History Main / KeepItForeign

* In an FanSub of ''Manga/TheWorldGodOnlyKnows'', when Keima needs to "capture" [[spoiler:Ayumi (sports girl)]] for the second time, he reaches a point where she asks him to confess to her (long story). Being Keima, and not really loving her he kept saying "I love you". In the original, the first was in Japanese, the second was in English. In the translation, however, the first was in English the second was in French, to preserve the meaning.

* In the ''Anime/PrettySammy'' {{OVA}}s, Pixy Misa peppers her speech with GratuitousEnglish. When Pioneer dubbed the show into English, it became GratuitousFrench.

* ''Anime/SailorMoon'':
** Eiru and An were posing as American exchange students and turned into French exchange students in the Creator/DiC English dub. In the Creator/VizMedia dub, they're transfer students who "lived abroad for some time" in a Spanish-speaking country.
** In one episode of ''Sailor Moon'', there is an English gentleman who invites the Sailor Senshi to his party, and they try to learn English to communicate there. In TheNineties English dub, the new language was changed to French and so was the nationality of the rich gentleman who invited the girls and Darien to his party.
** This happened once more in the ''Super S'' season, when Tiger's Eye was posing as a FunnyForeigner. The "One! Two! Three!" incantation the Amazon Trio used was even replaced with "Un! Deux! Trois!" just for that episode.
** Inverted in both the two Spanish language dub versions (i.e., Latin American and European), and the Italian dub version, where the word "luna" is used in both languages when referring to the moon. In all three, the black cat character retains her original name of "Luna". As a result, she is essentially being called "Moon" in those versions.

* Can be seen in a lot of {{anime}} fansubs, when English loanwords and GratuitousEnglish in general becomes GratuitousJapanese in the subtitles. A common example is "Sankyuu!" ("Thank you!") being translated as "Arigatou!"
And several professional companies have also done this. Notably Animeigo for the (live-action) ''Sure Death!'' Movie.
* One episode of ''Anime/ExcelSaga'' had Il Palazzo briefing Excel in GratuitousEnglish, which the dub changed to GratuitousSpanish. Later, Excel trying to talk to some people on the street when she landed in America in GratuitousEnglish was changed to a mix of Spanglish and faux ghetto-slang.
* An episode of ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'' featured an American pianist who didn't speak Japanese. When 4Kids turned it into ''Mew Mew Power'', she became Spanish. Similarly, in a later episode an American director became French.
* In the French dub of ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'', Vash's GratuitousFrench is changed to gratuitous Italian instead.
* Not so much a translation as an update - in ''Anime/{{Gankutsuou}}'', Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo's servant Ali is changed from a black African man to an [[SpaceJews Alien]] partly to keep him 'exotic'.
* Arisa's GratuitousEnglish in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' is changed to GratuitousJapanese in the English dub. And in one fan translation of the [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs A's manga]] she says "I am perfectly bilingual" in Japanese rather than English. Somewhat justified in that she was deliberately showing off her skill in the other language.
* The English subtitles (though not the dub) of ''Anime/HandMaidMay'' translate [[Creator/KikukoInoue Cyberdoll Mami's]] GratuitousEnglish into Gratuitous Japanese.

* In ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', Napoleon (in the english dub, "Jean-Louis Bonaparte") constantly uses GratuitousFrench. In the French dub, he becomes "Wellington" (probably after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Wellesley,_1st_Duke_of_Wellington the Duke of Wellington]] who defeated Napoleon in Waterloo) and uses GratuitousEnglish.
* The ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' anime dubs like to do this from time to time (when they're not changing Japanese names to different Japanese names). Snowbotamon becomes Yukimibotamon, and Fairymon becomes Kazemon.
* In ''Manga/{{Bakuman}}'', Eiji Nizuma and Aiko Iwase, meeting for the first time, greet each other in English. In the English translation by Viz, they greet each other in Japanese.
* In an early episode of ''Manga/VenusVersusVirus'', one character is encouraging another to confess his love to Sumire, and gives examples of the phrase "I love you" in different languages. In the original Japanese, she says "I love you" in GratuitousEnglish, "Wo ai ni" in Gratuitous Chinese, and fakes something in Russian ("Suki desuki", which is just "suki desu" with -ski added on the end). In the English dub, she says "Suki desu" in GratuitousJapanese, "Te amo" in GratuitousSpanish, and "I loveski youski" in fake Russian.
* One of the first scenes in ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'' has a teacher saying "I want him to do his best," in English. In the English dub, he says, [[{{Macekre}} "El libro está en la biblioteca" Spanish for "the book is in the library."]]
* ''[[Manga/{{Wagnaria}} Working!!]]'' was renamed ''Wagnaria!!'' for the English-speaking market. Despite appearances, "wagnaria" is ''not'' the Japanese word for "working," it's the name of the restaurant they work at.
* In an episode of ''Literature/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'', Rikka is trying to get her club approved by a teacher, but is told it doesn't have enough members, so no go. Rikka then makes up a "split personality" she calls Catherine. In the original, "Catherine" is from Victorian England and uses very basic English in her mostly Japanese speech. In the English dub, she's still from England, but "moved to France", uses GratuitousFrench instead of GratuitousEnglish, and even has a French accent.
* In the original Japanese version of ''Anime/LoveLiveSunshine'', Mari Ohara had a tendency to use GratuitousEnglish due to her [[ButNotTooForeign having American ancestry]]. In the English dub, this is changed to GratuitousItalian instead, which still works given that she also has Italian ancestry.
* ''Anime/WXIIIPatlaborTheMovie3'': In the English dub, the irate American film director yells his [[ClusterFBomb R-clinching profanities]] in Italian.

* In the Latin American Spanish dub of ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'', Supercow's Gratuitous Spanish dialogue was changed to GratuitousEnglish.
* In both Spanish dubs (Latin American and European) of ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'', Dora teaches English instead of Spanish. In fact, most dubs have Dora teaching English.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' has Kim's brothers suggesting that she send an anonymous email to someone. When she hesitates, they explain that "[They], like, route it through Sweden or some place, and it can't be traced." Since that wouldn't work in the Swedish dub, they changed the reference to Iceland.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' featured Brazilian heroine Fire speaking a line in her language (Brazilian Portuguese). When that episode was dubbed for Brazilian and Portuguese audiences, that line was translated into English.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' episode "Kung Food", Adrien is needed to translate for Marinette's Mandarin Chinese-speaking uncle, Wang Cheng. In the Mandarin dub, he instead speaks Cantonese, which preserves both Marinette's Chinese heritage and the need for a translator.
* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': Rolf is the resident FunnyForeigner but, in Sweden, Rolf is a fairly common name so in the dub his name was changed to "Reinar" in order to sound more foreign-ish.
* ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'': In one episode of the ''ComicStrip/USAcres'' segment, Roy speaks "Au contraire" and Wade thinks it's Spanish. In the Spanish Language dub, Wade thinks it's English.
* In the French dub of ''WesternAnimation/PeppaPig'', the Donkey family is from England.
* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'' episode "Speak No Evil" involves Jenny losing her English language disc after a trip to Japan, so she's stuck speaking in Japanese for most of the episode. Naturally, in the Japanese dub, everyone speaks Japanese anyway, so the two languages are reversed.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Bluey}}'':
** The episode "Camping" centers on Bluey befriending Jean-Luc, a French-speaking Black Lab, despite their language barrier. In the French dub of the show, Jean-Luc is instead an English-speaker named Johnny.
** In the episode "Pavlova", Bandit dresses as a chef who speaks broken GratuitousFrench. Also in the French dub, he speaks broken GratuitousItalian instead.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' episode "Cheater by the Dozen", Bobby is briefly heard speaking Italian. Due to the episode's plot involving a Italian-Chinese fusion restaurant, the Italian dub changes the scene so that he speaks Chinese instead.

* In the episode of ''[[Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' where [[spoiler:Asakura attacks Kyon]], Kyon asks himself "why?" in GratuitousEnglish, followed immediately by a Japanese "naze?" The English dub [[GratuitousJapanese keeps both]], though it switches the order around. Line is referenced in episode 7 of ''Manga/NyoronChuruyaSan''.

* There is an alternate English cut of ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990'' made for Japan that removes any reference to ninjas and also changes every mention of Japan to Korea (complete with [[DubNameChange new Korean names]] for Hamato Yoshi, Oroku Saki and Tang Shen). This is a very weird thing to do, since all the other Japanese releases of the franchise (including the actual Japanese dub of the movie) never do such thing.

* In the Creator/EddieMurphy ''Film/DrDolittle'', he can't talk to the orangutan because it speaks Spanish (try not to think about that too hard). In the Spanish dub, it speaks French.

** PLayed with in ''ComicBook/{{Viz}}'''s manga translation. The character Eneru gives himself the title [[AGodAmI God]], which in the Japanese manga and anime is pronounced the same as the English word God. So what does Viz do when their translation reaches this point? Change his title to Kami, the Japanese word for God. Note that the actual connotations of the word Kami are different from those of the Abrahamic God, although either works for the character.

* There is an alternate English cut of the first ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' film made for Japan that removes any reference to ninjas and also changes every mention of Japan to Korea (complete with [[DubNameChange new Korean names]] for Hamato Yoshi, Oroku Saki and Tang Shen). This is a very weird thing to do, since all the other Japanese releases of the franchise (including the actual Japanese dub of the movie) never do such thing.

* ''VideoGame/SenranKagura'': In the original Japanese script, Shiki is learning English and occasionally shows it off. For the English version, this was changed to her learning and demonstrating French. Other instances of GratuitousEnglish are typically untouched, as the WidgetSeries is so unapologetically Japanese [[TooLongDidntDub the original voice track is used]] so the message gets across.

* Similar to the above example, ''Anime/GoPrincessPrettyCure'' has the character of Miss Shamour, whose dialogue is partially in GratuitousEnglish. One fansubber chose to change this to French, a decision which ultimately pleased no-one, leading to a swift aversion.

*** And then some. The Brazilian Portuguese dub, supposedly translated from the Latin Spanish dub, apparently thought "Luna" was already an adaptation, a Spanish word, and thus it was rendered as "Lua" (Moon).

** Several professional companies have also done this. Notably Animeigo for the (live-action) ''Sure Death!'' Movie.

* An episode of ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'' featured an American pianist who didn't speak Japanese. When 4Kids turned it into ''Mew Mew Power'', she became Spanish.
** Similarly, in a later episode an American director became French.

* Arisa's GratuitousEnglish in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' is changed to GratuitousJapanese in the English dub.
** Similarly, in one fan translation of the [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs A's manga]] she says "I am perfectly bilingual" in Japanese rather than English. Somewhat justified in that she was deliberately showing off her skill in the other language.

* An in-story version occurs in ''Manga/OnePiece'', when Usopp creates the alter ego of "Sogeking." Sogeking uses all the same attack names, but speaks them in [[GratuitousEnglish English]] instead of Japanese as Usopp does.
** A kind of example of this occurs in ''ComicBook/{{Viz}}'''s manga translation. The character Eneru gives himself the title [[AGodAmI God]], which in the Japanese manga and anime is pronounced the same as the English word God. So what does Viz do when their translation reaches this point? Change his title to Kami, the Japanese word for God. Note that the actual connotations of the word Kami are different from those of the Abrahamic God, although either works for the character.

* The Russian version of ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic V'' changed Russian-like names of the kings of the Griffin dynasty to vaguely Latin-like. (Nival is actually a Russian company, but since it was contracted by the French publisher Ubisoft, the owner of the rights to the ''Might and Magic'' franchise, the international English version was made first.)

** Pretty much all references to America in the Japanese version are changed to Germany in the English version. Thus we get Manfred von Karma, among others. This was actually probably their best choice, considering that their last name was still "Karuma", and more to the point they dress like 19th-century German fashion plates.

* The ''Anime/{{Digimon}}'' anime dubs like to do this from time to time (when they're not changing Japanese names to different Japanese names). Snowbotamon becomes Yukimibotamon, and Fairymon becomes Kazemon.

* In the French dub of ''Film/DjangoUnchained'', the French lines are dubbed in Spanish. It makes little sense in regards of Candy's francophilia which is clearly visible on screen.

* The character called Master in ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'' ended up with a DubNameChange in a deliberate attempt to KeepItForeign--to preserve essentially a multilingual PropheticName. [[spoiler: "Master", in the original Japanese version, was a reference that the literal clockwork CloudCuckooLander that joined your party was actually SealedGoodInACan and was hosting a goddess. This would have been too obvious in English, so they renamed the character--to Ershin, which means "two souls" in Chinese.]]