Researchers win Ig Nobel Prize after proving drunk Germans speak better Dutch
A team of scientists from Maastricht University has been awarded the Ig Nobel Peace Prize after showing that Germans speak better Dutch when they are drunk, proving that drinking alcohol can improve one’s ability to speak a foreign language.
Ig Nobel Prize awarded for language research in the Netherlands
Researchers from the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom received a 2025 Ig Nobel Prize for their study in Maastricht, which shows that alcohol truly can improve a person’s ability to speak a foreign language. They did this by testing the Dutch language skills of Germans after they had had a few drinks.
Scientists Fritz Renner, Inge Kersbergen, Matt Field, and Jessica Werthmann received the Peace Prize at the 35th annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. The prizes “honour achievements so surprising that they make people LAUGH, then THINK” and are given out to celebrate unusual and imaginative ideas, while sparking the public’s interest in science, medicine and technology.
One Ig Nobel Prize was awarded for a study that analysed the rate of growth of fingernails, while another was awarded for studying the flight ability of drunken bats.
Dutch courage helps Germans speak better Dutch
50 Germans in their 20s who had recently learned Dutch for their studies in Maastricht were invited to participate in the study. The scientists randomly gave half the participants water and the other half a mixed drink of vodka and bitter lemon, after which they were all asked to answer questions in Dutch.
Two native Dutch speakers, who didn’t know who had been given alcohol, rated the participants' Dutch language skills. The results showed that the German students who had consumed alcohol had better Dutch pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary than those who drank water. "I suspect the participants felt freer to pronounce everything a little more Dutch because of the alcohol," researcher Kersbergen told de Volkskrant.
However, they had only consumed the equivalent of a small beer. "They certainly weren't completely wasted. We certainly don't think that more alcohol leads to better Dutch pronunciation."