Incidental Foreign Language Acquisition Through Subtitled Audiovisual Materials

Bouzidi, Abdelkader; Bouzidi, Hamza

افاق للعلوم
Volume 11, Numéro 4, Pages 244-268
2026-09-10

Incidental Foreign Language Acquisition Through Subtitled Audiovisual Materials

Authors : Bouzidi Abdelkader . Bouzidi Hamza .

Abstract

Consumption of audiovisual materials (movies, series, shows, anime, etc.) in foreign languages has been a regular practice in our daily life for decades. Today we consume this media wherever we are through our phones on streaming platforms. Many of our favorite titles and genres are in a foreign language, which makes acquisition of the language inevitable. However, the stages at which we learn languages in this are unclear. Moreover, translation techniques used by professional and fan subtitlers may influence the process of learning and the accuracy of information. This paper uses subtitled anime as a case study for learning Japanese as a foreign language. A five-stage theoretical model of incidental learning is proposed in order to explain the process of acquisition. Furthermore, the paper discusses how translation techniques influence foreign language acquisition. The findings of this research may help incidental learners understand how they acquire foreign languages through audiovisual materials. They may also help translators become better aware of the tradeoffs they make when they use translation techniques. Finally, the findings may inspire future researchers to empirically investigate the process of learning languages through subtitled content.