SAUDI EXPATRIATES

Let’s begin with a scene. A tired expat, sitting in a modest flat somewhere in Cairo or Manchester, wraps up a long workday. Instead of opening a textbook, they open Netflix. Learning, you say? Really? Yes. This is where it begins. Casual, immersive, repetitive—and surprisingly effective. Language acquisition isn’t always about flashcards and grammar drills. Sometimes, it’s about turning subtitles on, putting headphones in, and letting the characters do the talking. Literally.

Netflix to learn a new language? Sounds like an excuse to binge-watch. And yes, maybe it is. But for expats surrounded by unfamiliar alphabets and accents, streaming content has become more than just entertainment. It’s a coping strategy. It’s exposure therapy. It's survival wrapped in high-definition storytelling.

According to a 2023 Statista report, over 76% of global Netflix users enable subtitles while watching shows—many for language purposes. For expats, this number climbs even higher, especially among non-native speakers trying to pick up English or Arabic in new environments.

And it makes sense. Language immersion without needing to leave your couch? Convenient. Non-threatening. Repeatable. No embarrassment, no quizzes. Just you, the screen, and contextual clues.

So what exactly are expats watching to sharpen their language skills?

English learners gravitate toward sitcoms like Friends, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, or The Crown for a mix of casual speech, cultural references, and (usually) clear diction. These shows offer rhythm, idioms, and repetition—perfect tools for language acquisition.

Meanwhile, Arabic learners lean into shows like Al Hayba, Paranormal, and even children’s cartoons like Simsim (the Arabic Sesame Street) for vocabulary, pronunciation, and dialect familiarity. Levantine dialect dominates in most popular Arabic-language Netflix productions, which can be both a plus and a limitation—useful for Syrian or Lebanese regions, less so in North Africa or the Gulf.

The only problem is that the content is limited by region. If you want to improve your language skills before arriving in the UK or US, Netflix simply won't give you access to educational content. But there is a solution - VPN for Netflix library access and the choice of TV series, shows, or movies will be complete. With Netflix VPN, you can switch between libraries of different countries.

Here’s where the magic happens. Subtitles. Closed captions. Literal lines of gold.

Expats use three core strategies:

L2 audio, L1 subtitles (watching in the target language, reading in their native tongue),

L2 audio, L2 subtitles (immersion, with reading reinforcement),

L1 audio, L2 subtitles (reading practice while understanding the content).

Each method has its uses. Beginners might start with the first. Intermediates inch into the second. Advanced learners live in the third. Mixing them up? Even better.

A study found that using subtitles in your target language while watching content increases vocabulary retention by up to 33% more than watching with no subtitles at all. And for visual learners, that percentage rises.

Is this passive learning? No. Not if you’re intentional.

Expats don’t just “watch.” Many pause, rewind, and rewatch episodes. They listen to pronunciation. They mimic intonation. They Google phrases they don’t understand. Some even keep a vocabulary notebook beside them. Ideally, they also use a VPN extension to ensure privacy and security. This is especially important when connecting to unsecured Wi-Fi networks in public places.

Take Hassan, a Tunisian expat in Toronto:

"I watched ‘Breaking Bad’ three times. First with Arabic subtitles. Then English. Then none. I now know every insult in American slang and how to ask someone to cook meth in three tenses—past, future, and hypothetical." That last part is hopefully a joke. But his method? It works.

A few extras make the Netflix-learning path smoother:

These aren’t just features—they’re lifelines for expats trying to learn between jobs, errands, or the loneliness of starting over in a foreign place.

Beyond words and grammar, Netflix offers cultural decoding. You don’t just learn how to say something—you learn when, why, and to whom. You learn etiquette, sarcasm, humor, shame, pride, formality. Try getting that from Duolingo.

Watching Omar or The Secret of the Nile teaches more than how to form a question. It shows how Arabic cultures build narratives, express emotions, confront family tension, or handle romance. Same with English dramas—watching Peaky Blinders isn’t just about accent training. It’s about absorbing post-WWI British cultural grit.

For expats trying to integrate, this is gold.

Let’s be honest. This method isn’t perfect. There are pitfalls.

And worst of all? “Just one more episode” syndrome. Productivity black hole. We’ve all been there.

Expats didn’t wait for traditional language schools to catch up. They adapted. They hacked Netflix into a learning machine—no tuition, no pressure, no teacher breathing down your neck.

They built vocabulary through sitcoms. Picked up pronunciation from crime dramas. Understood cultural nuance through foreign rom-coms. From Amman to Amsterdam, from Dubai to Dublin, the Netflix learner is real, and they’re rewriting how expats learn to speak like locals.

So yes, maybe it’s screen time. But it's also story time, subtitle time, and learning time.

And if someone tells you that learning a language with Netflix isn’t serious? Just nod, smile, and ask them—in perfect English or Arabic—to pass the remote.