History Main / AsLongAsItSoundsForeign

* In Melbourne, Australia, there is an annual festival called ''Moomba'', which was suggested as a name by local Indigenous Australians, who translated it as something along the lines of "let's get together and have fun". In reality, 'Mum' (pronounced 'moom') means 'buttocks/anus' and '-ba' is a suffix meaning 'on, in, at' in several Aborigial languages of the area. The result means, roughly, "Up yours."

* ''Manga/{{Jackals}}'' is set in America at the tail end of the 19th century. Its main protagonists are Nicole D. Heyward (a ''Puerto Rican man'') and ''Huya'' Godfrey (a white guy). Some translations try to soften the blow by romanizing the first guy's name as "Nichol", but they're not fooling anyone. Also, his mother, who is actually from Puerto Rico, is ''Lokishii'' Heyward. The fan translation has tried to make ''that'' less ridiculous by changing it to "Roxy", but that's not quite what the kana spells out. And no, she's never been married. Roxy Heyward from late 19th-century Puerto Rico. ''Sheeeeesh''. This also overlaps with UnfortunateImplications if you take into account how the many countries outside the American continent looks Puerto Rico.

* Music/JenniferLopez jokingly showed off her lack of Spanish knowledge, despite her Puerto Rican ancestry, during an interview for Sony Entertainment Television. She spoke Spanish gibberish with a shrieking accent that some people found a little insulting. "Spanish gibberish with a shrieking accent" is how most Mexicans (and probably Cubans) would describe Puerto Rican Spanish, [[UnfortunateImplications if they were in an unkind mood]].

* A ''New York Times'' article [[http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/27/business/international/adidos-and-hotwind-in-china-brands-evoke-foreign-names-even-if-theyre-gibberish.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0# dated 28/12/2014]] mentioned that quite a few Chinese manufacturers decided to apply this trope to their own products sold to the domestic market, as the Chinese in general hardly associate a Chinese-sounding name acceptable for, say, fashion items that's a bit more expensive. Sometimes their choice of names can lead to UnfortunateImplications, for example, ''Helen Keller''-branded ''glasses frames''.

** This trope is averted for Mola Ram, who speaks flawless Hindi and whose lines make perfect sense in the context of the plot. On the other hand, he is played by a Bollywood actor who did his own translation.

* The ''WebVideo/HitlerRants'' fad on Website/YouTube takes a scene from ''Film/{{Downfall}}'' and subtitling the German to make [[ThoseWackyNazis Hitler]] appear to be ranting about ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', his UsefulNotes/XBox, shoes, Fords or whatever the author feels like laying into. It's a sort of inverse GodwinsLaw, in that you start with Hitler, ''then'' begin the discussion. It also allows {{YouTube Poop}}s in just about any language (except German), since the point is less what the words mean and more [[SuddenlyShouting what they sound like.]] For example, expect any Game of Thrones themed Hitler Rant to use Stannis in the subtitles when he mentions Stalin.

* Invoked by Creator/JackieChan's character Passpartout in ''Film/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays2004'', who pretends to speak French. Most of what he ends up saying is mere gibberish.

** The name of Durmstrang Institute sounds German, but doesn't actually mean anything (though it resembles, and was possibly inspired by, the phrase "Sturm und Drang" - storm and stress). Just to make matters worse, Durmstrang is said to be located in far northern Europe (most probably northern Norway), not Germany.

* ''Literature/{{Dune}}'': The original novel contains a Fremen funerary hymn, which is actually a real-world Serbian song. The Russian translator mistook it for garbled Russian, and, in the preface, he chastised Frank Herbert for "picking up the most pleasant-sounding words out of a Russian dictionary." To convey the purported effect, he translated the song into (grammatically-correct) Hindi.

** Miko Miyazaki's name is itself an example: her given name is a [[{{Miko}} title]] and her family name is [[Creator/HayaoMiyazaki rather famous]]. It's like if a Japanese fantasy work had a faux-English paladin named Priestess Spielberg. Miko, written with different Kanji, is an actual Japanese name (a diminutive of Mikoto).

** Oregon easily has the most confusing etymology of any state name. The earliest citation is a 1765 document by explorer Robert Rogers claiming that local natives called the Columbia River "Ouragon". But there's no other evidence of this name being used, leading to suspicion that Rogers either just made the name up, altered the name of the Ohio River (''Waregan'') in the language of the Abenaki people clear across the country in Maine, took it from a misspelling of the Wisconsin River on an old French map, or took it from the French word for "hurricane" (''ouragan''). Other theories involve the Spanish word ''orejón'' ("big ears") or even the spice name "oregano".

* The ''Tapestry of Dreams[=/=]Nations'' parade and Ride/DisneyThemeParks uses chanting that is meant to give an African feel, but it's completely meaningless.

* The hot dog fast food chain Wienerschnitzel (originally Der Wienerschnitzel) does not serve wiener schnitzel, a lightly battered and fried veal cutlet. American customers just supposed hear "wiener," to make them think of a hot dog, and some random German, to make it sound more exotic and authentic[[note]]Wiener means "Viennese". The Austrian capital has more than one culinary specialty[[/note]]. To make matters worse, "Wienerschnitzel" is neuter, not masculine, so the correct German would be "das Wienerschnitzel."

* A ''New York Times'' article [[http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/27/business/international/adidos-and-hotwind-in-china-brands-evoke-foreign-names-even-if-theyre-gibberish.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0# dated 28/12/2014]] mentioned quite a few Chinese manufacturers decided to apply this trope to their own products sold to the domestic market, as the Chinese in general hardly associate a Chinese-sounding name acceptable for, say, fashion items that's a bit more expensive. Sometimes their choice of names can lead to UnfortunateImplications, for example, ''Helen Keller''-branded ''glasses frames''.

* The extinct company Creator/BroderbundSoftware. The word "brøderbund" is not an actual word in any language but is a somewhat loose translation of "band of brothers" into a mixture of Danish, Dutch, German, and Swedish. The "ø" in "brøderbund" was used partially as a play on the Norwegian/Danish letter ø but was mainly referencing the slashed zero found in mainframes, terminals, and early personal computers. It doesn't help that in South Africa, the Afrikaans word ''Broederbond'' can denote a far-Right white supremacist organisation.

* ''Film/DancesWithWolves'' tried to avert this by teaching the actors to speak their lines in Lakotah (only one of the Indian actors spoke it fluently). Ironically, the Lakotah language coach was a woman. Lakotah is a dual language; it has male and female forms. So they're really speaking the language, but Lakotah audiences would hear[[note]]and laugh at[[/note]] the equivalent of a gang of Klingon warriors talking like Miss Marple and friends at tea.

** In "[=McStroke=]", Peter Griffin thinks he can speak Italian simply by virtue of his mustache. It sounds a lot like "beepity boopity boppity bappita" with accompanying hand gestures. The Italian butcher he's arguing with, however, is speaking ''almost'' proper Italian: some of what he says does not make idiomatic sense ("What's this? You're crazy! ... I will kill you with this meat!"), some is badly translated ("I'm gonna punch you on the head" is translated as "ti dò un pugno nella testa" instead of "ti dò un pugno ''sulla'' testa"), and his accent is clearly not a native Italian one. He actually said "I make a living of [selling] this meat" ("Io ci vivo con questa carne"), which is pretty accurate.

* In one children's movie, the young English protagonists found themselves in New Zealand watching Maori 'savages' dancing around a fire whilst chanting "Tahi! Rua! Toru! Wha!" repeatedly. As any New Zealand schoolchild should be able to tell you, this actually is genuine te reo Maori (Maori language). It translates to "One! Two! Three! Four!".

** Igor Van Helman Stanisvlasky, a Romanian with a [[MultiEthnicName Russian, Dutch, North-German, Polish name]].

* ''Literature/TheAsteriskWar'' is usually pretty good about getting non-Japanese characters' names right or at least plausible ([[SpellMyNameWithAnS when the translators don't screw it up after the fact]]), but there are still some mistakes.

** One of the schools in Asterisk is called "St. Galahadsworth", mashing up sainthood with [[Myth/ArthurianLegend a French-invented Knight of the Round Table]] and an Anglo-Saxon suffix (referring to a fenced or walled homestead). One of the [[SpellMyNameWithAnS alternate transliterations]] in the novels is "Gallardworth" or "Gallardsworth", which makes marginally more sense (Gallard is a real surname of Norman origin and could have conceivably mixed with English).

* The rock group Music/{{Blondie}} is notorious in certain circles for gratuitous French lyrics that, while not exactly gibberish, tend to be painfully literal and non-idiomatic translations from English. To a fluent speaker, the French verse of "Sunday Girl" in particular is little more than a ''Literature/DickAndJane'' level translation of one of the English verses; other songs are almost as bad, and "Call Me" throws in random stings of gratuitous ''Italian'' as well.

* ''Fanfic/IntoTheVeeshaVerse'': In-universe. "My Treasure" has Vee figure that "scheißen" is close enough to "schließen" that Masha will understand it. Masha, after they're done laughing, explains that while "schließen" means close, "scheißen" means shit. Vee accidentally asked Masha if they could shit the door instead of closing it.

* Granted, ''First Yank Into Tokyo'' was released during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, so accuracy would have been the last thing on anyone's minds. It does feature ''some'' Japanese characters with accurate names - "Sato" is real, and "Tanahe" and "Ichibo" are rare but legitimate family names - but "Okanura" and "Nogira" are completely made up. For bonus points, the male Colonel Okanura's given name is "Hideko", which is [[GenderBlenderName typically considered feminine]]. "Hai-Soon" and "Kai Koon" are also not genuine Korean names.

* Granted, ''First Yank Into Tokyo'' was released during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, so accuracy would have been the last thing on anyone's minds. It does feature ''some'' Japanese characters with accurate names - "Sato" is real, and "Tanahe" and "Ichibo" are rare but legitimate family names - but "Okanura" and "Nogira" are completely made up. For bonus points, the male Colonel Okanura's given name is "Hideko", which is typically considered feminine. "Hai-Soon" and "Kai Koon" are also not genuine Korean names.

** The time when Peter Griffin thinks he can speak Italian simply by virtue of his mustache. It sounds a lot like "Bippidy babbito bobbiti bobbidi boo" with accompanying hand gestures. The Italian butcher he's arguing with, however, is speaking ''almost'' proper Italian: some of what he says does not make idiomatic sense ("What's this? You're crazy! ... I will kill you with this meat!"), some is badly translated ("I'm gonna punch you on the head" is translated as "ti dò un pugno nella testa" instead of "ti dò un pugno ''sulla'' testa"), and his accent is clearly not a native Italian one. He actually said "I make a living of [selling] this meat" ("Io ci vivo con questa carne"), which is pretty accurate.

-->-- ''Literature/MovingPictures''

** As the page quote indicates, the people of Ankh-Morpork don't seem to be particularly concerned with what ''part'' of Klatch something is taking place in. Klatch has variously [[FantasyCounterpartCulture stood in for]] either [[{{Qurac}} the Middle East]] or DarkestAfrica, especially in earlier books, hence the debate in ''Literature/MovingPictures'' over whether they should address the locals as "[[https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/bwana#Swahili bwanas]]" or "[[https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/efendi#Turkish effendies]]."

*** That's because the Fire Nation [[FantasyCounterpartCulture is Japan with Indian names]].

* Music/ThePolice had two seemingly GratuitousFrench album titles, ''Outlandos D'Amour'' (supposed be "Outlaws of Love") and ''Regatta de Blanc'' ("Reggae by Whites"). And then came the outright gibberish ''Zenyatta Mondatta'' (which the band claimed to have borrowed from Zen, Jomo Kenyatta, ''monde'' — "world" in French — and again, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regatta Reggatta]]).

* Music/DavidBowie uses the phrase "Ouvre le chien" in two different songs. The literal translation from French is "Open the dog."

* The extinct company Creator/BroderbundSoftware. The word "brøderbund" is not an actual word in any language but is a somewhat loose translation of "band of brothers" into a mixture of Danish, Dutch, German, and Swedish. The "ø" in "brøderbund" was used partially as a play on the Norwegian/Danish letter ø but was mainly referencing the slashed zero found in mainframes, terminals, and early personal computers.

* Creator/AAPessimal expands one-line canon characters and cameos into fully-blown OC's, reasoning that this allows a lot more scope for creatively expanding the Literature/{{Discworld}}. One such was the Assassin, Miss Smith-Rhodes, who [[UsefulNotes/{{Zimbabwe}} intelligent extrapolation]] suggested a "Southern African" character, or Discworld equivalent of. As she was only ever intended to appear in one tale as a comic exaggeration of the [[AmoralAfrikaner South African]] set of NationalStereotypes, and at that point the author didn't speak any Afrikaans, her spoken language is... unconvincing. As she returned as a Fan Favourite by reader request, the author decided he needed to do the research. Suddenly, her cod-Dutch mixed with German did not meet quality control standards. He is still reading up on South Africa, en hy het Afrikaans leer praat[[note]]He started learning to speak Afrikaans[[/note]].