Never watch Netflix with subtitles

The cognitive psychological insights into why we learn English better without subtitles

Picture a child, eyes glued to the TV screen, watching their favorite show. They understand maybe 30% of the words being spoken. Yet somehow, they know exactly what's happening—who's fighting with whom, who lied, who's upset and why. They never ask for subtitles. They don't need them.

This simple observation holds the key to language learning that most adults miss completely.

The most common mistake I see English learners make is watching Netflix using English subtitles, or even worse, subtitles in their own language. Of course, I'm using Netflix metaphorically here to refer to any platform on which we watch TV series, shows, and films, since Netflix was essentially the first of its kind.

I'm going to explain the cognitive psychological reasons why watching Netflix without subtitles is the best way to learn and become fluent in English, or any language for that matter. Watching TV shows in Polish without subtitles was how I went from speaking zero Polish to feeling at home speaking Polish in most situations.

If you absorb this knowledge and practice the advice exactly as described, I can assure you that within 3, 6, and 9 months, and beyond, you will see visible results and dramatic changes in your English.

Language is embodied:

why language is a product of the brains and bodies we have

When we switch on subtitles to watch a TV show, we also switch on the part of our brain that reads. This is mostly a conscious part of our brain, which attends to patterns of words (lexemes) and sentences (lexical structures) — what we call symbols. Symbols stand for and represent things. In written language, the symbols stand for the language that we speak. A word is a symbol, but a whole sentence is also a symbol, because it symbolizes a spoken expression.

But spoken language is not just written symbols. These merely encode the meanings a language conveys.

Language in its truest sense is something embodied and largely unconscious. This means that the languages we have are a product of the kind of bodies and brains that we have as humans. The language we speak wouldn't exist in the way it does without the bodies and brains that we have. This is what the past 50 years of cognitive science research has convincingly revealed, commonly referred to as the embodied cognition view of mind, meaning, and language.

Here's what this means practically: According to early cognitive science and the old faculty psychology view of the mind, it was thought that our brains had dedicated faculties — for example, a faculty for logic, reasoning, or language. Rather, what cognitive scientists discovered is that our language and reasoning abilities are structured on pre-existing areas of the brain: the motor cortex, auditory, visual, and spatial processing cortices.

The brain had already evolved areas to move us through space, engage with objects and our environment, and process perceptual stimuli such as sound, vision, and spatial dimensions. The brain did not suddenly evolve new areas for language and reasoning. What was pre-existing was adapted to our needs to communicate and reason. This discovery seems so logical and obvious now, but as with all great scientific discoveries, they seem obvious only in hindsight. Hindsight, as they say, is always 20:20.

Academically and culturally, the full implications of the embodied cognition view of language are still being absorbed. And it has deep implications for understanding the nature of language and language learning

Subtitles: handicapping the brain and body

So when we switch on subtitles on Netflix, we activate a more recently evolved ability in the brain — our ability to identify symbols, written language. But at the same time, we turn off, or at least block, a large part of our unconscious brain. This older, deeper brain processing includes visual, auditory, and spatial perception that detects movement, body kinetics, body language, facial and emotional expression, coupled with the tone, rhythm, and intonation of voice, and other vital contextual information.

Subtitles literally handicap our brain for processing and understanding spoken language.

To emphasize this point further, think about what happens when we communicate in a language. We create sounds using our vocal cords, the muscle structures in our throats and neck. When we talk, we engage facial muscles that form complex expressions conveying our underlying psycho-emotional state. The tone and rhythm of our voices is rich with information— whether we're being serious, ironic, humorous, angry, happy, resentful, and much more emotional content. Our body kinetics and body language reveal a great deal about our internal state, our relationship to others, and our underlying intentions. Layered into this are an array of contextual cues. In this way we can see just how language is embodied.

All this richness of information that we unconsciously pick up on and process is mostly lost when we have subtitles switched on. We can't watch the action and behavior on screen with our full attention and unconscious awareness when we're distracted by subtitles, no matter how good we think we are at multitasking.

This effect is worse when we have subtitles switched on in our own language. Then our brain is not only reading but contextualizing, referencing, and inferring in our first language. When subtitles are in English (the target language), while the effect is not as degenerative, subtitles still block our brain and body from fully immersing in the experience of watching.

Being immersed in watching: learning from kids

The best way to understand this phenomenon is to think of a very young child watching TV.

I ask this question to parents all the time: When your child is watching TV, how do they watch? I can bet they watch seated like a statue, eyes wide open and glued to the TV, almost not blinking, oblivious to the world around them. Parents without hesitation respond —that's exactly how they watch!

Then I ask: But do they understand 100% of the language being used? Parents invariably answer — for sure not!

Then I ask: But do their kids understand what's going on in the show, program, or film? And parents pause, but then quickly respond — yeah, actually they know pretty much exactly what's going on!

Here we have a fascinating insight.

It would appear that young children can understand only a fraction of the spoken language, while being able to understand pretty much everything going on.

Children glued to the TV

So what’s happening here?

A child instinctively and intuitively engages with all that is happening on TV — all the stimuli. The colors, sounds, shapes, actions, words, stories, whatever it is. Yet they haven't developed the capacity to process language completely. They still don't know complex terms, expressions, or more complex grammatical forms. Yet the child isn't interested in understanding 100% of the language, and they never ask for the subtitles to be switched on. Well, they couldn't even read them if they were!

What seems to be happening is that the child is instinctively able to watch the TV program and understand what is happening through watching and sensing. The child knows who is talking to whom and why, who did what to whom and why, who was fighting with whom and why, who lied or cheated, who helped someone or did something nice, and how they felt about all these things. This all happens instinctively for the child. This further confirms how language is embodied and mostly an unconscious process.

And of course, all the while the child is unconsciously picking up and assimilating precise words and expressions without really knowing they're even doing that.

This is no different for the adult brain, if we just give ourselves the chance to learn once more as naive, innocent children.

Watching Netflix as a child would

Here's the shift you need to make: First, accept that our adult expectation to understand 100% of "the written language" and "the spoken language" in a TV show is a ridiculous expectation. It is largely due to the fact that the adult ego is much more demanding than the child ego. Our adult ego is made uncomfortable watching something and not understanding all the "language."

However, if we put aside this expectation of our egos and just accept that we can watch something and understand more or less what is "happening" — who killed whom and why, who cheated whom and when, why someone is upset, and all the rest of it—then we will be allowing our brains to process all the information that tells us what is happening. And this is the information that makes up a language.

By beginning to watch shows as a child would, we open our minds to seeing body language and kinetics, facial expressions. We get good at detecting moods and emotions as they're written into facial expressions and behavior. We do all this unconsciously. And magically, as we allow ourselves to do this, behaviors, facial expressions, and moods marry contextually with actual spoken words, expressions, and idioms. We become much more likely to absorb new expressions and words, and more often consolidate words and expressions we have already heard but which are not yet in our working vocabulary.

Watching sitcoms: a little trick to make it all easier

One of the best tricks to begin watching Netflix without subtitles is to start with one of your favorite sitcoms. Why?

Sitcoms are easy watching. They are usually short 20 to 30 minute episodes. They are familiar, as often we have watched the sitcom before, but you could start with a new one. I recommend things like Seinfeld, Modern Family, Curb Your Enthusiasm, as they are my favorites, but I know sitcoms like Friends, The Office, The Big Bang Theory are widely loved. Once we have watched several episodes, the setting, the characters, their behavior, facial expressions, way of speaking, their way of joking — all become familiar to us, and it becomes easier and easier to understand the language that they use.

What's more, if you can understand comedy in English, I argue you can understand most things in English.

So once you've picked your sitcom, say Modern Family, sit back, turn the subtitles off, and just enjoy watching. But be prepared — you need to put away your phone and avoid distractions. You need to give your full attention, just as a child would. You need to watch everything closely, absorbing all the details of behavior, and you need to be motivated to understand what is happening.

Now, of course, there will be moments when you really don't understand something and you want to know what happened. This even happens to me in English! No matter how many times I rewind and listen, I can't catch what is said. It happened to me recently watching a famous scene in Game of Thrones, season 3, when Jaime Lannister is bathing for the first time after losing his fighting hand. He is talking to Brienne of Tarth who is in the same bath (yeah, it's a weird scene). And no matter how many times I listen, or how high the volume is, I can't catch what he says because he is mumbling and the audio is not great.

In such cases, pause, switch on subtitles in English, go back and try to understand what has been said. If you don't understand, then of course go to your own language, satisfy your curiosity, and then go back and continue watching without subtitles. You might need to do this a few times during a show depending on where your level of English is. You will find over time you will do this less and less, as you become more capable of following what is going on.

Some of you may be diligent enough to pause, put on subtitles in English, and make a note or screenshot of the English subtitles for later reference and revision. I did this back in the day watching a Polish TV drama comedy: Ranczo. It's still one of my favorite shows. There were no subtitles available in Polish, never mind in English, and I had to pause and transcribe what I heard and then check in the dictionary. It was a very time-consuming exercise, and I filled several notebooks this way, but it paid dividends. Now Ranczo is actually on Netflix, and when I watch it from time to time, I never watch with subtitles. I still certainly don't understand all the language, but I know what happens, I still learn when watching, and I enjoy it.

Your timeline to fluency

Here's what you can expect as you commit to this practice:

After 3 months: You'll notice you're picking up on context more easily. You understand the gist of conversations and can follow plot developments without feeling lost.

After 6 months: Words and phrases you've heard repeatedly start clicking into place. Your vocabulary expands naturally, and you'll catch yourself understanding jokes and wordplay.

After 9 months and beyond: You'll begin to experience fluency in comprehension when you push past a year and more. The language starts to feel natural, and you'll rarely feel the urge to reach for subtitles.

Final note

You will probably feel very frustrated when you begin.

Your hardest task will be simply mastering your frustration and the desire of your ego to simply switch on the subtitles and know what's happening. However, we need to exercise willpower in these moments, resist that urge, and push on. The more we practice resisting such temptations, the stronger our willpower becomes.

After all, we are what we practice.

Practice watching without subtitles until it becomes second nature, and you will unlock your secret ability to learn a language unconsciously.

And of course, you'll never watch Netflix with subtitles again.

Enjoy!