History Main / GratuitousEnglish

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': In "Elementary My Dear Stacy", the car parts salesman speaks with a thick Cockney accent that Stacy has to translate for Candace. In reality, he uses several made-up Cockney-sounding words ("bic", "bushies", "bangers", "harrish"), likely to sound even more foreign and unintelligible.

One thing of note, Japanese and other foreign languages have a lot of English loan words in established vocabulary, such as "anime" coming from the English word "animation." [[note]]In Japan, this is called ''gairaigo'' when the borrowed word is used with its original meaning. A separate term, ''wasei-eigo'', describes borrowings that have different meanings in Japanese than in the original language.[[/note]] Some of them sound like Engrish even. This can't be used as an example of Gratuitous English.

* In ''Mũrogi wa Kagogo'' by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, translated into English as ''Literature/WizardOfTheCrow'', upper-class characters pepper their speech with English words and phrases. In the English translation, italics are used to indicate when they're speaking English in-universe.

[[caption-width-right:336:Inexplicable shirts are privilege reserved for ''Samurai'' lords.[[note]][[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff And even ''Samurai'' lords loving American cars![[/note]]]]]]

* Parodied by Creator/ProZD in ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1MYyjnITpQ When you only know the random English parts in a non-english song.]]''

When the English is actually pretty good, it's SurprisinglyGoodEnglish. Compare BilingualDialogue for a more surreal linguistic experience, and BlindIdiotTranslation for the ''really'' bad version. See also GratuitousForeignLanguage and all its subtropes. When these works are translated into English, the Gratuitous English is [[KeepItForeign often changed]] into GratuitousSpanish or GratuitousFrench. For anime, it's usually GratuitousJapanese.

* Estathè, a brand of iced tea is advertised in Italy with the slogan "[[{{Pun}}Thè best]]".

* Estathè, a brand of iced tea is advertised in Italy with the slogan [[{{Pun}}"Thè best"]].

* Estathè, a brand of iced tea is advertised in Italy with the slogan [[{{Pun}}"Thè best."]]

** Many characters have [[CallingYourAttacks attacks with English names]]. The original Italian also has other examples, such as Bloom (one of the Winx), and Icy (one of the Trix). Moreover, "Winx" is a pun on wings.[[note]]This is despite that the [[Creator/FourKidsEntertainment 4Kids]] version might [[{{Macekre}} claim]].[[/note]] Whether this is due to it being influenced by anime, or due to the creator's wife being Singaporean, is up for debate.

* The Japanese dub of ''WesternAnimation/Amphibia'' has a LOT of this. In fact, here are all of the English words and phrases in both segments of the first episode. Monster, let's go, hero, time, formation, power, yes, woohoo, homesick, yeah, OK, and punch.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' during the 'Mouseketeer' shorts which took place in France, Jerry was accompanied by a little gray French-speaking mouse named Tuff,[[note]]Essentially the same character as Nibbles.[[/note]] who occasionally threw English phrases into his speech. In one short, when giving a long-winded explanation in French as to why he ran from Tom, he ends it with "and besides that, I'm chicken!"

* ''Fanfic/HailToTheKingThuktunFlishithy'': Series/{{Zone Fighter}} tricks [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji]] into thinking he has to do this to unlock his powers.

* Series/{{Zone Fighter}} tricks [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji]] into thinking he has to do this to unlock his powers in ''[[Fanfic/{{Gods Angels and Kings}} Hail to the King]]''.

However, most of the time writers don't actually speak English (or least not fluently), resulting in rather silly or nonsensical phrases. If grammatically incorrect, it can end up YouNoTakeCandle. [[NoPronunciationGuide Ifu puronanshieishon izu za puroburemu]], shii JapaneseRanguage ando rireiteddo toroupusu.[[labelnote:Translation]]
[[NoPronunciationGuide If the pronounciation is the problem]], see JapaneseRanguage and related tropes.[[/labelnote]]

* ''[[Theatre/MadameButterfly Madama Butterfly]]'' throws off a few GratuitousEnglish phrases, most notably Pinkerton's toast to "America for ever!"

* The original book that inspired the film Film/EdgeOfTomorrow is called "Literature/AllYouNeedIsKill" in English even in Japan.

* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "Soos and the Real Girl", where a video game imported from Japan contains the phrase "Anthyding can hadplen".