Line #40 Main/KeepItForeign


1	->''"Admiral Piquet (Joaquim de Almeida) -- a Frenchman who is so devious he substitutes French NATO troops for Americans in a phony rescue mission, and calls them off just when Burnett is desperately waving from a pickup area. Bet you a shiny new dime that when this movie plays in France, Admiral Piquet becomes an Italian."'' [[note]]He doesn't.[[/note]]
2	-->-- '''Creator/RogerEbert''''s [[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20011130/REVIEWS/111300301/1023 review]] of ''Film/BehindEnemyLines''
3
4	Say there is a foreign product which gets ported over to your local market. It is notable, though, that the original version features references to this new culture. This reference will often be changed to another culture. This is usually done to keep the "exotic flavor" that is invoked in the original work, but sometimes this is done for less wholesome reasons: After all, who wants to see a bad guy whose defining character trait is that he comes from the audience's own country?
5
6	Other times, it can have a pragmatic reason, since sometimes having the person be foreign is necessary to the plot. (For example, in the play ''Theatre/{{Chicago}}'', a minor plot revolves around an innocent woman being sentenced to death primarily because she spoke no English and no one could understand her Hungarian. Obviously, this wouldn't work when the show was performed in Hungary, so the Hungarian was changed to Chinese.) If the cultural/ethnic particulars of a character or other story aspect are ''too'' detailed and specific, any attempts to Keep It Foreign can lead to a ThinlyVeiledDubCountryChange.
7
8	When this is ''not'' done and there is a footnote or any author/translator's commentary of sorts, it will often say something along the lines of "in English in the original".
9
10	This has sometimes been used in certain English dubbed versions of foreign productions as an excuse [[{{Macekre}} for not staying true to the original writer's intentions]], based on the idea that the viewers [[ViewersAreMorons won't know the difference]] (or the language being used, for that matter).
11
12	Subtrope of CulturalTranslation. See also AccentAdaptation, TooLongDidntDub.
13
14	----
15	!!Examples:
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17	[[foldercontrol]]
18
19	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
20	* 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!"
21	* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'':
22	** Yukari-sensei becoming a Spanish teacher in the ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' manga translation might count here. It later becomes an InconsistentDub, because several jokes later depended upon her knowing English.
23	** In the dub of the anime she's simply a ''language'' teacher instead of an English one. And when one girl challenges another to say a phrase in English, it's been translated to "Why don't you say it in French?"
24	** The Yen Press translation of the manga relies on TranslationConvention and uses <brackets to indicate English speech>. This is necessary, since the blackboard (and at one point, the language bubbles) actually has proper English written on it.
25	** When Mr. Kimura drops a photo of a woman and his students ask about it, he reveals that he's married to the woman in the picture by referring to her as "''Mai Waifu''" ("My Wife") in GratuitousEnglish. In the ADV Manga translation, the "my" becomes a German "mein".
26	* 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.
27	* 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.
28	* 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.
29	* 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."]]
30	* 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'.
31	* ''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.
32	* The English subtitles (though not the dub) of ''Anime/HandMaidMay'' translate [[Creator/KikukoInoue Cyberdoll Mami's]] GratuitousEnglish into Gratuitous Japanese.
33	* In ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'', a South Korean soccer team appears in the third arc. In the South Korean dub, the it was changed into a North Korean team.
34	* 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.
35	* 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.
36	* 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.
37	* 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]] and switches the order around.
38	* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
39	** An in-story version occurs, 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.
40	** 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.
41	* ''Manga/OsomatsuKun'': In Kodansha's bilingual compilation volumes, Iyami's GratuitousEnglish was replaced with French, referencing his fanboyism of the country. His habit of referring to himself in English as "me" also changes to him using "''moi''".
42	* In the ''Anime/PrettySammy'' {{OVA}}s, Pixy Misa peppers her speech with GratuitousEnglish. When Pioneer dubbed the show into English, it became GratuitousFrench.
43	* ''Anime/SailorMoon'':
44	** 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.
45	** 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.
46	** 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.
47	** 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.
48	* 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.
49	* In the French dub of ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'', Vash's GratuitousFrench is changed to gratuitous Italian instead.
50	* 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.
51	* ''[[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.
52	* In a 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.
53	* ''Anime/WXIIIPatlaborTheMovie3'': In the English dub, the irate American film director yells his [[ClusterFBomb R-clinching profanities]] in Italian.
54	* 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.
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:Comic Books]]
58	* In a story by Creator/DonRosa, [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Scrooge McDuck]] has to deal with Arpine Lusene, a french GentlemanThief. In the original, he speaks in GratuitousFrench. In the French version, it is changed to Gratuitous [[YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe Vieil François]].
59	* The original French-Canadian version of ''ComicBook/LesNombrils'' has Vicky be pushed by her father into attending English camp; the English-language one changes it to, of course, French camp.
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
63	* ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'':
64	** In the German dub, Mac, the Scottish inventor hen, becomes Dutch.
65	** She becomes Swiss in the Italian dub. It makes sense, considering Switzerland is north of Italy, like how Scotland is north of England.
66	* In the Russian dub of ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'', Bobinski is Ukrainian instead of Russian.
67	* In the Italian dub of ''WesternAnimation/Madagascar3EuropesMostWanted'', Stefano, the Italian sea lion, is turned into a Spanish one.
68	* Weirdly downplayed in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMaskOfTheBlueFalcon'': In the original version, Shaggy claims that a sudden GratuitousFrench line he just said was actually Italian. In the Italian dub, he claims it's "French-ish".
69	* There's a version of this in ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2''. Antonio Banderas voices Puss with a generic Spanish accent in the English version; [[MultipleLanguagesSameVoiceActor in both the Spanish and Latin American versions]], he voices him with a thick Andalusian accent instead, different of any of the other characters.
70	* ''Franchise/ToyStory'':
71	** In the Castilian Spanish dub of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', Tour Guide Barbie's saying "please remain seated" in English and Spanish is changed to Barbie saying it in Spanish and French. In the Latin American dub, she still says it first in English and then in Spanish.
72	** In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', Hamm can't continue reading Buzz's manual because it is in Japanese, instead of Spanish as in the original. [[spoiler:Buzz still changes into an hilarious Spanish mode, which in the Spaniard dub is symbolized by him speaking with an over-the-top Andalusian accent.]]
73	* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', in the English version, Mei excels at French. In both French dubs, she instead excels in a Spanish class. Averted for Abby and Stacy who are still shown taking French class since the animation is unchanged.
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
77	* In the old days, the Spanish dubs of American films would often turn GratuitousSpanish speaking characters into Italian. As [[LatinoIsBrown actors became browner]] in more recent films, they started to become Brazilian and speak Portuguese.
78	* Famous example (because of ExecutiveMeddling): The German dub of ''Franchise/DieHard'' (the first one) changed the German terrorist team to an international one, and the main villain Hans Gruber was renamed Jack Gruber. During the scene where Bruce Willis' character writes the names of two of the bad guys on his hand, this is explained by him calling them after giants from a fairy tale. This is all but ignored during ''Film/DieHardWithAVengeance'', which even featured a flashback sequence to the first ''Film/DieHard''.
79	* The "I always wanted to become a surgeon" guy in ''Film/{{Hostel}}'' became Spanish in the German version of the movie.
80	* ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'':
81	** In the European Spanish dub, "Hasta la vista, baby" became "Sayonara, baby". The Latin American dubs, however, usually keep it the same.
82	** In the Mexican Spanish dub, the dialogue between Sarah Connor and her Mexican friends are kept, but the Mexican characters and Sarah in the Mexican dub uses an ''over-the-top'' Mexican accent in their voices. This is justified, since in the original English version, they used Spanish ''profanity'' and it cannot be translated due to the censorship of that time.
83	* The same thing happened in the Mexican Spanish dub of ''The Old Gringo'': The American characters speak using polite neutral Mexican Spanish, but the Mexican characters speak with an exaggerated, stereotypical Mexican accent.
84	* In the original version of ''Film/TheGoonies'', the woman hired by Mikey's mother is a Hispanic named Rosalita, and Mouth helps Mrs. Walsh by translating her commands into Spanish. In the Spanish version of this film, Rosalita becomes an Italian woman named Rossanna.
85	* In the French dub of ''Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow'', the woman who gets stuck in a cab during the tsunami sequence has been changed from French-speaking to Spanish-speaking.
86	* In ''Film/AFishCalledWanda'', Kevin Kline's character talks in Italian to his mistress to get her aroused. In the Italian dub, he uses Spanish.
87	* In a scene from ''Film/ThePinkPanther2006'', the humor is derived from the contrast between Clouseau's "[[JustAStupidAccent French]]" accent and another character's Russian accent. In the Russian dub, the latter character, while still referred to as a Russian, was given a Ukrainian accent. Could be justified, since Ukrainians are the second largest ethnic minority in Russia and some southern Russian accents sound a lot like Ukrainian.
88	* In the Russian dub of ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'', the Russian guy who approached Hud was changed to Belarusian.
89	* In the Creator/EddieMurphy film ''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.
90	* Paramount wanted to change TheMole in ''Film/{{Stalag 17}}'' from a German-American to a Polish-American for the film's West German release to avoid offending German sensibilities as they perceived them. This idea was dropped after director Creator/BillyWilder protested, but subsequently Wilder made no more movies for Paramount.
91	* Creator/RowanAtkinson plays a narcoleptic Italian tourist named Enrico Pollini in the 2001 film ''Film/RatRace''. The Italian dub changed his nationality to British ([[Series/MrBean what else]]) and renamed him "Henry [=McCollions=]".
92	* In the French dub of ''Film/{{Looper}}'', Joe learns Italian to go to Florence, while originally he learns French to go to Paris.
93	* In the Spaniard dub of ''Film/TheDevilsAdvocate'' the Hispanic guy that taunts Milton in the subway speaks Portuguese.
94	* In the Spaniard dub of ''Film/{{Capote}}'', the GratuitousSpanish sayings of Perry Smith ("saludos amigos", etc) are changed to French. On the other hand, the "adiós" that Capote says in the Costa Brava scene is changed to Catalan ("adéu"), since Costa Brava is in Catalonia.
95	* In movies where French is used in a romantic context ("Ze language of love"), the French dub usually replaces it with Italian.
96	** In ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', Pepe Le Pew is an Italian skunk, though the other characters around him still speak French (and in real French, not silly fake French).
97	** The fancy French restaurant in Film/SpiderMan3 is Italian in the French dub.
98	** In ''Film/TheMask'', Stanley's accent when he tries to seduce Tina awkwardly while disguising in an Onion Jack.
99	** In ''Film/GroundhogDay'', the verses that Phil learns during some temporal loops to impress Rita.
100	** In ''Film/TransformersTheLastKnight'', Hot Rod speaks with an Italian accent. Note that Viviane's curiosity about his pronunciation of the sound "R" is plausible in both versions, since French and Italian do indeed have a different way to pronounce "R" compared to English and each other.
101	** In ''Film/ALittlePrincess1995'', the French teacher becomes an Italian one, and Sara Crewe thus speaks in Italian in front of him and Ms Minchin.
102	** In ''Film/AnEducation'', Jenny Mellor becomes an Italophile and impresses Helen with her mastery of Italian.
103	** In ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'', the accent of Louis, the chef of the palace.
104	** In ''WesternAnimation/TheSwanPrincess'', Jean-Bob becomes an Italian frog named Aldo. In the DirectToVideo CGI sequels, he's voiced by an Belgian actor of Italian descent.
105	* In the French dub of ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', French soldier Jacques Dernier speaks a very accentuated French slang (argot).
106	* In the Mexican dub of ''Film/MrsDoubtfire'', Daniel Hillard's nanny alter-ego pretends to be and speaks with a fake accent from Spain, to mirror the [[{{Fauxreigner}} fake Britishness]] of the alleged nanny in the original American version. Likewise, Stu is also turned into a Spaniard for consistency's sake.
107	* The Italian version of ''Film/{{Eurotrip}}'' has the train pervert as a Spaniard.
108	* In ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', there is a scene where the Russian terrorist holding Lois hostage says a phrase to her in Russian. In the Russian dub, he instead says it in English.
109	* In the Creator/LindsayLohan remake of ''Film/{{The Parent Trap\|1998}}'', Annie (posing as Hallie) angrily starts [[ForeignLanguageTirade jabbering in French]] without realizing it. The French dub changes it to Spanish.
110	* In the French dub of ''Film/DjangoUnchained'', the French lines directed at Candie are changed to Spanish, and he is referred to by another character as a hispanophile instead of a francophile. It's not entirely seamless, as Candie's francophilia is clearly visible on screen.
111	* In the Russian dub of ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'', the Buzzards are speaking German instead of Russian.
112	* 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 a thing.
113	* In the Japanese dub of ''Film/{{RoboCop\|1987}}'', "''Sayonara, [=RoboCop=]!''" becomes "''Bye-bye, [=RoboCop!=]''"
114	* In the Italian dub of ''Film/MoscowOnTheHudson'', Lucia and her family are changed from Italians to Mexicans.
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder:Literature]]
118	* In French translations of ''Literature/AnimalFarm'', Napoleon's name is usually changed to César (Caesar).
119	* Jim Butcher's ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' novel ''Fool Moon'' takes OurWerewolvesAreDifferent to [[ExaggeratedTrope great lengths]], featuring no less than [[spoiler:four]] completely different takes on them in a single story. The baddest-ass among them is the "Loup-Garou." Unfortunately for the French translation, ''loup-garou'' is already French for "werewolf." The translator had no choice but to find another word, and settled for "devourer".
120	* The passage "Ima trava okolo i korenja okolo" in ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' means "There are herbs around and roots around" in Serbian, but to Russians it sounds like bad GratuitousRussian. Pavel Vyaznikov's Russian translation translated it into Hindi-Urdu. Notably, Vyaznikov himself didn't realize it was Serbian until much later.
121	* Russian translations of the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' suffer from this really hard. Barrayar is heavily modeled on the UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia, so the translators turned to this to make it more exotic[[note]]Back in early 90s, when the series started to be translated, there wasn't much market for a "nativist" SF in Russia.[[/note]], and to mask some bloopers from LMB's rather cursory knowledge on the subject. Both reasons have since largely disappeared, but the tradition has already taken root.
122	* Many works written in the 19th or early 20th century will have characters speaking a line or two of French, as it was something of an international language. Most French translations will put the passage in italics with a footnote saying it was French in the original (en français dans le texte). Similarly, Russian books (such as ''Anna Karenina'') translated into English that involve lines in both English and French usually put ''both'' in italics, allowing English readers to figure out that italics signify another language, even if it's equally readable.
123	* In Sholem Aleichem's stories about Tevye (which ''Theatre/FiddlerOnTheRoof'' is based on), Tevye quotes the Torah or Talmud in Hebrew sometimes, and comments on it in Yiddish (which the stories are written in). One translation put the Hebrew in old-fashioned English (with "thee," "thou," "hath," etc., like the King James Bible), and then a dash between that and the regular English translation from the Yiddish.
124	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''
125	** In ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'', the villainess is Lady Lilith de Tempscire (not her real name), who turns out to be [[spoiler: Granny Weatherwax's sister, the clue being that "temps" and "cire" are French for "weather" and "wax"]]. In the French translation [[spoiler: the sister of Mémé Ciredutemps has adopted the name of ... Lady Lilith Weatherwax]].
126	** A sort of inversion (Keep it ''Almost'' Foreign) in the French translation of ''Literature/SoulMusic'', where the Celtic language spoken by Buddy shifts from Welsh to Breton.
127	** Similar to the ''Witches Abroad'' example, in ''Literature/TheColourOfMagic'', when Rincewind and Twoflower are transported to Roundworld, and given new histories to fit, the German translation replaces Twoflower becoming the German tourist Jack Zweiblumen with Zweiblum becoming the English tourist Jack Twoflower. (Rincewind remains the Swedish-American Dr Rjinswand.)
128	* In ''Literature/TheNightOfWishes'', Maurizio the cat says he descends from noble Neapolitan cats. In the Italian translation it was changed to French cats, and he also says that his true name is Maurice De Sainte-Maure. The change also applies for the cartoon adaptation, ''WesternAnimation/{{Wunschpunsch}}''.
129	* When ''Literature/AClockworkOrange'' was first translated into Polish, as ''Mechaniczna pomarańcza'', the translator kept all the Russian-influenced slang. But several years later he produced another version, ''Nakręcana pomarańcza'', with all Russian-influenced slang changed into English-influenced one. He also planned a German-based version, which never happened because the translator died.
130	[[/folder]]
131
132	[[folder:Live Action TV]]
133	* Versions of ''Series/FawltyTowers'' shown in Spain did this with Manuel, the well-meaning but dim waiter who happened to come from Barcelona. In the Catalan version, he is Mexican. In the Castilian, he is Paolo from Naples.
134	* ''Series/{{Friends}}'':
135	** In the Italian dub, the Italian character Paolo from the first two seasons is renamed Pablo and comes from Spain.
136	** In the French dub of "The One Where Joey Speaks French", Joey tries to learn Spanish.
137	* In the French dub of ''Series/{{Lost}}'', Danielle Rousseau is German.
138	* The German in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' becomes Danish in the German dub.
139	* Mr. Sulu is Filipino in the Japanese dub of ''Series/{{Star Trek\|The Original Series}}'' and renamed Mr. Kato. Some ''Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse'' materials make Sulu a mix of Japanese and Filipino descent, mostly to explain his [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign un-Japanese surname]].
140	* In the Latin American dub of ''Series/SuddenlySusan'', the exiled Cuban photographer played by Nestor Carbonell is Russian... a Russian called Luis.
141	* In ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'', the French version of Gomez Addams loves when Morticia speaks Spanish (instead of French in the English version).
142	* In the 1954 adaptation of ''Literature/CasinoRoyale'', which turned Bond into Jimmy Bond of the CIA, Felix Leiter becomes a British agent called Clarence.
143	* Done only half-voluntarily in one English fansub of ''Series/TokumeiSentaiGobusters''. Early in the series a mecha formation called "Go-Buster Oh" appeared. "Oh" is Japanese for "king", and because of the somewhat Western flavor of the show's setting the fansubbers decided to translate it to "Go-Buster King". But then later on in the show, a mecha literally called "Go-Buster King" in GratuitousEnglish appeared, so they had no choice but to follow this trope by translating that as "Go-Buster Oh".
144	* In the Swedish version of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', the Swedish Chef becomes Norwegian.
145	** In the German version he's Danish, probably because for most Germans Danish is a more inherently funny language than Swedish.
146	--->'''Danish Chef:''' Smørrebrød, smørrebrød, røm pøm pøm pøm.
147	* In the English version of ''{{Series/Violetta}}'', the songs are dubbed into English. In season 2, there are some originally English songs. These have been dubbed into French.
148	* In the Brazilian dub of ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'', Faymen (Moze's Brazilian love interest) is Spanish.
149	* In the French dub of ''Series/SorryIveGotNoHead'', Phillipe Lavavaseur is Canadian.
150	* The scene on the Russian submarine in ''Series/GoodOmens2019'' is preceded by a location card that flips between Russian and English. On the English card, the name of the submarine is given in Russian. On the Russian one, the name is translated into English.
151	* In an episode of ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' in which Alex has trouble in Spanish class, the Latin American dub first changes it to just “language class” and then decides to make it Italian. Interestingly, in the European Spanish dub, the language isn’t changed, but instead the subject itself - Alex doesn’t have trouble in a Spanish class, but rather a Mexican culture class.
152	[[/folder]]
153
154	[[folder:Stand-Up Comedy]]
155	* Adam Hills discussed the renaming of the Swedish Chef to the Norwegian Chef in the Swedish version of ''Series/TheMuppetShow''.
156	-->'''Adam:''' Do you know what I love most about that? That means that there were Swedish people who had grown up their whole lives watching ''The Muppet Show'' in Sweden, watching the Norwegian Chef... then went on holidays across the border to Norway... and ''tried to make fun of Norwegians'' by going ''[makes Swedish Chef noises]''... and the Norwegians would have just looked at each other and went "Oh my God! They ''actually'' speak like that!"
157	[[/folder]]
158
159	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
160	* The first few editions of the ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' Card Game had cards that had English names (written in katakana) in the Japanese version - these became Japanese in the English version. Not all of them, though; the early translation was decidedly messy.
161	** Example: Cyclops (Japanese) became "Hitotsume Giant" (Hitotsume meaning One-Eye) in the English version.
162	** Thunderbolt (Japanese) became Raigeki (English)
163	** Diamond Dragon (Japanese) became Hyozanryu (English), which translates to "Iceberg Dragon"... They didn't even try with the Sapphire and Emerald Dragons (Luster Dragons 1 and 2, respectively)
164	** Ryu Senshi and Jigen Bakudan had names written in GratuitousEnglish (Dragon Warrior and Time Bomber respectively). Their names were also changed to a Japanese translation of the English word.
165	** The Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh card "Rai-Oh", meaning Thunder King, arrived in the English version as "Thunder King Rai-Oh", which literally means "[[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Thunder King Thunder King]]".
166	*** They do this a lot. Another example would be the "YU-JYO" (Friendship) card, that became "Yu-Jo Friendship" in the English version. "[[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Friendship Friendship]]". (Though that one is somewhat justified since it's a pun: the card image shows '''Yu'''gi and '''Jou'''nouchi/'''Jo'''ey broing it up)
167	** And now a whole archtype. The Gishki were called the Ritua in Japanese. Ritua is a corruption of Ritual, and Gishki is a corruption of Gishiki. Either way, both names are based upon the name for Ritual cards in the other language.
168	** Interestingly, Satellarknight Triverr's official French name is Satellarknight Triwinter.
169	* When the ''TabletopGame/{{Pokemon}}'' Trading Card game introduced Mega Evolutions as EX Pokémon, in the Japanese version the illustrations of the cards featured the names of their main attacks written in GratuitousEnglish over them. In the foreign releases, the attack names are in GratuitousJapanese instead.
170	[[/folder]]
171
172	[[folder:Theatre]]
173	* JustForFun/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples: Most of Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar'' is written in Early Modern English, but of course, Caesar and his contemporaries would ''actually'' have been speaking Latin most of the time. Shakespeare rendered Caesar's last words as "Et tu, Brute?—Then fall, Cæsar;" the first three words of this are Latin meaning "And you, Brutus?", indicating Caesar's sense of betrayal upon recognising Brutus among the conspirators. The historical Caesar's dying words are disputed; some contemporary accounts report that he said nothing, while others mention a rumour that his dying words included a phrase in Greek directed at Brutus, "Καὶ σύ, τέκνον?", meaning "And you, child?" The Romans used Greek as a marker of their education, much as Latin has evidently been used in the Anglosphere since at least Shakespeare's day; thus, by rendering some of Caesar's dying words in Latin, Shakespeare is achieving the same effect for his contemporary audiences. It should be noted that Shakespeare did not originate the phrase "Et tu, Brute?", but he is of course the most famous author to use it.
174	[[/folder]]
175
176	[[folder:Video Games]]
177	* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'':
178	** The Russian version of ''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.)
179	** Oddly, ''Heroes VI'' didn't follow suit with its Slavic names of the Griffin family. They did, however, do a TranslationCorrection on a misspelled name (Sveltana to Svetlana).
180	* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'': In the Japanese and English versions, the round sources of luminous energy found in the Palace of Twilight are called Sols (Sol means Sun in Latin and several Romance languages, including Spanish). In the Spanish version, they're renamed Taiyo (Sun in Japanese).
181	* The Russian version of ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'' left Rexxar's bear, Misha, nameless. Probably in order to avoid the association of ''[=WarCraft=]'' with a children's story. In most Russian children's stories with talking animals, the bear is always named Misha (short for Mikhail). The name is also often used for circus bears.
182	* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'':
183	** 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.
184	** The regionalization does get a LampshadeHanging when Morgan Fey constantly refers to Lotta Heart as a "foreigner" due to her Southern accent (originally Kansai). Phoenix has to point out that the "heartlands" are still technically a part of America.
185	** [[SmugSnake Redd White's]] GratuitousEnglish turned into GratuitousSpanish in the English version of the first game.
186	** In the French version of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'', Jean Armstrong, the French chef, is Italian. His name is Luigi Labocca, averting the [[JustForFun/OneMarioLimit One Luigi Limit]].
187	** One plot point in the Japanese version of the second game involves a character driving an American car, meaning the driver's seat is on the left instead of the right as would be expected in Japan. The English version changes this to a British car to put the driver's seat on the right instead of the left.
188	* Villain Yeager from ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' spoke in a rather peculiar way in the original Japanese dub, filled to the brim with GratuitousEnglish. Rather than going with the typical response of some other gratuitous language to this in the English dub, he was given a goofy, over the top german accent. Not exactly the same, but gets the character's "off-kilter"ness out just the same.
189	* In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', the line "Adios, Shadow the Hedgehog" is translated "Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog", presumably because the common Spanish word for goodbye didn't sound very exotic for countries with large Spanish-speaking populations.
190	* In Spanish translation of ''VideoGame/TheLongestJourney'', the Hispanic Cortez, who often slips in bits of his [[GratuitousSpanish "native" tongue]] becomes ''Corthes,'' the Frenchman who often slips in bits of his [[GratuitousFrench "native" tongue]].
191	* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
192	** In the Japanese version of ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', a random NPC in Veilstone City asks you a question in [[GratuitousEnglish English]], which the English version changed to [[GratuitousFrench French]].
193	** In ''Diamond and Pearl'', the Gym Leader Fantina was originally named "Melissa" in the Japanese version, and spoke English. In the English translation, her name was changed to the more French-sounding "Fantina", and she spoke French. In the French version, she spoke English again and her name was changed to "Kimera".
194	** ''Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum'' contain a man called the Meister, who upgrades your Pokédex to display other languages and offers to trade you his German Magikarp for a Finneon. In the German versions, he's called the Master and offers an English Magikarp.
195	** Many of the Pokémon species themselves, especially in the [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue very first games]] - in Japanese, many of them had [[GratuitousEnglish English words]] for names (often [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin just the English word for whatever animal/object they were]]), so the English translation had to get more creative ("Lizard", "Cocoon", "Pigeon", "Sand", "Ghost", "Crab" and "Strike" became "Charmeleon", "Kakuna", "Pidgeotto", "Sandshrew", "Haunter", "Krabby" and "Scyther", respectively).
196	** ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY''[='s=] international theme meant quite a bit of GratuitousEnglish text appeared in the Japanese version, which was mostly replaced with Japanese for the English translation (or German in one instance).
197	* Waka of ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' originally spiced up his sentences with GratuitousEnglish, which was ''mostly'' changed to GratuitousFrench... except when he quotes recognizable catchphrases, such as "[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Let's rock, baby]]!" or "[[VideoGame/ViewtifulJoe Just go for it]]!"
198	* One thought of an NPC in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' is in English in the Japanese version. This was changed to Japanese in the English version. In both versions, he's thinking about is how he only speaks English and can't communicate with the locals, who only speak Japanese.
199	* 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.]]
200	* In the Prism Rangers bonus mission of ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 2\|CursedMemories}}'', the Japanese dialogue has Prism Orange as a FunnyForeigner who speaks a mixture of English and nonsensical Japanese with a thick American-tourist accent. In the English translation, he speaks IntentionalEngrishForFunny with a thick Japanese accent.
201	-->'''Prism Orange (Japanese):''' Fujiyama, geisha! Fantastic ne!!\
202	'''Prism Orange (English):''' Supah pahti! Fantastic spahkaru! Let's gooh nambah waan!
203	* The Chinese characters of Capcom's arcade beat-'em-up ''Tenchi o Kurau II'' ended up becoming the Mongolian characters of ''Warriors of Fate'', the English version of the same game.
204	* In the Russian version of ''VideoGame/SinsOfASolarEmpire'', the names of the ''Kol'' battleship and the ''Sova'' carrier for the [=TEC=] faction were changed by duplicating the last consonant in a typical English fashion for common word last names (e.g. Starr), making them ''Koll'' and ''Sovva'', respectively. "Kol" in Russian means "stake" (as in for killing vampires), and "sova" is Russian for "owl". The Russian-sounding ''Dunov'' battlecruiser kept its name.
205	* In ''VideoGame/Portal2'', Wheatley is seen shortly switching to Spanish BlindIdiotTranslation. In the Spanish dub, he is [[http://youtu.be/x4RKEe7YCTI speaking]] English.
206	* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianDawn'', Kane orders the fake news about a massacre (to frame GDI) to be translated to German and French. In the German version of the game, Kane orders the translation to be done to English and French, and vice versa.
207	* In the Japanese version of ''VideoGame/Persona3'', Mitsuru Kirijo uses GratuitousEnglish at times. In the English dub, this is changed to GratuitousFrench.
208	* Creator/DataEast's arcade MechaGame ''Wolf Fang'' was released overseas as ''Rohga: Armor Force''. "Rohga" means "wolf fang" in Japanese, but the English title was used in Japanese.
209	* In the English version of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'', major NPC Rodrigo Briscoletti peppers his speech with [[GratuitousItalian Italian words]]. In the Italian translation it is, of course, GratuitousEnglish instead.
210	* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'': In most translations, Larxene's weapons have French names. In the French translation, they instead have German names.
211	* ''VideoGame/BravelySecond'': In most languages, the language of the moon is GratuitousFrench. In the Japanese, Korean and (naturally) French translations, it is GratuitousEnglish instead.
212	* ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'': In most languages, the primary town on the [[FantasyCounterpartCulture South America analogue]] is called Contigo, but in Spanish-language versions, it's renamed Mitdir, which is a direct translation of the town's name from Spanish to German. [[spoiler:The corresponding English translation for these words is "with you", foreshadowing the joining of the two games' parties in this town after beating Jupiter Lighthouse.]]
213	* Kagura of the ''VideoGame/{{Onechanbara}}'' series likes to deliver her {{Pre Asskicking One Liner}}s in thickly-accented GratuitousEnglish. So naturally, when it came time to dub ''Onechanbara Z2 Chaos'' into English, they had her use thickly-accented GratuitousJapanese. No matter which voice track you're playing in, NarmCharm ensues.
214	* In the Italian translation of ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'' games, Don Paolo is renamed Don Pablo similarly to the ''Friends'' example from above.
215	* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragon'', generic units will be added to your army if you lose too many units; these are named for {{num\|ericalThemeNaming}}bers, {{day\|OfTheWeekName}}s, and [[TemporalThemeNaming months]] in {{G\|ratuitousGerman}}erman. The German translation, naturally, renames them to the Japanese equivalents.
216	* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsX'': The English "Hope" is foreign to the Japanese players but not to other players with English as their mother tongue so the Latin[[note]]A dead language; still in use but no longer a native language of any community.[[/note]] equivalent "Spero" makes it foreign for everyone else.
217	* ''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 QuirkyWork is so unapologetically Japanese [[TooLongDidntDub the original voice track is used]] so the message gets across.
218	* Rather than directly transliterate the names of [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Tai Wu]] characters, the English localization of ''VideoGame/DragaliaLost'' takes what would be the kanji[[note]]All names in the Japanese version of the game are written in Katakana alone, but characters from Tai Wu are usually named after famous Chineses figures from history or legend whose names are written in kanji/hanzi[[/note]] of their original name in the Japanese version and uses the Mandarin reading of it. Thus, Suou (蘇芳) becomes Su Fang, Son Goku (孫悟空) becomes Sun Wukong, Taikoubou (太公望) becomes Jiang Ziya, and so forth.
219	* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'': In the English localization, villain Fawful speaks entirely [[IntentionalEngrishForFunny in a hilariously bad Japanese-to-English translation]]. The Latin American localization kept this gimmick and he speaks entirely in a hilariously bad English-to-Spanish translation.
220	* In the German dub of ''VideoGame/{{Skylanders}}: Swap Force'', Baron Von Shellshock is French and is called Baron de Shellshock.
221	* In the original Korean script of ''VideoGame/CookieRunKingdom'', the Bear Jelly Merchant featured throughout bonus cutscenes in the Cookie Odyssey mode uses GratuitousEnglish in their dialogue. The languages are reversed in the English translation.
222	* The English translation of ''VideoGame/MagiaRecordPuellaMagiMadokaMagicaSideStory'' and its anime replaces Alina Gray's GratuitousEnglish with GratuitousItalian.
223	[[/folder]]
224
225	[[folder:Web Animation]]
226	* In ''WebAnimation/MurderDrones'', Doll only speaks in Russian, which receives hardcoded translated subtitles for the English-speaking audience's benefit. In the alternate Russian dub track, she speaks English.
227	[[/folder]]
228
229	[[folder:Western Animation]]
230	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': There's a case of "keep it different language" in the Italian dub of the episode "The Papal Chase" which is set in the Vatican. In that episode, several times the characters try to speak Italian, but in the Italian dub, they speak Latin instead. Although it's done to a ridiculous extent when they are dealing with the Swiss Guards, and in the Italian dub, Lana claims that Switzerland's official languages are German, French, ''[[BlatantLies Latin]]'' (instead of Italian), and Romansh.
231	* 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.
232	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Bluey}}'':
233	** 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.
234	** In the episode "Pavlova", Bandit dresses as a chef who speaks broken GratuitousFrench. Also in the French dub, he speaks broken GratuitousItalian instead.
235	* In the Latin American Spanish dub of ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'', Supercow's Gratuitous Spanish dialogue was changed to GratuitousEnglish.
236	* 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.
237	* ''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.
238	* In ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'', French is a dead language. In the French version, it's German instead.
239	* ''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.
240	* 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.
241	* 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.
242	* 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.
243	* 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.
244	* In the French dub of ''WesternAnimation/PeppaPig'', the Donkey family is from England.
245	* Uter is a German-speaking Swiss in the German dub of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''.
246	** In the European Spanish dub, Bumblebee Man's GratuitousSpanish is retained, but he still has a Mexican accent.
247	*** And yet, oddly, in his first episode he was dubbed as Italian. Then somebody either realized that a Mexican accent would be as foreign, or that the character was a CaptainErsatz of ''Series/ElChapulinColorado'' (there was in fact a brief revival of Series/{{Chespirito}}'s popularity in Spain about that time).
248	* ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'': The French-speaking pool boy, Guillaume, is a Spanish-speaking boy named Guillermo instead in the original French version.
249	[[/folder]]
250
251	[[folder:RealLife]]
252	* The Roller-coaster amusement ride is only known in Russia by the name roughly translated as "American mountains/hills/slides". Contrariwise, in some European countries (like France, Italy and Spain) they are known as "Russian mountains". This is doubly confusing since the name, originally used in English as well, is an acknowledgement of the fact that they were ''invented by Russians'', which one would think would be a compliment.
253	* What is called a Danish Pastry in English (and a ''Kopenhagener'' or ''Kopenhagener Plunder'' in German-speaking countries, including Austria) is called ''wienerbrød'' (Viennese bread) in Danish, Swedish and Norwegian (and ''viineri'' in Finnish).
254	* In the 17th century, French courtiers came with the custom to leave without saying a word as to not disturb or distract the King from governing matters. When the Bourbons inherited the throne of Spain, they introduced the same custom, which gave origin to the Spanish idiom "Saying goodbye the French way" as slang to leaving unnanounced. Eventually the idiom made its way to France, but by then the custom had disappeared, so they changed it to "Saying goodbye the Spanish (or English) way". "French leave/exit" is still used in English, albeit in a casually insulting way as with other foreigner-based phrases such as "Dutch treat" (each person on a date paying their own bills).
255	[[/folder]]

Context Main / KeepItForeign