History SugarWiki / SurprisinglyGoodForeignLanguage

* A common occurrence in Scandi crime dramas, which can throw English watchers of them, are characters breaking into English, sometimes with very English accents.

* ''VisualNovel/SteinsGateZero'' has the character Doctor Leskinen, whose speech in English near the start of the game is actually pretty good and doesn't have awkward pauses between words. It's all the weirder by this speech being narrated over by a native Japanese speaker translating it (and thus being harder to understand), and by his later English dialogue having those issues despite no translation.

* Kate in ''Manga/{{Sketchbook}}'', who is {{Canad|aEh}}ian. Also, [[AnimeAccentAbsence her Japanese is heavily accented and far from perfect]]. Not many characters pull this off.

* Duke Watari from ''Series/CuteyHoneyTheLive'' often switches between Japanese and English, even in the middle of conversations. He also swears in English when angered. This is due to actor Creator/MarkMusashi, while born in Japan, is half-American and grew up in Maine before returning to Japan to act.
* On ''{{Series/Deadwood}}'', Mr. Lee, the new Chinese arrival from San Francisco and rival to Wu, speaks perfect English. After years of trying to overcome Wu's single-digit vocabulary, Al Swearengen is visibly shocked when Lee reveals this.

* This happens a lot in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal where the various Discworld languages tend to be one-for-one representations of their Earth equivalents. The author is assisted by fans who are native-speakers who have occassionally suggested corrections and better idioms. Creating "South African" characters actually incentivised him to ''really'' start learning Afrikaans. And by extention, Dutch.

* The Swedish HeavyMithril band {{Dragonland}} did a cover of Music/XJapan's song "Rusty Nail", and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DC5tNFlQMs the vocalist's Japanese skill has to be heard to be believed.]]

* {{Downplayed|Trope}} with Creator/YuzoKoshiro. On Twitter, his tweets alternate between Japanese and somewhat clunky English. On Website/YouTube, he sometimes posts [[https://youtu.be/tLqbixY5H0s videos explaining his process in natural, casual English with a subtle accent.]] Half the comments just talk about how good his English is.

** Lui Takane surprised everyone with an amazing grasp of English. Able to complete full sentences and even use some slang. Her English-learning stream with Calli showed her capabilities even more.
** Chloe Sakamata's grasp of English is not too bad, given how she largely avoids adding paragogic dummy vowels to her English. Her English is good enough that she once evaded having to explain some jokes involving Koyori and a Khezu by replying in English, saying: "Oh sorry I can't speak Japanese." Her Duolingo stream also shows her being able to understand English sentences and translate them into Japanese, and the times she has to read the English sentences aloud, Duolingo occasionally passes her ''before she even finishes'', much to her annoyance. It helps that Chloe brushed up on her English before debuting.
** From the DEV_IS side, Ichijou Ririka also has good grasp in English due to her brief study in the overseas following her father's job and has expressed interest to increase her fluency so she can communicate with her overseas audiences as well as EN and ID senpais. This enables her to do all-English collab streams with Bijou and Kiara.
* ''{{WebVideo/Lumi}}'' is a Finnish [=VTuber=] who speaks English with a near flawless American accent. During a question-and-answer video one of her viewers even asked if she really was from Finland. She replied yes, and while she could speak English with a strong Finnish accent she chose not to.
* Pikamee Amano, of WebVideo/VOMSProject, speaks in fluent and grammatically sound English as well as Japanese. Most of her streams have English peppered in, and she also holds primarily English streams as well.

** Chloe Sakamata's grasp of English is not too bad, given how she largely avoids adding paragogic dummy vowels to her English. Her English is good enough that she once evaded having to explain some jokes involving Koyori and a Khezu by replying in English, saying: "Oh sorry I can't speak Japanese." Her Duolingo stream also shows her being able to understand English sentences and translate them into Japanese, and the times she has to read the English sentences aloud, Duolingo occasionally passes her ''before she even finishes'', much to her annoyance.

* ''Manga/{{BECK}}'', where all the American characters speak ludicrously bad Engrish aside from John Lee Davis -- who sounds, for some reason, remarkably like Martin Sheen...
** Quite a few characters in ''BECK'' are voiced by American expats - Leon Sykes, his henchman Goldie, Dying Breed, and the director of their documentary (that doesn't necessarily mean they can ''act'', however). Two songs from the soundtrack, "My World Down" and "I Call You Love", are by British singers Gary Stringer and Mark Gardener, with lyrics by Tim Jensen, best known for his work with Music/YokoKanno (''Anime/CowboyBebop'', ''Anime/WolfsRain'' and ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' amongst them).

* Nearly half the dialogue in ''VideoGame/{{Siren}}: Blood Curse'' is in Surprisingly Good English. The rest is either in Japanese, or ''intentionally'' heavily-accented English.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{EXIT}}'' games (PSP, DS, Xbox 360), just about everything was in Surprisingly Good English, from the voice acting (more hits than misses), to the menus and text bubbles that show up in-game.

** ''Series/KamenRiderFaiz'' (aka ''Kamen Rider 555'') from 2003 has, in early episodes, a rather creepy commercial that's in very good English (it doesn't make perfect sense, but it's not supposed to: Faiz has a bit of MindScrew to it). At the end of each episode, the ominous voice from the commercial introduces the preview of the next episode with "Open your eyes for the next Faiz" (and for the finale, "Open your eyes for the last Faiz.") The [[AppliedPhlebotinum transforming belts]] have computer voices that also speak decent English (however, the phrases are one or two words only, and the only time you get awkward English in Faiz is when a computer phrase gets longer: When summoning the Jet Sliger rocket-bikes, the computer says "Jet Sliger, come closer.")
** Leo, TheDragon of the NonSerialMovie, is apparently an American, and speaks perfect English. He was not introduced as such, and didn't speak until his second scene, so it was very jarring. Leo's actor, Peter Ho, is Chinese-American and speaks Chinese, Japanese, and English. Supposedly, the filmmakers found his Japanese bad, so they had him say the lines in English instead.

** Series/KamenRiderOOO has its own brief moment in an early episode when Chiyoko, thinking Ankh's rather coarse Japanese is because he was raised overseas, determines to correct it and starts the lesson with a perfect 'Repeat after me.' Given the character is an international traveler it’s not too odd but it’s still sufficiently polished to cause a double take.

** From the DEV_IS side, Ichijou Ririka also has good grasp in English due to her brief study in the overseas following her father's job. This enables her to do all-English collab streams with Bijou and Kiara.

** Also, a number of Pokémon related {{Widget S|eries}}ongs were done by a trio known as "Suzukisan". The songs often featured a large amount of Surprisingly Good English, mostly due to one of the members being an American. (Said American also provided the voice of the pirate trainer at the start of the Japanese version of ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie''.)

* One song in ''VideoGame/KatamariDamacy'', "Que Sera Sera", is fully-sung in English by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Kosei Charlie Kosei]], who apparently grew up with English-speaking parents. While indeed Surprisingly Good English for a WidgetSeries, if you listen to the song closely, you can tell he's not a native English speaker. Peppered throughout the song are such lyrics as "word you up" ("wad you up"), "lup up" ("lump up"), and "wizyuu" ("with you"). The remainder of the lyrics are pronounced in a perfect American accent -- which is actually another tip-off; all English-speaking Americans speak with some sort of regional accent.

* ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'' - the Atlanteans have their own language and speak several others. After Milo discovers they are multilingual, Roark tentatively introduces himself in English. Kida then reveals she's fluent in English too, as are the rest of the Atlanteans we meet.

* In the musical version of ''Literature/FlowerDrumSong'' Mei Li and her father are poor Chinese immigrants who speak perfect English. This is a slight adaptation change from the book where they were already living in America for a while when they're introduced - whereas the musical begins with them arriving. Master Wang too has very good English, which was the case in the book too - where he knew English but refused to say anything beyond 'yes' or 'no'.
* ''Film/TheWorldOfSuzieWong'' - Suzie and her friends speak in some broken English but have no problem understanding it, and Gwennie Lee is able to read English perfectly. As the majority of their clients are British and American, one could assume they picked it up over time.
* ''Film/VickyCristinaBarcelona'''s Maria Elena has to be ordered to speak in English whenever Cristina is around - and it's clear Spanish is what she prefers. But she speaks English just as well as Spanish.

* ''VideoGame/{{Solatorobo}}'' has soundbites used for various emotions in recognizable French. Swearing is [[GoshDangItToHeck rather tame]] due to being on the [[CurseOfTheAncients dated side]], however.

* ''Literature/GuinSaga'''s song "This is My Road" has English lyrics, which aren't broken.
* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}''
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'' has some surprisingly good English going on throughout the entire series. The Unicorn's AI speaks fluent English, and in the beginning of episode 1, assuming TranslationConvention, we hear the prime minister speaking Japanese, and he is actually speaking really good English faintly in the background. There is also episode 5 which at the beginning has a whole dialogue in English, although one of the participants speaks with a heavy Asian accent. And then there's the contents of Laplace's Box [[spoiler:aka The original Universal Century Charter]] as revealed in Episode 7, which is written in perfectly good English, being an official document and all.
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' (the Japanese version) features some somewhat accented but quite understandable English. For example, just listen to Allelujah in Episode 6 of Season 2 say "I have control".
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' and ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' both feature ending themes (the third and first, respectively) which transition from Japanese to grammatically-correct English flawlessly. This should probably come as no surprise since the singer of both songs, Rie fu, spent four years in America and speaks English fluently.
** ''Anime/GundamBuildFighters'' contains a surprising amount of accurate English text. To give just two examples: Episode 8 has Nils Neilsen research his upcoming opponent Greco Logan online, and can be seen reading a fully-written article about Greco's rivalry with Italian champ Ricardo Fellini. Likewise, Episode 18 shows the Renato brothers reading message board posts praising Meijin Kawaguchi III, one of which contains the {{Pun}} "Is he amazing because he's A-Meijin?".
** ''Anime/TurnAGundam'' is famous for the way the series title is announced as "TURN A. GUNDAM." in both [=OPs=] by what ''sounds'' like a deep-voiced Brit... in fact, a deep-voiced Japanese man.
** Steer from ''Anime/GundamReconguistaInG'' became a fan favorite (in spite of not having a role beyond, well, steering the ship) for the way she announced her actions in loud, well-pronounced, usually singular English words.
* The ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' [[Anime/DevilMayCryTheAnimatedSeries anime series]] has an episode about a ghost haunting people that played her Rock records. The song, "Future in my Hands" by Aimee B, is surprisingly well spoken English. Then again, this one probably shouldn't be "surprisingly", since her full name is Aimee Blackschleger and she is an American singer who moved to Japan for her career.

* Momoko on ''Anime/OjamajoDoremi'' is nearly a native English speaker, and learned Japanese shortly after being introduced as a character. Her lines in English- even a simple "Yeah!"- can be quite shocking when unexpected and all this despite having a local VA. Nami Miyahara moved with her family to Austria when she was young, and she speaks ''almost'' fluent English and German because of that. Similarly, Momoko moved to America with her family and lived there for most of her childhood. It should be noted, however, that one episode has her referring to her earring as a "pierce", which is the Japanese translation for earring.

* The opening and ending songs for ''Anime/SuperDimensionCenturyOrguss'' have perfectly pronounced English within both. This can be contributed to the fact that their singer, Casey Rankin, was raised in the United States until the age of 25 before moving to Japan.
* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' has English voice actors for the main characters' magic devices. In the first season, their lines are relatively grammatical, but in the second season, they have extended lines with more questionable grammar. Similarly with the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl35Y0z1Dnc German devices]]--their collective VA, Creator/TetsuyaKakihara, was raised in Düsseldorf.
** As is often the case in the voice recording business, although the hired voice actors are perfectly fluent in their respective languages, they have virtually no authority in changing the script, even if to improve it. Their clunky delivery, however, is apparently deliberate to emphasize their artificiality.
** Although the CompilationMovie of the first season had the devices speaking very good English.
* In ''Anime/CControl'', [=ATM=]s and Negotiations use English. [[MsFanservice Jennifer's]] boss at the International Monetary Fund is also voiced by a native English speaker, though [[GratuitousEnglish Jennifer is not]] (since that character is not a bit part, most of her lines are in Japanese).
* In ''Anime/SakuraWarsTheMovie'', Maria delivers a couple of lines in near-flawless English and manages something vaguely akin to a New Yorker accent, since (despite being Russian) she was supposed to have lived in New York for a while before coming to Japan. Ironically, the "American" characters in the movie speak typical Engrish.
** With the exception of Ratchet, who's pronunciation (with the exception of "please") and inflection are actually pretty decent, as seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yq3Js_FlYw here.]]
* Though not voiced by one of the characters, the opening theme to ''Anime/HellGirl'' has the seemingly mandatory GratuitousEnglish sung in ''exceptionally'' good English, as the singer was raised in the US.

* The baseball episode of ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'' features Admiral Joy Cartwright and his translator being voiced by- gasp- actual Americans. (Inverted possibly by the translator's Surprisingly Good Japanese?) The opening theme to the series, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OuRajFzMYI Battlecry]]", was also done by someone who knows how to actually speak English: Shing02, who had the benefit of a champloo-ish upbringing born in Tokyo; childhood in Tanzania, England, and Japan; and adolescence in the States.
** As a side note, the episode with the Dutch East India Company contains some Surprisingly Good Dutch too.
* Both ''Anime/Persona4TheAnimation'' and ''Anime/Persona4TheGoldenAnimation'', as with [[VideoGame/{{Persona4}} the original game]], feature intro songs performed in perfect English. Some of the lyrics themselves are a bit shaky ("It's constantly costuming with lots of fake") but the performances are flawless.
* Honey in ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub''. "I'm... still... sleepy...!" and the hired American film crew ("Yes, boss!")
** Words cannot express how creepy and startling Honey's line is when you first hear it, what with the differences in voice and this trope.

* ''Manga/{{BECK}}'', where all the American characters speak ludicrously bad Engrish aside from John Lee Davis -- who sounds, for some reason, remarkably like Martin Sheen...
** Quite a few characters in ''BECK'' are voiced by American expats - Leon Sykes, his henchman Goldie, Dying Breed, and the director of their documentary (that doesn't necessarily mean they can ''act'', however). Two songs from the soundtrack, "My World Down" and "I Call You Love", are by British singers Gary Stringer and Mark Gardener, with lyrics by Tim Jensen, best known for his work with Music/YokoKanno (''Anime/CowboyBebop'', ''Anime/WolfsRain'' and ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' amongst them).
* ''Anime/BloodTheLastVampire'' has an American military base on Okinawa as the setting, and all the dialogue in English is done by American voice actors, with several characters having double cast (this also highlights the difference in acting levels, with English [=VA=]s being noticeably wooden but over the top, but that's a different story.) Seeing as Blood was done before a lot of major series caused anime to take off in America, the fact that the [=VAs=] are actually not bad, if not a little wooden, is quite impressive.
* Maybe not quite as perfect as the previous one, but the ''Tonight, Tonight, Tonight'' song that is also from ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' makes enough sense that any minor mistakes are forgivable.
** Listen to the ''Manga/HeroTales'' opening, and try to figure out what they're saying. It's the same guys.
** Many of the opening and ending songs combine Surprisingly Good English and/or GratuitousEnglish with the Japanese in varying amounts.
** The first ending song, Rie Fu's "Life is Like a Boat". It helps that she speaks fluent English from living in Maryland for three years and going to school in London.
** Ichigo's theme song, "Number One", is sung in absolutely perfect English. It's a woman's choir in a rock song. It's really weird, but catchy.
** A recurring song, "Nothing Can Be Explained", is in English and performed by a British singer - the guy who wrote the lyrics for [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Komm, süsser Tod]], in fact. It's difficult to tell in show since his voice is rather faint, but it's clear on the soundtrack.
* ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' likes to play everything backwards, and has both GratuitousEnglish and Surprisingly Good English side by side. None of the voice actors can pronounce English very well, and mangle the random English phrases. The opening themes are written almost entirely in Surprisingly Good English and Surprisingly Good ''Russian'', with some verses even in ''Surprisingly Good Latin''. The actual reason for this is the performer, Origa (Olga), being originally Russian.
** The opening shot of [[Anime/GhostInTheShell the original film]] contains simultaneous English and Japanese voiceovers; the soundtrack of the second film contains two songs - "River of Crystals" and "Follow Me" - sung in slightly accented but grammatically correct, intelligible English by Kimiko Ito, the former of which was composed by Kenji Kawai specifically for the film.
* "Blue", the ending theme for the last episode of ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', is in flawless English. In fact, half the songs by The Seatbelts with lyrics are in Surprisingly Good English, thanks in no small part to Yamane Mai and American-born singers Emily Bindiger and Steve Conte, who between the three of them sing the vast majority of the series' English-language music.
* ''Anime/SerialExperimentsLain'' makes extensive use of Surprisingly Good English, from the opening theme to computer interfaces, C programming, English lessons, multiple allegedly historical documents, and different aspects of the ''Wired''.
** The opening theme is actually a song written by a now-defunct British band, Music/{{Boa|UK}}, which features two of Paul Rodgers' children. Hardly surprising the English was so good, really.
* The opening scene of ''Anime/ProjectAKo'' has astronauts working on a space probe, and speaking perfect American English.
** Also, ''Project A-Ko'' is reckoned to be the first anime ever to have had the soundtrack songs in the original Japanese version recorded entirely in English.
** ''Literature/CrestOfTheStars'' has a very brief scene in the first episode that can cause similar reactions.

* In the third episode of ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico'' Yurika addresses a United Earth Force assembly in English. Her accent is thick, but her pronunciation is much better than the supposedly English-speaking extras. Her exact words are, "We'd like to reach escape velocity from the Earth in three hours, ''buuuuuuut''... if you don't put the Big Barrier down for a moment, the Nadesico and the barrier satellites will be damaged. Would you mind pulling the barrier down PLEEEEEEEASE??" When UEF refuses her request she then adds, "So, we'll break through the barrier forcibly!"

* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' is a great example of this, as almost all the voiceovers are performed by professional American voice actors, the game features several songs in English, and even the in-game billboards are written in perfect (and oftentimes downright funny) English. And a number of minor characters in the game (namely the Part-Time Job guy, the clerk at K-Entertainment, the owner of Area 51, and Thunder Ryu) speak in thickly accented Engrish. Note that this is a game afraid to leave its players [[MindScrew scratching their heads]].