My British kids watched Mandarin Netflix shows for 31 days – here’s what happened
- Ka Yee Meck
- 2 hours ago
- 7 min read
Is Netflix a cheat code for language learning?
If you’re raising bilingual or trilingual kids, you’ve probably wondered whether streaming platforms could magically boost fluency.
And if you’re a language learner yourself, you might be asking the same thing – can binge-watching actually help?
As a UK-based mum raising two trilingual kids with my Russian husband – and a self-confessed Netflix sceptic – I finally caved in and ran a 31-day experiment.
The results genuinely surprised me.
In this post, I’ll share:
What actually happened after 31 days of Mandarin Netflix
Four surprising benefits
The huge caveat most people ignore
Three practical tips to make it work for kids and adult learners
Let’s dive in.
The background – why we even tried Netflix
Confession time.
I’m old-school when it comes to learning. Give me pen and paper, books, reading, writing – basically anything that doesn’t involve a screen!
Until January this year, we didn’t even have Netflix. We were secretly proud of being “that family” without it.
But at the end of 2025, we cancelled our UK TV licence and decided to experiment. I’d heard you could change audio settings on Netflix to Mandarin and Russian. As a trilingual family, that definitely caught our attention.
The kids were mega excited – all their friends already had it. But we gave them one condition:
If we get Netflix, you must watch something in Mandarin... At least sometimes!
And just like that, “Mandarin Monday” was born.
Except it quickly became Mandarin every day.
Since 1 January, they’ve watched 10–20 minutes of Netflix in Mandarin daily.
My expectations were loooooow.
But what we observed over 31 days wasn’t what I expected!
What actually happened – 4 surprising benefits
1. Increased language exposure
The first benefit was simple but powerful – effortless extra exposure.
In our family, we use One Parent One Language. I speak exclusively Mandarin to the kids. My husband speaks exclusively Russian. They’re 9 and 7 and attend school full time in English.
On a typical day, they get roughly 5–6 hours of Mandarin exposure from me. That’s a rough estimate – obviously we’re not having non-stop conversations for five hours straight.
Now add 20 minutes of Netflix.
That’s roughly a 5.5% increase in daily Mandarin exposure.
Over a week, that’s 140 extra minutes in an English-dominant country like the UK.
That’s a win.
One hilarious moment really drove this home. My son was watching Brain Child in Mandarin and I overheard him mumbling answers in Mandarin to the presenter.
He then turned to his sister and said in English, “This show is making me speak Chinese!”
I never hear him talk to himself in Mandarin. That alone was a hugely memorable LOL moment!
2. Boosted motivation and willingness
This one surprised me the most.
The kids LOVE the Mandarin shows they've discovered on YouTube, including:
Izzy’s Koala World
Brain Child
Oddballs
Let’s be honest – some of these are not educational in content (Oddballs, I'm looking at you 🤣). But the dubbing is in Mandarin so... yep, that makes it educational!!
And here’s the key shift:
The kids are like: “Okay, fine – it’s in Mandarin. But I still want to watch it (because it's so fun!).”
That change in attitude is huge.
Motivation is one of the biggest long-term challenges in bilingual parenting. This is a marathon – we’ve been at this for nine years and the struggle never completely disappears.
Check out a previous blog post and video where I share my experience with this aspect of multilingual parenting!
If Netflix increases enthusiasm and willingness, that’s a massive win.
And this applies to adult learners too. When content is genuinely interesting, you tolerate the language barrier far more willingly. For example, I went through a period when I really wanted to learn Russian. A YouTube channel called Russian with Max made such interesting videos that I genuinely wanted to watch them despite having to "work hard"!
3. Native-speaker input and natural speed
Another often overlooked benefit: variety.
At home, our kids mainly speak Mandarin with me and occasionally with my mum.
Although the input is consistent, it's also very limited!
Netflix exposes them to:
Different voices
Different accents
Natural speed
Conversational rhythm
That’s something I simply cannot replicate alone (my husband does not speak Chinese, despite what he 'claims' 😅).
For language learners, this is especially valuable.
Real-world listening rarely sounds like textbook audio. Exposure to natural pace builds listening stamina and prepares you for real interactions.
We haven't had the chance to visit China with the kids yet but I do hope that by exposing them to more varied types of Mandarin speech, they won't find it too much of a shock when encountering Mandarin speakers other than mama and waipo!
4. Vocabulary growth (with real examples)
This maybe wasn't toooo surprising but it was still really nice to see: I've noticed concrete vocabulary gains.
For example:
My son picked up words like:
社交媒体 – social media
My daughter picked up words like:
救援 – rescue
These are words we wouldn’t typically sit down and “teach” or use in our daily conversations.
Context from the shows makes vocabulary stick.
But here’s something crucial.
It was essential that I was occasionally there to explain unfamiliar words.
Otherwise, many would have gone straight over their heads.
Also – small warning – Netflix subtitles often don’t match the dubbing. The dubbing quality is usually better. My guess? Some subtitles are machine translated (as a professional translator, I think I can recognise MT when I see it...).
Still, in terms of vocabulary expansion, this was another clear WIN.
The huge caveat most people ignore
Now we need to address the dangerous assumption.
Netflix cannot teach a language from scratch.
My kids already understand and speak Mandarin. That’s why it worked as a supplement.
This is strongly supported by research.
Linguist Stephen Krashen talks about comprehensible input – learners acquire language when the input is:
Understandable
Meaningful
Connected to what they already know
Background noise does not equal acquisition.
Researchers like Catherine Snow and Patricia Kuhl have shown that social interaction plays a crucial role in language development. In one well-known study, children exposed to a foreign language through live interaction made progress. Those exposed only through video or audio made little to no progress.
That tells us something powerful.
Language learning isn’t just exposure.
It’s connection. Attention. Interaction.
Babies don’t become bilingual just because the TV is on.
And this ties in with something I recently heard from Mike the Polyglot, who bluntly points out how ineffective purely passive listening can be... Let's hear it from the man himself:
Brutal but... true.
Netflix is not a cheat code.
It’s a tool.
Used strategically, it can boost exposure and motivation. Used lazily, it does very little.
How to use Netflix properly – 3 practical tips
1. Change the language settings intentionally
Don’t just rely on what Netflix defaults to.
Go into:
Audio settings
Subtitle settings
Turn subtitles on or off strategically
(For a highly UN-professional tutorial, check out my YouTube video where my son demonstrates how to do this 😅)
For beginners, subtitles in your native language can help. For more advanced learners, target-language subtitles may reinforce vocabulary – but beware of mismatches between dubbing and subtitles.
2. Try “active co-watching”
I like to call this "active co-watching".
No, I don’t sit there every time they watch. Sometimes I absolutely need those 15 minutes to myself – I'm sure you do, too!!!
But when I can, even five minutes makes a difference.
You can:
Pause and explain a word
Ask simple questions
React emotionally together
Summarise what just happened
"Active co-watching" turns passive input into meaningful interaction.
Even five minutes of engagement can do more than 20 minutes of passive watching.
This applies to adult learners too. Pause. Shadow. Repeat. React. Don’t just stare at the screen with a bowl of popcorn!
3. Treat Netflix as a supplement – not the teacher
Whether you’re:
Raising a child bilingually
Learning a second language yourself
Teaching it formally
Netflix should support what you’re already doing.
It cannot replace:
Conversation
Speaking practice
Reading
Writing
Intentional study
Think of it as nutritional supplements, like vitamins etc. Your core DIET is the FOUNDATION of your/ your child's language fluency, and nutritional supplements are simply meant to give you a boost!
So… is Netflix a cheat code?
But used intentionally, it can:
Increase exposure
Expand vocabulary
Boost motivation
Improve listening to natural speech
For our trilingual family, it became a surprisingly useful addition to our routine.
Next, we might experiment with Russian (Masha and the Bear, maybe...????)
And if your child understands the target language but refuses to speak it? That’s a completely different challenge – and one I’ve personally navigated for years.
Final thoughts for language learners
If you’re not a parent but learning a language yourself, here’s the key takeaway:
Netflix won’t make you fluent.
But if you already have a foundation, and you combine it with:
Interaction
Speaking
Active engagement
It can absolutely accelerate your progress.
Just don’t mistake entertainment for immersion.
Use it INTENTIONALLY!
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