The purpose of this study was to investigate how social cues associated with the personalization and embodiment principles in multimedia learning affect the learning and attitude of students studying the culture of a foreign language. University students were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions that consisted of an instructional presentation about the Japanese school system. The personalization only condition included auditory social cues consistent with the personalization principle; the personalization plus embodiment condition included the same auditory cues, and in addition, included visual social cues consistent with the embodiment principle. The results showed that participants in the personalization plus embodiment condition outperformed those in the personalization only condition on a delayed retention test. However, participants in the personalization only condition expressed more favorable attitudes toward their instructional experience. These findings suggests that the personalization and embodiment principles in multimedia learning may be additive in their influence on student learning. However, the combined influence of these effects may only be apparent after the passage of time. The finding that participants with more positive attitudes toward their instructional condition experienced fewer social cues and exhibited lower retention scores has interesting implications concerning the reliability of student judgments about which instructional presentation formats are optimal for their own learning.