This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Ununnilium: ...what's Christopher Lambert's first language? `.`
Xwingace: French.
This trope happens again, in Highlander: Endgame, with a conversation in Scots Gaelic between Duncan and Connor (Adrian Paul and Christopher Lambert), which neither of them speak.
I'm not sure whether this actually applies for CL in Highlander, but I could imagine it. I do know CL barely spoke any English at all when he played Tarzan. But then, barely any English was required there.
Rissa: Were the girls in the Family Guy example Thai, or Taiwanese? The example contradicts itself and I haven't seen the episode.
Kizor: There was a lengthy pet theory on the Firefly example, and it was attracting other natter. Best to use the discussion page for discussion.
- Which if the characters were actually trying to speak Mandarin would make it a bit of a Wallbanger, but this troper's always assumed that, given the limited use of it, mostly in expletives and terms of endearment, that the Mandarin was pronounced exactly as Americans would if they borrowed a loanword from another language as is typical of English. While English sometimes keeps the original pronunciation in loanwords, sometimes the inflection changes to accommodate our particular speaking style (take the different ways in which native Americans and Japanese pronounce the work 'karaoke' for example). Of course, this is a pet theory. Given that the show went to the trouble of hiring language coaches for what were essentially just fancy swear words, I imagine that the intent by the creators was for more true fluency, which is why I'm not claiming this as a Justified Trope.
- Tones were the least of their problems. There was only one line in the series that was pronounced with anything like the correct pronunciation.
- Well, it's 500 years in the future, not on Earth, and most of the characters weren't burdened by an overabundance of schooling, so they should get a pass.
