Survey: More than half of Americans struggle with confidence when speaking a second language, unless alcohol is involved

MIAMI, April 27, 2023 (Newswire.com) - With Cinco de Mayo celebrations just around the corner, Lingoda, one of the top global online language schools, revealed in a new study alcohol's effect on language confidence. In a nationally representative poll of 2,000 U.S. adults, more than half (58%) of participants responded they struggle with confidence when trying to speak another language. 

Even more (60%) reported feeling more confident speaking another language after having a few alcoholic drinks. 

Issues with confidence are also more frequent among younger Americans, the Lingoda survey found. Nearly three-quarters (71%) of participants aged 21 to 24 and 74% of those aged 25 to 35 reported struggling with confidence when speaking a foreign language.

Among the participants in the younger age groups, a greater percentage also reported feeling the confidence-boosting effect of alcohol. More than three-quarters (79%) of respondents aged 21 to 24 and 69% of respondents aged 25-34 said they felt more confident speaking another language after a few alcoholic drinks.

"The results of our recent survey reflect directly how many of us feel at some point in our language learning journey," says Philippa Wentzel, Lingoda's Curriculum Team Lead. "We've all had this feeling before when we might not be confident enough yet to speak in the new language that we are learning. And often we just start speaking without feeling embarrassed or self-conscious after we have had a few alcoholic drinks," she says. 

"But there are definitely ways to learn how to speak another language with confidence that do not involve alcohol. At Lingoda, we believe in a communicative approach to language learning: mastering a language means being able to speak it with confidence. Our language lessons also focus on real-life language and cultural context and are centered around human interaction and maximum conversation time. This way, you'll have the opportunity to practice speaking in every lesson with language-learning peers on the same level as you. We know that language learning takes time and commitment and you need good teachers to help guide you," says Wentzel. 

An overview of Lingoda's language classes and access to a free trial can be found here. 

ABOUT LINGODA

Lingoda is one of the top online language schools. Founded in Berlin, Germany in 2013, we provide convenient and accessible online language courses in German, English, Business English, French and Spanish to over 100,000 students worldwide. With almost 550,000 classes available per year and accessible 24/7, our mission is to build bridges around the world through language learning. 

Visit Lingoda.com to learn more.

Source: Lingoda