History Main / GratuitousGerman

** And ''WeissKreuz'', apparently mostly because TakehitoKoyasu thinks German is cool. The eponymous assassin group takes its name from the broken German for White Cross -- the grammatically correct version would either be "Weisses Kreuz" or "Weißkreuz", the German name for lachrymatory gasses used in World War I. The other rival groups are Schwarz (Black) and Schreient (misspelled, means screaming).

** Zwiback (should be Zwieback, a type of dry sweet cracker backed twice, as the name implies (Zwie-> Old german for Zwei, two. It survives in the word Zwielicht, twilight)).

* Swedish Powermetalband Sabaton uses german words frequently in their Songs, usually when singing about germans. Anschluss, Wehrmacht, Panzer, Panzerkampfwagen and the like. They also covered the song "Für Immer" by german band Warlock, with actually pretty good german.

** His unlockables also share the germanity (if that is a real English word), being named The Blutsauger (Bloodsucker, also: Vampire) and The Kritzkrieg (causes crits, named after the Nazi tactic of Blitzkrieg.) As part of a development theme, his lines have numerous grammar errors, namely the plurals of "Dummkopf", and his voice actor isn't German.

* In the ''Front Mission'' series, the HumongousMecha [[AMechByAnyOtherName are called "wanzers."]] Wanzer is probably a portmanteau of "walking panzer", where ''panzer'' means ''tank'' in German. Lastly, in one of the games there is a [[spoiler:mech-mountable rocket launcher]] named "[[spoiler:[[StealthPun Wanzerfaust]]]]".
** Actually, the meaning of the word "wanzer" is addressed in Front Mission 3 - it means "Wanderung Panzer", shortened in "Wan-Zer".

* In [[{{Might And Magic}} ''Heroes Of Might And Magic V'']] a few of the ''Haven'' units have text written on their robes. You can clearly see "Die Heiligkeit" (the sanctity/saintliness) written on the cape and the robe of the Angel/Archangel. Other ''Haven'' units also have text written on their robes and various ribbons and parchemins. You can not precisely read them due the low resolution, but they seem to be in German and of the same kind, too. Though this is never explained why.
* Akumajō Dracula X: Chi no Rondo (1993) aka Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (or to be gratuitously Germanic ''Devil's Schloss Dracula: Zirkel des Blutes'') had speech in German in its introductory sequence. Also, the main character is called Richter.

** Let's see, "Vasserbünde" might either be "Wasserbünde" (Waterbounds?) or "Vagabunden" (Vagabounds), Steinchencröe might be Steinchenkrähe (Pebble-Crow, Steinchen meaning "Kleiner Stein" = Little rock. As for Uschtenheim: No idea.

* Shadow Hearts: Covenant... Sorta. You see, this character, Karen König, has special moves which had german names. Unfortunately, the transliteration from japanese katakana to english didn't make it.

** Bullenfogel is supposed to be Brennvogel, burn-bird (although you'd say Brennender Vogel, birning bird in german - or, more simply: Phönix)

** Sonnestark is most likely wrong in the japanese version, too , as it is supposed to mean "power of the sun", which would be "Sonnenkraft" (the japanese word for "strength can mean stärke as well as Kraft in german. This is most likely a case of did not do the research)

** Oh God... You know, a more appropriate translation for 'Elefantglied' would be elephant penis. I'll just go over there and die laughing, okay?

** In his BrütalLegend review credits, Yahtzee mentioned that he studied german...still no particuar reason but at least an explaination.

* ''{{Animaniacs}}''. Aside from Dr. Scratchnsniff, the [[AllPsychologyIsFreudian stereotypical psychiatrist]] assigned to the Warner Siblings, there's also the oneshot Bavarian [[OverlyLongName Proffesor Otto von Schnitzelpusskrankengescheitmeyer]] (That is *takes a deep breath* SchnitzelCutlet, Puss is english, Kranken comes from Krank (meaning sick, though the "en" is used to join substantives together) and "Gescheitmeyer" is bavarian for a "know-it-all") and the "international friendship song", ''Schnitzelbank'', that he teaches to the Warners.

* '''Uber''' is correctly spelled "über". For non-german keyboards lacking the letter Ü, "ueber" would be the correct transliteration. The german word is mostly used to mean "over'/above", but can also mean "beyond" if applied to a scale, or "super", indicationg something is surpassing usual boundaries or limitations

* ''IndianaJones and the Last Crusade'' has a scene where Indy and Co. are captured by Nazis and a Nazi soldier yells "Das ist ein Überfall!" ("This is a stick-up!").
*** Well, that is not quite wrong in German. ''Überfall'' is the word for ''ambush'' or ''shock attack''. The funny thing is that the Nazi soldier ''yells it out loud'', and, to add insult to injury, immediately ''after'' Indy and his companions are arrested.
** Actually, "Das ist ein Überfall" means something more like "This is a robbery"...
*** ''Or'' ambush!
** There is also the German soldier in the tank who watches Indy fighting somebody through a periscope and says "Die Amis. Die kämpfen wie Weiber!" (Americans. They fight like women!). That is actually the only German line in the movie that seems to have been said by a native speaker.
*** But he also had a little bit of an American accent.
*** Strangely they changed it slightly in the german version where he says: "Diese Amerikaner. Die Kämpfen wie Mädchen." (These americans. They fight like girls.).

** He literally said, "Thyself, still be sorry, and you!" and it makes even less sense in German, than it does in English.
*** The way I understand it, he says "[Das wird] dir noch leid tun, und dir!", with the roaring of the zeppelin's turbines drowning out the first two words. This in turn is totally correct german for "You'll be sorry for this, and you!", even though he now uses the familiar "dir" instead of "ihnen" for the Joneses.
**** Well, it is apparent that he simply did not say the first two words (hearing him talking was still clear enough over the motor sounds). And secondly, it is always more fitting to call someone e.g. ''You Bastard!'' ("du Bastard!") instead of ''You, sir; bastard!'' ("sie Bastard!")

** His constant use of "Fraulein", however, is a little painful to native German speakers, since "Fräulein" (with an Umlaut, you mind), being the diminuitive of the title ''Frau'' and equivanlent the title "Miss", is obsolete nowadays and only used when scolding or mocking someone. Calling a woman this can be considered being borderline sexist in some cases.
*** Is it? Funny. We still use it normally in South African and Namibian German.
**** Well, those countries hardly had the same development socially or language-wise, and thus have it different than Germany.

* RPG developer Gust has a couple of these.
** The main theme of ''Atelier Iris 3'' is called Schwarzweiß -Kiri No Mukouni Tsunagaru Sekai- (Blackwhite -Reaching Through Mists-) and even mixes the opening and ending with ominous German chanting. ("Ich gieren! Ich morden!")
** ''Ar Tonelico'', as a series, features a lot of chanting and voices in their songs. The language sung in them is a mixture of German, English and Japanese.
*** Actually, Hymmnos has more in common with Latin and English than with German. In fact, from the linguistical and grammatical viewpoint, Hymmnos doesn't seem to share anything with German.

* The ''Maesters'' in ''FinalFantasyX'' are a quite good approximation how the German ''Meister'' would be pronounced.
** Except ''Maester'' is pronounced may-ster, and ''Meister'' is pronounced my-ster. So yeah.
** Brother from ''FinalFantasyX2'' would occasionally drop German phrases, despite the fact that he barely even spoke the in-universe equivalent of English. But it was [[CloudCuckooLander Brother]], so it's okay.

*** Which literary translates as "shit!", but actually comes much closer to a genuinly felt "Fuck!" right from the heart, in contemporary German. (Though the use of swear words is mostly uncontroversial in Germany, so it's used in a very appropiate way.)

* The evil vampire {{Nazi}}s in ''{{Hellsing}}''

* HoYay anime ''MeineLiebe'' has such brilliant characters as Fuerst Oberst von Marmelade, which means exactly what you think it does.

** And let's not forget that the country is actually named "Kuchen" meaning "cake." [[TheCakeIsALie That's no lie]]: they live in a country called Cake.
*** But there is a town in Germany called [[http://www.kuchen.de/ "Kuchen"]]! And it's neighboring town is called "Suessen" - "sweetening"...
** One glance at the map of 'Kuchen' can make a German burst in laughter.
** Oh, and Zwiback (should be Zwieback, a type of dry sweet cracker backed twice, as the name implies (Zwie-> Old german for Zwei, two. It survives in the word Zwielicht, twilight)).
** And let's not forget Fürst Oberst Marmelade (an appropriate english equivalent would be Lord Colonel Jelly...)

** Apparently the word "märchen" has actually been adopted to mean "fairy tale" in Japanese, as no exact equivalent exists. And it's surely better than [[GratuitousEnglish whatever a direct English transliteration would work out to]].

** Tropen could stand for Truppen, which is of course German for troops. Spelt Tropen it means tropics.
*** Well, it ''was'' [[ShownTheirWork the successor to the Dom Tropical Test Type]]...
*** Has everyone just forgotten about Fraw Bow?
** Also, later installments often had an edge towards German language (Wing used German numbers for Zechs and Noin (actually in German written 'sechs' and 'neun'), SEED had among other's Tolle Koenig, which translates into 'awesome king' (Funnily enough, in the older use of the word it would mean "insane king".), 00 has the Meisters, which are simply put masters, as well as the Gundam Thrones: Eins, Zwei, and Drei ("one, two, three"). GGundam, on the other hand, surprisingly averted its gratuitous use: the only suit with a German name was [[{{JustifiedTrope}} from Neo-Germany]].)

** And then there's Prussia. His song with a title that noone really knows how to translate (the one from the "Ore-sama CD") contains many lines of badly pronounced and Google Translatorish German. "Über dem Rand" (over the edge, but as in "above the edge", not "falling over the edge" - the latter would be the accusative "Über de'''n''' Rand") is just the beginning.
*** Well, "Über dem Rand" does not have to be wrong gramatically, it is just depending on context. If you where referring to something that is beyond said edge, like, say, an ocean, you would say "Über(or more likely, hinter, meaning behind) dem Rand liegt der Ozean", but if you intend to go over the edge, or something to go over there, you would say "Ich gehe über den Rand"...it is both correct.
**** Actually, "Über dem Rand liegt der Ozean" means the ocean is floating above the edge. It is either "Hinter dem Rand liegt der Ozean" (Behind the edge is the ocean) or "Über den Rand ''hinaus''" (Beyond the edge is the ocean),

* The name and [[IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming episode titles]] of ''RozenMaiden'' are both in German. The doll's names are also apparently translated from German, for instance, Reiner Rubin is Shinku (true crimson).
** Actually, "Rozen Maiden" is not correct german. It should be more like Rosenmaid (with maid being an old german word for a young, pure girl). Remember: In german, you can almost string any number of substantives together and still come up with a perfect croumlent word. In fact, separating words like this is a trait which survives only if a english->german translator DoesNotDoTheResearch about his own language...

** And ''WeissKreuz'', apparently mostly because TakehitoKoyasu thinks German is cool. The eponymous assassin group takes its name from the broken German for White Cross -- the grammatically correct version would be "Weisses Kreuz." The other rival groups are Schwarz (Black) and Schreient (misspelled, means screaming).
*** However, ''Weißkreuz'' (one word) was the German name for lachrymatory gasses used in World War 1.

* ''[[{{ptitlep23b1sab}} Fafner in the Azure: Dead Aggressor]]'' includes some examples of this trope, the Fafner units are named after German numerals (Mark Elf, Mark Zwei, Mark Sechs, etc) without forgetting the famous "Mark Sein". It might not be a case of completely gratuitous German, though, as Fafner is a concept taken from Germanic mythology.
** What is "Mark Sein" supposed to mean anyway ? "Sein" in English is "(to) be"...
*** "Mark Sein" most likely realtes to the phrase "mag sein" which means "maybe"
*** More mundanely, it could be a mispronounced "Mark Zehn" ("Mark Ten"). (That assumes that there's no such unit otherwise, of course -- I haven't actually seen the show.)

** Recently he addressed Beast as "Liebchen," which is inappropriate unless they were going for some all-blue HoYay. And words noone uses.

** Except "es" means "it" and the right thing would have been "ihn" which is "him", while it's understandable to confuse the three forms of "the" which are "der, die, das" confusing this one is really just laziness.
** Well, ''Hurensohn'' is a correct word, so I don't know the problem with that, but the previous word is unidentifiable, and the following sentence wrong.
* Marvel has a little-known German superhero called Vormund, which means Guardian. Legal guardian, to be precise.
** Epic fail? I guess they were shooting for something like Wächter or Beschützer...
** He was previously known as Hauptmann Deutschland, which sounded to much like something the Nazis would have come up with.
*** The german edition of the MAD Magazine once presented german Marvel Superheroes. Their Cap equivalent? Oberst Deutschland.

** The Marvel villain "Baron Blitzkrieg" is called "Baron von Blitz" in the german volumes because of the UnfortunateImplications. He's still a Nazi, though, so it's Bowdlerization meets NoSwastikas.

* Elliot from ''{{Scrubs}}'' speaks German, a fact that shows up in a few episodes, such as one with a German cancer patient; in fact, her German is way better than that of the "Germans", who speak hardly anything a German would accept as his native language. Pretty impressive by Sarah.
** Actually, when she sets Cox up ("schönen Busen!"), the husband speaks quite good, if only 3 words. According to the quotation, he also gets the grammatical gender wrong ("Schöner Busen!" would be correct), but that might be an pun on "Schönen Tag" ("have a nice day").
*** It is. And just like "Schönen Tag", "Schönen Busen" ''is'' the right grammatical gender here, as it is used in a sentence requiring the accusative case.
**** But there is a difference between "Die Busen" ("the boobs") and "Der/Den Busen" ("the/the boob"). It's all about the plural and singular cases here.
***** Much as this Troper loves being pedantic, in her time living between Germany & Austria she found that declination isn't that important in informal speech/dialogue. Signifying plurality, yeah, but a lot of the noun-gendering is kinda shoved off in casual conversation. If you're trying too hard to emphasize your correct articles and adjective endings, you come off as even more of a Deutsch-noob. Still important to have all your grammar squared away when you're putting something in writing.
** In Germany, that was changed into [[KeepItForeign Dutch or Swiss German]]. We have no idea if that makes it [[YourMileageMayVary better or worse]].
*** Actually, it was changed to Swedish in Germany.
*** Actually, it wasn't Swedish but Danish.
*** They also had to change the "herman the german" joke into the man being named Eric, so that JD would make a pun on the Eric the Viking.
** Supposedly, Sarah Chalke actually ''is'' fluent in French and German, which would explain that.
*** Fluently doesn't mean good, it seems. When she is angry at Kelso for not showing up, I had to rewind 5 times until I understood what she said. It sounded as if she should be downing litres of cough syrup.
*** Except for she was doing that on purpose to fit the "angry German" stereotype.

** This troper never clocked how fascist the lyrics of {{Queen}}'s "One Vision" sounded until she heard them in Laibach's German version.

* All three ''{{Xenosaga}}'' games were sub-titled with Nietzsche works in German: ''Der Wille Zur Macht'' (The Will To Power), ''Jenseits von Gut und Böse'' (Beyond Good And Evil), and ''Also Sprach Zarathustra'' (Thus Spake Zarathustra). In addition, there was a ''Xenosaga Alle Spezielle'' (all special) DVD. Which, again, got the grammar wrong ("spezielle" is an adjective, in female or plural form, but it has no noun to refer to. "All special" in german would be most likely rendered as "Exklusiv" (such as "Exklusive Bonus-DVD" or something like that.
** In the Japanese releases the sub-titles were actually Japanese translations of the Nietzsche titles (''Chikara e no Ishi'', ''Zenaku no Higan'', and ''Zarathrustra wa Kaku Katariki'', respectively) and the German was only used in the English titling.
** This is simply not true. I have all three japanese Xenosaga-games, and they all have the German subtitles on the front cover. The spine of the game cases, however, has only the japanese subtitle, most likely for space constrictions...

* In the [[{{H-Game}} X-rated]] [[VisualNovel visual novel]] ''Madou Souhei Kleinhasa'' (Magic Trooper Kleinhasa), the protagonist and his squadmates all have pseudo-German names (Belcelica von Meltmann, Nicola Schonheit, Felicia Claushitz....)

* Mephisto Pheles of ''Blue Exorcist'' usually says "Eins, zwei, drei!" (one, two, three) when performing magic.

* LeagueofLegends demonstrates this trope isn't limited to Japan. Lux's ultimate attack is 'Finales Funkeln', which means 'Final Sparkle'. Mordekaiser's name is also German, literally translated as 'Murders Emperor'. That's not possessive, 'morde' is the plural form.

* League of Legends demonstrates this trope isn't limited to Japan. Lux's ultimate attack is 'Finales Funkeln', which means 'Final Sparkle'. Mordekaiser's name is also German, literally translated as 'Murders Emperor'. That's not possessive, 'morde' is the plural form.

** His unlockables also share the germanity (if that is a real English word), being named The Blutsauger (Bloodsucker, also: Vampire) and The Kritzkrieg (causes crits, named after the Nazi tactic of Blitzkrieg.) If only he'd gotten his plurals of Dummkopf right. Dummköpfe!

*** Well, that is not quite wrong in German. ''Überfall'' is the word for ''ambush'' or ''shock attack''. The funny thing is that the Nazi soldier yelled it out loud, and ''after'' Indy and his companions are arrested already.

** And let's not forget Fürst Oberst Marmelade (an appropriate english equivalent would be Lord Cornel Jelly...)

** A Leibchen, by the way, is a type of cloth. It can mean vest, bodice, jersey... A Liebchen on the other hand is an out-of-date expression for "darling"

*** Strangely they changed it slightly in the german version were he says: "Diese Amerikaner. Die Kämpfen wie Mädchen." (These americans. They fight like girls.).

Although both are West Germanic languages and thus closely related, the GermanLanguage has kept its comparatively high amount of grammatical inflection, which English lost along the way. This often makes it difficult for foreign language speakers, resulting in frequent and very visible grammatical errors even if the sentence is understandable in general. [[GrammarNazi Never expect the grammar to be proper]].

* Practically the whole premise of ''PumpkinScissors'' is Post [[WorldWarI WWI]] Pre [[WorldWarII WWII]] Germany. "Gespenst Jäger" (Ghost Hunter, though "Gespenst" is only the singular - correct version would be Gespensterjäger, as one word) and "Himmel" (a drug) which means heaven, are the ones you hear mainly.

** His constant use of "Fraulein", however, is a little painful to native German speakers, since "Fräulein" (with an Umlaut, you mind), being the diminuitive of the title ''Frau'' and equivanlent the title "Miss", is obsolete nowadays and only used when scolding or mocking someone. Calling a woman this can be considered being boarderline sexist in some cases.

* ''SuikodenTierkreis'' has quite a bit of this: "Tierkreis" means "Zodiac", if memory serves; also, the nation of Ritterschild ("Knight Shield"), and its three representatives Geschutz, Minen and Buchse. Geschütz's name means gun or cannon, Minen means "Mines" and Büchse is a word for a gun with a rifled barrel. Because nowadays there are no guns with a barrel that is not rifled the word Büchse has fallen in disuse and is considered old-fashioned
* Neinhalt Sieger from ''SamuraiShodown'' II has every single one of his special moves named in German, so we get odd stuff like Elefantglied (Elephant Dance), Vulkan Weinen (Vulcan Crier) and Blitz Jaeger (Lightning Hunter) mixed together with no apparent heads or tails to it besides "it sounds cool".

** He literally said, "Thyself, still be sorry, and you!" and it makes even less sense in German, than it does in English.