(no subject)

[randomness]

I've often heard it said that people speak Russian better after they've drunk vodka. Does that mean that people speak Mandarin better after they've drunk báijiǔ (白酒)?

Comments

[rfrancis]

I just had the really goofy moment where I thought "Hey, once I get far enough in Japanese to read Kanji, maybe I can read some of the things Ness writes!"

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

Ah, but does one really speak it better, or does one just THINK so because one is drunk?

[dr-memory.livejournal.com]

I refuse point-blank to believe that any skillset would be improved by maotai. *shudder*

(missionista, who lived in China and worked in a position that required both exercising her then-scant Mandarin and occasionally drinking báijiǔ, is equally dubious.)

[jab2.livejournal.com]

imho, people speak foreign languages better while tipsy, in general....

[bloodstones.livejournal.com]

This is an empirical question that can only be answered by rigorous scientific study. I'm in.
Since I can't speak either russian or mandarin I will obviously have to serve as some sort of control. I can also recruit subjects and find undergrads to code the data for us. Maybe *this* is what I'll win and IgNobel for!

[a-dodecahedron.livejournal.com]

It worked for me. On báijiǔ, I got a lot more speaking practice in per hour. (That's one way of putting it, yeah.)