This article is in partnership with Day Translations.

The simple answer to the question “Can you learn a new language by watching TV shows?” is: not quite.

Here’s the longform answer.

Watching TV programmes in another language provides a passive way of absorbing information but it will not equip you with all the knowledge you need to speak and comprehend another language fluently.

Watching content in another language can complement your existing learning programme, which can include memorising grammar, practising speaking in the chosen language and reading in another language.

The Peppa Pig Phenomenon

A few years ago, major news outlets reported that American children were picking up a British English accent after watching Peppa Pig cartoons on a regular basis.

For example, The Guardian first quoted from a study by Parrot Analytics which discovered a spike in consumption of the British cartoon, then sharing that American parents of pre-school children were noticing aan difference in the way the kids were pronouncing some words, preferring the British version.

This phenomenon was branded the “Peppa effect” but it was mostly based on anecdotal evidence from social media videos, which has been since debunked (“telling porkies”, as The Guardian cleverly put it). In fact, those videos simply showed that children were parroting what the characters were saying, just like adults do when they quote lines from their favourite TV shows like The Office, for example.

Probably the fact that all the American parents sharing their own experiences with their children picking up a British accent can be categorised as confirmation bias.

Linguists have been analysing the way that little children learn and it’s a combination of different factors, with mimicking words, expressions and accents being just one element. In essence, the reports saying that American toddlers were speaking with a British accent was sensationalised for added impact, but in reality small children grow out of a mimicking phase when exposed to different types of sounds.

Interactions with other people are more powerful than the passive act of watching TV shows and repeating individual words or expressions.

The Cocomelo Conundrum

Another show, another media frenzy about learning languages by watching TV.

The Guardian, again, spotted a trend about languages and watching TV, looking at programmes such as Cocomelo to learn Danish and Drag Race España to learn Spanish.

This time around it wasn’t only children that potentially could pick up a new language or at least some words, but also adults. However, this is another case of anecdotal evidence, with Guardian readers writing in to share about their experiences.

Cocomelon is a programme for Danish children and one of the readers watched it to gain some basic Danish vocabulary, then increasing the language learning difficulty with movies and TV series in Danish.

Probably the best anecdote was from an English reader who had previously learned Estonian and, thanks to watching Estonian comedy shows on TV and online, managed to not only improve his pronunciation but even replicate the mannerisms of one of the most famous Estonian comedians.

Acquiring Language Skills Requires Both Active and Passive Learning

CNN summarised language learning as the combination of both active and passive learning: while watching TV shows has helped countless individuals to acquire a new language, you still require studying the language to become proficient instead of simply knowing a few memorised words and phrases.

Watching the same episode from a series in a different language after watching it in your native language can speed up the learning process. It seems that subtitles also play a huge part in word acquisition. Subtitles are great learning aids as they allow you to look up new words and find out the spelling of words you are unfamiliar with. Repetition also is key: watching the same content over and over again solidifies your learning.

The Conversation extolled the virtues of not just watching TV series and films but really listening to different inflections and dialect to learn how natives speak in their day to day life, which also helps you speak a language in a more natural, less academic way.

Basically, there is no single fast track method to learn a language but using TV series as an example, talking about the plot with others in a foreign language is just as important as listening and comprehension, if not more.

Formal language training is still necessary to help you build sentences and avoid making mistakes, especially when writing.