post to show that maybe drinking is overrated sometimes… I think it was a very encouraging text for me, I felt great seeing that there are other people who don't drink (although for different reasons) and just don't care about what others think! I'd like to reach that level of confidence! Either that or just get the necessary enzymes to metabolize alcohol :D

    With that said (to stacy), from my own experience of drinking my half-beer, getting fully drunk and speaking a foreign language, what I can remember is that it does help you to speak more, but not necessarily better… those were my two cents. ;)

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com Benny the Irish polyglot

    Sober guys take advantage of drunk girls? That is ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. Drunk guys are by far more likely to take advantage and ABUSE girls. I don't know what cave you have been living in if you think otherwise.
    In my own case I've never brought a girl home drunk. How I chat up girls means that they haven't ever even had one drink if we go on to the next level. I don't use nightclubs and bars for this as I find drunk girls extremely un-sexy – the furthest I would go in that situation would be to ask for a number and try to get to know her when she isn't under the influence. It's sad that people can't think outside of the box if they are looking for a partner and think the only way in the world to meet them is where they are intoxicated. I'm amazed you've actually suggested that drunk guys are morally superior to sober guys.
    The rest of your response just shows pure laziness in not trying to be social until you have beer's permission and I've already responded to these typical answers in this post. The only reason I'm so extroverted is because I used to be very shy, but I decided to WORK on the problem, get over my fear to meet new people and learn to be social. The time this investment takes is longer than the 2 seconds it takes to drink a beer, so most people take the lazy route. I understand it, but alcohol is not a tool. It's a chemical product that damages your liver and your brain cells.
    When you say ridiculous things like drunk guys being more prince charming than sober guys you give me the very ammunition I need to “knock on those of us who do need a drink”. You're just inventing excuses at that stage and clinging at straws to prove me wrong.

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com Benny the Irish polyglot

    Thanks for your response Lan :)
    I'm glad you can see what I was talking about with peer pressure. My metabolism could handle drink but I choose not to. This decision gets on people's nerves a lot…
    My solution to avoid getting made fun of etc. is to avoid the issue altogether. I've worked really hard over the last years on the typical psychological issues we naturally have for being introvert and it means that when I'm out I am very relaxed and talk to everyone. Sadly they presume I'm drunk based on this (despite the fact that I'm very lucid), but luckily it means the “not-drinking” issue never comes up, since I never raise it.
    I find responses like Stacy's frustrating because it belittles all of the work and embarrassment I had to go through in the last years to get here and seem “naturally extroverted”. Like I have a magic power out of reach of mere mortals or something. I'm not saying that it's not hard work, but when you are willing to make that investment the lifelong benefits are amazing :)
    You're right that this post was inspired by the continued peer pressure I get when people discover that I don't drink. I am happy to have people tell me that I'm wrong, but after over a decade of socialising with drunk people I have yet to get a logical argument after they say that. Stacy's drunk-prince-charming claim is a funny example (and admittedly, the first time I've seen it), but people will invent any nonsensical argument to defend a way of life they've had for decades. I would be equally stubborn about not wanting to give up pizzas or chocolate for example.
    I won't force people not to drink, but on my blog people have to accept that I'm going to give you the cold hard facts of why I don't think you should ;) When I'm out, I generally avoid this discussion unless someone gets aggressive about it.

  • Stutz

    It's nice to hear about someone else who simply doesn't drink. I am like that, too: no, it's not for religious or moral reasons, I just find nothing particularly enjoyable about it. Some people seem to find being drunk on a par with sex for the amount of fun it is, and they're incredulous that you don't. I have allowed myself to bow to peer pressure and get drunk (or nearly so) on three occasions (I'm 29). It was only somewhat entertaining, and far, far less satisfying than having a great conversation with a group of friends — and conversation doesn't give you a headache in the morning. And like you, I find the taste of beer revolting. Most wine tastes as I imagine battery acid might taste, and gives me heartburn like I imagine drinking battery acid might. Likewise for hard alcohol. Needless to say, my drunk experiences relied heavily on sweet mixed cocktails.

    The thing you have going for you, unlike myself, is that you seem to be an extrovert: the first to sing karaoke or get on the dance floor, as you say. I'm a born introvert, find dancing tedious and awkward (especially in night clubs, which are generally obnoxious), am bored and uncomfortable in bars (the local pub isn't quite the center of the social scene here in the US as I'm told it is in the UK/Ireland), and am similarly bored and uncomfortable at parties. Lucky for me, at my age most of my friends are married with kids, and have grown out of the night clubs/bars/parties phase of life!

  • http://www.dreaming-in-italian.com/ ER

    “* They don’t actually speak it better, but think that they do.
    * They lose their inhibitions and feel more confident and less worried about making mistakes.
    * They stop thinking so much and just speak, without hesitating to search for the “right” word
    * They are usually shy, but suddenly become extrovert thanks to the alcohol”

    Wow, those all applied to me. I have always been introverted and sometimes find it difficult to be outgoing in social situations, and I would almost always use alcohol as a crutch. When I was drinking a lot in Italy, I distinctly remember feeling really good about my Italian-speaking abilities after a few drinks. It was like it would just roll off my tongue. Looking back on it now, it's pretty clear that I just didn't feel as inhibited or self-conscious as I would sober.

    Luckily, I've been sober for over 18 months now and like you said, Benny, I can now remember all of my traveling experiences. I felt awkward going out at first, but then I realized that no one really cares whether I'm drinking or not, and life is a lot better (and healthier) now. Now I just focus on mental ways to loosen up, and it's been working pretty well. Cheers,

    ER

  • http://www.facebook.com/alysia.raine Alysia Christina Raine

    Hey Benny,

    I totally know what you mean. I love hanging with my friends at the bar while they're drunk and I'm sober. I used to be a heavy drinker back when i was studying at university, but since then I've developed an allergic reaction to alcohol, so now I can't have any, which is definitely fine with me. I feel a lot healthier these days and I've saved so much money!

  • Dddddddddddd

    Hi Benny,

    I'm portuguese and also don't drink. Ever…

    When I'm asked why, it always turns to a boring conversation. Like if I'm preaching my moral superiorty or something.

    As an Astérix fan, I had the chance to use your Obélix story and I got a laugh from a pretty blonde girl :)

    Hope you don't mind but I'll always use from now on.

    Grande abraço de Portugal,
    D

  • Dasha

    Benny, I know that you've posted this article days y days ago :) but I've just found the post from the russian blog, where they tell about drinking and learning languages. actually, it's the translation of your post into russian.
    if you didn't see it yet, i leave you the link
    http://lingvomania.info/2010/poliglotu-etanol.html

    saludos!

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

    Hi Dasha!
    Thanks for your comment – I ran that article through google translate (since I don't speak Russian yet), and it's actually not the translation of my post. It's an interesting agreement with what I said, written entirely by the author, so I'm happy to see it! Thanks for letting me know ;)

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

    That's great! Hope the Astérix story helps you and makes it more interesting :D

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

    Yeah it's great – I'm all about going out and dancing, but there's no need for all of us to be drinking ;)

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

    Thanks for sharing your story! It's great to see how you are doing fine without alcohol ;) We have all of this social potential within us without needing the crutch of alcohol! :)

  • Abby

    I know this is really late, but I appreciate what you've said here. I agree that alcohol is unnecessary for a good time. In high school, I played in a marching band, and we went to all of the high school (American) football to play a half-time show. If our team was up, we were all in a great mood, cheering and screaming, no booze required. Even me, a known introvert and least likely to “go crazy.”
    I don't mind occasionally drinking, but I wouldn't do it just to release my inhibitions. I like your OJ idea, though. Might give it a try sometime.

  • j_a3

    Hello Mr. Lewis,

    Though I admire your post's premise, namely, that one need not drink to speak, I find that my German becomes much more fluid over a single Hefeweisen, than without one–one beer would surely rule out the “I really speak like crap, but I think I speak well” effect. I learned my german mostly while speaking with natives in Germany, always with hefeweisen-in-hand.

    I am vaguely familiar with research suggesting that knowledge is blood-alcohol specific, some going so far as to suggest that one should keep learning conditions the same as testing conditions. For example, for those who smoke while studying, smoking before a test would be advantageous.

    Therefore I am curious to see if you incorporate or notice some specific things that aid your language fluidity that are reminiscent of the time you originally learned it.

    • http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/ Street-Smart Language Learning

      Interesting thought. Smell is known to work that way, so I wonder if there’s a connection.

  • Matt

    It's funny, but in all of this, nobody seems to have made the point I'd like to make: I drink beer (and wine and occasionally other things) because I like it. I'm not going to claim it makes me any better at any languages though… nor do I insist that you like it.

  • Emĉjo

    Sal kara,

    Pretty interesting actually, I realized reading the post that I actually always behave like I'm drunk when speaking some other languages, like czech (wich I can , a bit) or polish (wich I almost can't), mixing slang wiht politeness, speaking to unknown people, and so on.
    Thus, I believe alcohol does change something, and is able to change the state of mind for a day and get consciousness of all this shy-beeing / mistake-fear matter of fact, this consciousness may stay on a longer time.

    Fakte mi iom surpriziĝas ankaŭ ke nun vi igis vian aferon komercaĵo kaj volas vendi iun metodon por lerni lingvojn. Nu, mi kredas ke iuj homoj ja bezonas konsilojn, ĉu ne? Ne ĉiu lernis aŭ volas lerni E-on.
    Ĝenerale mi volas diri al vi, mmh, certe mi ĵaluzas pri via scipovo de tiom da lingvoj, kaj samtempe, nu, iel vi hezitas franclingve, kaj eĉ esperante ofte erarumas. Do mi volas diri al vi ke oni bezonas pli ol 3 monatojn.
    Mi mem post unu monato en Ĉeĥio povis babileti (mi lernis ĉeĥan proks. samrapide kiel vi, mi kredas), mi samopinias ke la komenco rapidas, nu, sed post unu jaro kaj duono en Germanio mi daŭre lernas kaj lernas novajn vortojn. Kaj mi nur post tuta jaro estis “flua”, sed eĉ nun mi ne konsideras min flua, kvankam mi parolas kun mi mem preskaŭ nur germane. Do, mmh… Sed mi kredas ke plejparte mi ĵaluzas vian sukceson. Sufiĉe malmature.
    Mach mit Sprachen weiter, irgendwann reden wir deutsch miteinander.

    See you,

    Emĉjo (Cassandra)

  • Nic

    Ha, it reminds me how I forced you to just “taste” the spritz in Italy… :D

    Nic

  • Rom

    Hey Benny,
    I’m very interested in starting to learn your guide to languages, but I was curious if you had Russian available??
    Sposibo,
    Rob

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the language hacker

      The Russian translation is almost ready and will be added (as a free update) in a few weeks ;) The price will be raised then though for new purchasers.

  • http://twitter.com/JakePendragon Diego T. Guimarães

    É, cara… Sou muçulmano, então simplesmente não possso beber… Então o negócio é café forte e puro (sem açúcar) ou limonada suiça (sem açúcar também)… Isso que é bom… Mas suco de laranja não é má pedida também… :D

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

      Viu? ;) Eu gosto da vitimina C pra festejar :D

  • http://twitter.com/Catrino Alejandro Cabrera

    Que tal, soy Alex de Puebla, México.
    Tienes mucha razón sobre como las personas empiezan a hablar en otro idioma cuando estas “hasta atras”, hoy y por pura casualidad empece a ver tu trabajo y tu filosofia sobre el aprender idiomas, y en verdad es inspirador, desde la escuela estuve estudiando ingles y puedo decir que domino la lectura y la comprensión pero me cuesta hablar con otros, sobre todo por ese “miedo” a equivocarme. Espero que con tus consejos pueda en poco tiempo dominar de una vez por todas mi ingles y comenzar con otro idioma.

    Muchas Gracias. Saludos.

    • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

      Mucha suerte Alex!

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

    Ha! That’s a funny ultimatum :D I’ll have to remember it :P

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

    There are a lot of people who don’t drink! They just aren’t very voicy because the drunkards get all the attention ;)
    Keep up the good work!

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

    Queroooo :)

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

    Queroooo :)

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

    Queroooo :)

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

    Queroooo :)

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

    It’s just insecurity. The best way around it is to not bring any attention to it. I go out and have fun and have *something* in my hand. Even a Coke or OJ makes them feel better – they usually start ranting and raving only if my hands are empty. It depends on the culture though. Many don’t dare annoy you if you simply say you don’t drink.

  • http://www.streetsmartlanguagelearning.com/ Street-Smart Language Learning

    No one notices whether you’re drinking or not when they can’t peel you away from the dance floor.

  • http://delw.in/ Delwin Campbell

    Delightful post. I don’t drink as well — which, as you can imagine, is difficult for a college student! — and it’s nice to see there are others out there. My drink of choice is ginger beer, which combines the burning sensation of ginger with the sugar and carbonation mouthfeel of a soft drink. It’s too strong for most of my friends, and sadly, it’s rare to find (the more mild ginger ALE can be found, but once you’ve had ginger beer, there is no compromise), but I can’t get enough of it.

    I also love all kinds of juices — orange, cranberry, apple, carrot, lime, lemonade, even this weird mix of kale/carrots/apples/tomatoes/spinach that seems to be popular — especially mixed in with a little seltzer. I loved your story about OJ at the bar, that’s hilarious.

    It’s hopeless to convince others why drinking is not necessary though. Time and time again I’ve seen college students get “drunk” on two or three cans of a cheap light beer (that no doubt tastes like shit!). I get as happily drunk as they do on green tea. It’s a kind of pathetic thing to see, people relying on alcohol to make a party happen, people thinking that there cannot be fun without beer. But what can you do?

    Anyway, great as always to hear your stories! :)

  • http://delw.in/ Delwin Campbell

    Delightful post. I don’t drink as well — which, as you can imagine, is difficult for a college student! — and it’s nice to see there are others out there. My drink of choice is ginger beer, which combines the burning sensation of ginger with the sugar and carbonation mouthfeel of a soft drink. It’s too strong for most of my friends, and sadly, it’s rare to find (the more mild ginger ALE can be found, but once you’ve had ginger beer, there is no compromise), but I can’t get enough of it.

    I also love all kinds of juices — orange, cranberry, apple, carrot, lime, lemonade, even this weird mix of kale/carrots/apples/tomatoes/spinach that seems to be popular — especially mixed in with a little seltzer. I loved your story about OJ at the bar, that’s hilarious.

    It’s hopeless to convince others why drinking is not necessary though. Time and time again I’ve seen college students get “drunk” on two or three cans of a cheap light beer (that no doubt tastes like shit!). I get as happily drunk as they do on green tea. It’s a kind of pathetic thing to see, people relying on alcohol to make a party happen, people thinking that there cannot be fun without beer. But what can you do?

    Anyway, great as always to hear your stories! :)

  • Will Cheatham

    It’s a consensus among health experts now that drinking 1 drink a day for  women or 2 drinks a day for men is actually healthier than not drinking; it decreases the risk of many health problems later in life, including, paradoxically, dementia. And ‘drink’ means any alcoholic drink, not just red wine; the alcohol is a good thing in small amounts.

  • http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

    You’ve been a bit hypocritical in this post, saying that I’m “so intent on convincing others”, and then expressing how I’m not curious enough or worldly enough and should really have given in my now at least just once.

    Otherwise thanks for the comment.

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