Being bilingual is sexier than having a six pack, new study finds

What do you look for in a partner? Someone who is intelligent and can speak more than one language? Or someone who is motivated by health and has a six pack?

A recent study by EliteSingles and Babbel has found that 96 percent of Britons find bilingual people more attractive than those with a six-pack.

Obviously a good body is preferable in a partner but intelligence is key (Photo by: Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

The study looked at 6000 UK singles of varying sexualities who were asked if they would prefer to date someone who was bilingual or with a six-pack.

Lucky for anyone who can speak more than their mother tongue because across the UK 96 percent of respondents would rather date someone who speaks more than one language. This figure falls slightly to 93 percent for gay and bisexual women but rises to 99 percent for gay and bisexual men.

Of course, not just learning any language will do. The sexiest language was found to be Italian with 64 percent of people agreeing that this was the sexiest, closely followed by French at 62 percent. It seems like Britons just love the European tongue.

Learning a new language can be very difficult but if it’s more likely to get you a date than why not? (Photo by Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images)

If you are a gay Irish man then you are set to be lucky in love as 80 percent of gay and bisexual men agreed that this was the sexiest accent. But if you’re Australian or Russian you’re still in with a chance as 40 percent of people said that they were the sexiest.

The study was conducted by dating site EliteSingles and language app Babbel. The studies aim was to see what people valued more in a life partner, intelligence or physical appearance.

While 46 percent of straight UK’s are materialistic and value appearance over personality Babel spokesperson Matt Horsburgh said: “From our partnership with EliteSingles, we saw that personality is even more important than looks amongst the LGBTQ+ population in the UK. Eighty-six percent of gay/bisexual men and 71 percent of gay/bisexual women chose personality as the number one characteristic in a partner, compared to the national average of 54 percent.”

54% of the people who were studied said that they could speak another language however it was unconfirmed how many of them had a six pack (Photo by Joseph Branston/Future Publishing via Getty Images)


Not only are the LGBTQ community concerned more with a personal rather than physical connection with an individual, they are also more likely to have dated someone whose first language is not English. The study found that 80 percent of gay men had dated another individual with a different mother tongue compared to only 59 percent of people across Britain.

The stereotype of the image-obsessed LGBTQ community has well and truly been slaughtered with this study, which was also carried out in 11 other countries. Elitesingles spokesperson Michael Middleton, who also identifies as a gay man, said: “In attractiveness stakes, language learning wins out against 6-packs, so I know how I’ll be spending my 2018! Is there still time to cancel my gym membership?”

Mandarin is the widest spoken language in the world but maybe try tackling something closer to the English language first (Photo by Simona Granati – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

Across the UK members of the LGBTQ community can throw away their gym memberships and pick up a foreign language dictionary if they want to get themselves a date.

Learning has very much been confirmed as the new sexy.