History Main / MisplacedAccent

* Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger's famous Austrian accent is often unexplained, but when it is explained, it sometomes doesn't match the explanation:

* Marie from ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'' was voiced by Louise "Liz" English. Since the film mainly takes place in Paris, France, Marie has a British accent which is strange since her mother has a French accent and her brothers Toulouse and Berlioz have American accents. Her voice actor Louise is English and later became one of the Hill's Angels in ''Series/TheBennyHillShow''. Marie's voice in the film sounds like a mix between a British accent and a Mid-Atlantic accent.

* In ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'', Xinyan, a character from Liyue which is basically fantasy China, has a deep, ''deep'' southern accent within the English dub. Her accent is so unlike the rest of the cast, it makes Xinyan stand out to the fandom. Whilst some find her accent to be unique to her character, others just found it bizarre or immersion-breaking.

* All of the adults in ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' have strong Scottish accents, despite them clearly being Nordic.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Frenchman Jean-Luc Picard speaks with a British accent. His brother doesn't. Supposedly Creator/PatrickStewart did ''try'' to employ a French accent in early screen tests but [[OohMeAccentsSlipping couldn't get it to sound convincing or consistent enough]] and gave it up as a bad job before they got to filming the actual pilot episode. Season 1 of ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' demonstrates when he goes undercover; Season 2 explains that the Picards lived in the UK for many generations before reclaiming the vineyards.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Frenchman Jean-Luc Picard speaks with a British accent. His brother doesn't. Supposedly Creator/PatrickStewart did ''try'' to employ a French accent in early screen tests but [[OohMeAccentsSlipping couldn't get it to sound convincing or consistent enough]] and gave it up as a bad job before they got to filming the actual pilot episode.

* InUniverse in ''Anime/YourName''. When Mitsuha is inhabiting Taki's body, Taki's friends note that he's speaking in a country dialect rather than like the Tokyoite he's supposed to be.

* In his [[WesternAnimation/SaludosAmigos film debut]], José Carioca is voiced by a Brazilian voice actor and sounds authentically Brazilian. Unfortunately, his accent is distinctly ''Paulista'' (from Usefulnotes/SaoPaulo) instead of the expected ''Carioca'' (from Usefulnotes/RioDeJaneiro).

* In ''Film/TwentyTwelve'', when showing Usefulnotes/RioDeJaneiro suffering MonumentalDamage, it averts the usual [[TheCapitalOfBrazilIsBuenosAires Brazilians speaking Spanish]], but the broadcaster has a noticeable Portuguese accent.

* ''WesternAnimation/BlakeAndMortimer'': With the exception of Mortimer who is Scottish and has the right accent, the rest of characters, particularly the French and Japanese characters, are all speaking in a North American accent. The worst is Blake who is British and yet, he sounds like an American.

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'': Semyon Brezhnev is supposed to speak with Russian accent, but his voice actor instead imitates an American one.

* In his [[WesternAnimation/SaludosAmigos film debut]], José Carioca is voiced by a Brazilian voice actor and sounds authentically Brazilian. Unfortunately, his accent is distinctly ''Paulista'' (from São Paulo) instead of the expected ''Carioca'' (from Rio de Janeiro).

* In Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon, Simmons' bodygurd Durch says "dankeschön" (German for "thanks a lot") with a very nasal French accent.

** Liquid Snake. He was born in the US, taken to England at the age of three or four, and escaped his (presumably British) caretakers at the age of about six or seven, learning multiple languages. After that, he lived in Africa, and was presumably travelling the world until joining the SAS at the age of about seventeen. Then he spent several years in the Gulf, coming out fluent in Arabic and with some culturally Middle Eastern ideas (such as a fondness for hunting jackals). Then he spends the next nine years working for the Americans. All this and yet as a child, he speaks in a London accent, and as an adult, he speaks in the exaggerated RP of an EvilBrit. Is it Liquid's intentional affectation?

* Considering how iconic it is, it's surprising how few times Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger's famous Austrian accent has an in-universe explanation, with ''Film/{{Junior}}'' and ''Film/KindergartenCop'' being the only times where his character is Austrian, like the man himself. Every other time he's a homegrown American who just inexplicably has an Austrian accent for some reason. With the exceptions of...
** ''Film/{{Commando}}'' was the first film to attempt to justify his accent, passing it off as an East-German accent, despite sounding ''not even remotely'' German[[note]] German is Austria's national language, but the accents and pronunciation are as different from those found in Germany as the spoken English of a native Scotsman would be from that of an American, so Austrians naturally have a different accent in English compared to Germans[[/note]]. Should also be noted for the sake of irony that Arnie was famously not allowed to dub himself in German due to having what can basically be described as the "Country Hick" accent in his native language.

** ''Film/Twins1988'' had Arnold's character Julius be raised on a South Pacific island by scientists, with his main father figure being named "Professor Werner".
** Hilariously played with in a deleted scene from ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'', where Arnold briefly plays Sgt. Candy, the in-universe model for the T-800... who speaks in an over the top southern accent, dubbed by none other than Creator/SamuelLJackson. An executive remarks that he doesn't like the accent, prompting a scientist to say "We can fix it" in Arnold's voice.

** ''Film/{{Twins}}'' had Arnold's character Julius be raised on a South Pacific island by scientists, with his main father figure being named "Professor Werner".

* In ''VideoGame/RoadRedemption'', the biker gang members all have Australian accents (likely in reference to ''Film/MadMax), but the road signage, pavement markings, direction of traffic, and vegetation such as cacti imply that the setting is in the western USA.

* Marie from ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'' was voiced by Louise "Liz" English. Since the film mainly takes place in Paris, France, Marie has a British accent which is strange since her mother has a French accent and her brothers Toulouse and Berlioz have American accents. Her voice actor Louise is English and later became one of the Hill's Angels in ''Series/TheBennyHillShow''. Marie's voice in the film sounds like a mix between a British accent mixed with a Mid-Atlantic accent.

* ''Film/TradingPlaces'' plays this for comedy when the heroes all disguise themselves foreigners. Ophelia apparently gets mixed up and pretends to be Swedish even though she's wearing German lederhosen. Her baffled conspirators call her out in this in the middle of the con, but it's too late to contradict herself.

* In an episode of the Chinese sitcom ''I Love My Family'' features an American character played by a Swedish girl, Simone Giertz, who spoke American English with a noticeable Swedish accent. Ironically, Giertz later gained internet fame in Youtube videos after her accent had faded to the point that she could comfortably pass for American.