As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|'''Sol Dibbler''': I don't think "bwanas" is the right word, Uncle.

'''CMOT Dibbler''': It's [[Qurac|Klatchian]], isn't it?

'''Sol Dibbler''': Well technically, but I think it's [[Darkest Africa|the wrong part of Klatch]] and maybe "effendies" or something...

'''CMOT Dibbler''': Just so long as it's foreign.|'''''[[Discworld/Moving Pictures|Moving Pictures]]'''''}}

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*** In one sketch, Danny Kaye (see above) played the Chef's uncle.

** ''The Muppet Show'' also featured occasional appearances by the Flying Zucchini Brothers, an acrobat troupe that spoke Italian-sounding gibberish with the occasional broken English inserted. ("Ay, Fettucini alfredo! Light-a da booma-booma!")

* Lt. Hikaru Sulu from ''[[Star Trek: The ~~Original Series|Star Trek the~~ Original Series]]'' combines a Japanese given name with a completely made-up surname that kind of sounds Japanese (the fact that it's ''got an L in it'' notwithstanding).

* Lt. Hikaru Sulu from ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' combines a Japanese given name with a completely made-up surname that kind of sounds Japanese (the fact that it's ''got an L in it'' notwithstanding).

** The Sulu Strait is in the Philippine archipelago. The Japanese dub of the original series considered Sulu to be Filipino.

** [[Gene Roddenberry]] mentioned it being an affectionate rendering of Solow, as in Herb Solow, the executive who helped get Star Trek off the ground, "without the W."

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** On the other hand, in the Japanese dubbing of Star Trek, Sulu was renamed [[The Green Hornet|Kato]], a common Japanese surname.

*** And then they cast a Korean-American actor to play him for the [[Star Trek (film)|film]].

** Although [[Fictionary|Klingon is a language unto itself]], writers of ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' or ''[[Star Trek: ~~Voyager|Star Trek~~ Voyager]]'' often didn't have the time or inclination to work out the proper Klingon translation, simply looking up the words and using them in a grammatically incorrect manner. Marc Okrand put a lot of effort into creating a coherent language given the preexisting words, yet the TV show still mangles the language, forcing [[Retcon]] after retcon and Holy Wars between sects of Klingon language speakers.

** Although [[Fictionary|Klingon is a language unto itself]], writers of ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' or ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' often didn't have the time or inclination to work out the proper Klingon translation, simply looking up the words and using them in a grammatically incorrect manner. Marc Okrand put a lot of effort into creating a coherent language given the preexisting words, yet the TV show still mangles the language, forcing [[Retcon]] after retcon and Holy Wars between sects of Klingon language speakers.

* Parodied in ''[[Angel]]''. A Mexican wrestler, who goes by the name of Numero Cinco, explains that he got that name from an earlier time in his life, when he and his brothers called themselves "Los Hermanos Numeros." Angel's reaction to this name: "The Number Brothers? Huh?"

** Another episode has Angel talking to two Koreans. One of them speaks Korean fluently, but the other has lines that are technically correct but very simplistic and childish. When Angel speaks to them, his lines are complete nonsense that sort of sounds like an Asian language.

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* ''[[Dollhouse]]'': When Echo tried to speak Russian, you'd be hard-pressed to find a native speaker who could understand half of what she's saying. Particularly [[Egregious]] because she was supposed to infiltrate [[The Mafiya|the Russian mafia]].

** Actually, the words are mostly correct. The accent is pretty bad though.

* The rare moments of comic relief in ''[[Mission Impossible (TV series)|Mission Impossible]]'' frequently came from the ''intentionally'' incorrect pseudo-Slavic (called "Gellerese" after creator/showrunner Bruce Geller) that features in almost every episode taking place behind the [[Iron Curtain]]; it sounds—and more importantly ''looks''—just English enough to be followed accurately by an English-speaking audience. The writers had a ''lot'' of fun coming up with gibberish like "machinawerke" for "machine shop", "zona restrik" for "restricted area", "entrat verbaten" for "no admittance", and (one of the perennial favorites) "gaz".

* The rare moments of comic relief in ''[[Mission: Impossible (TV series)||Mission Impossible]]'' frequently came from the ''intentionally'' incorrect pseudo-Slavic (called "Gellerese" after creator/showrunner Bruce Geller) that features in almost every episode taking place behind the [[Iron Curtain]]; it sounds—and more importantly ''looks''—just English enough to be followed accurately by an English-speaking audience. The writers had a ''lot'' of fun coming up with gibberish like "machinawerke" for "machine shop", "zona restrik" for "restricted area", "entrat verbaten" for "no admittance", and (one of the perennial favorites) "gaz".

* ''[[Heroes]]'' is pretty accurate considering it's an entirely American production, but there are a few name-related items that you'd think someone would have brought up when being translated into Japanese:

** Yamagato (Industries) is not a Japanese name. This was likely taken from "Arigato." The writing in the show is 山形 which is "Yamagata": a surname, and city and prefecture in Japan, which would have been more accurate.

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** There was also Kurohito, a guy born with stark white hair and fair blue eyes, whose name means "Black Man".

** The name "Toturi" is meaningless in Japanese, even if you see it as an alternative spelling to "Totsuri".

* In ''[[Warhammer ~~40000~~]]'', the Imperium has two main languages- Low Gothic, portrayed as English, and High Gothic, which is shown as (usually) hideously mangled pseudo-Latin. Examples abound, one of the non-mangled being the [[The Corruption|Chaos]] [[Humongous Mecha|Titan]] ''Dies Irae'' (Wrath of God). Which actually means "Day of Wrath". Wrath of God would actually be Ira Dei.

* In ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'', the Imperium has two main languages- Low Gothic, portrayed as English, and High Gothic, which is shown as (usually) hideously mangled pseudo-Latin. Examples abound, one of the non-mangled being the [[The Corruption|Chaos]] [[Humongous Mecha|Titan]] ''Dies Irae'' (Wrath of God). Which actually means "Day of Wrath". Wrath of God would actually be Ira Dei.

** This isn't an uncommon misuse of the phrase "Dies Irae", due to the apparent similarity of "Dies", meaning "day", and "Deus", meaning "god".

* The ''[[Warhammer Fantasy]]'' RPG called the [[Big Bad]] of the "Enemy Within" campaign "Zahnarzt". Yes, that's German for dentist. The first edition was full of [[Bilingual Bonus|such jokes]]. It had a family named Untermensch (Sub-Human), an inventor named Kugelschreiber (Ballpoint-Pen) who lived in a house called Geflügelsalad (Chicken Salad), a fire wizard named Hals Roch...The bad guy is named "Klaus P. Verräter" (Traitor). Allegedly, there is also a good guy named Goebbels in the same publication.

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* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]''. Midna's spoken language sounds like some strange merge of Asian accent with French, while employing neither the grammar rules nor words of either language. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfoBWjUNYQw We think it's gibberish, anyway].

** Although, it's gibberish to us, in-universe she could easily be speaking speaking perfect Hylian.

* ''[[Age of Empires I (~~Video~~ ~~Game~~)|Age of Empires I]]'' villager: "Roggan? Homus!", and the priest: "Ayohyoyoo... Wololo!"

* ''[[Age of Empires (video game)||Age of Empires I]]'' villager: "Roggan? Homus!", and the priest: "Ayohyoyoo... Wololo!"

* The ''[[Star Ocean]]'' games have some terrible names (including 'Fayt' Leingod, romanized with a Y to save us from laughing out loud) but nothing, nothing beats the protagonist of [[Star Ocean 4]], 'Edge Maverick'. Really.

* The ''[[Star Wars]]'' game ''Masters Of Teräs Käsi'' features the martial art "Teräs Käsi" that's inexplicably and ungrammatically Finnish. It means something like "steel, hand". If you must have a Finnish title, try "Teräskäsi" for "hand of steel".

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*** They do live in the same universe as "Julio Scoundrél"...

* ''[[Magellan]]'': When creating an illusory world Maya needed some Russian sounding place names, Chang is quick to [[Lampshade Hanging|point this out]].

* The Spanish spoken by ''[[Something Positive]]'' 's Pepito intentionally read like English phrases were simply run through Babelfish, with nonsense words and [[Engrish]] thrown in at random. At first, everyone assumed it was just another one of Randy Mullholland's potshots at his [[Unpleasable Fanbase]], but it turned out to also have plot-relevance as well. (Pepito was faking being English illiterate.)

* The Spanish spoken by ''[[Something*Positive]]'' 's Pepito intentionally read like English phrases were simply run through Babelfish, with nonsense words and [[Engrish]] thrown in at random. At first, everyone assumed it was just another one of Randy Mullholland's potshots at his [[Unpleasable Fanbase]], but it turned out to also have plot-relevance as well. (Pepito was faking being English illiterate.)

* ''[[Scandinavia and The World]]'': What Denmark does when asked to speak Swedish.

* ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' pokes fun at this when two French waiters converse in [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20090822.html mock French.]