History Main / GratuitousSpanish

* The song Loser from Beck has a fragment that says "soy un perdedor".

* In the English subtitles for ''[[Banlieue13 District B13]]'', the French word ''banlieue'', meaning "district" or "ghetto," is translated into the Spanish word ''barrio''. Although ''barrio'' is used in English, it's as a Spanish-speaking section of an American city, and just looks ... weird ... in a movie that's set in France.

** SanFrancisco has had "Gigantes" jerseys for their local baseball team for (at least) years. Which is at least more consistent.

*** Same goes for Mexico, actually, and most of Latin America(Except maybe Puerto Rico). You wouldn't want to call a woman a "Zorra", no matter what Spanish-speaking country you're in, period.

*** Same goes for Mexico, actually, and most of Latin America. You wouldn't want to call a woman a "Zorra", no matter what Spanish-speaking country you're in, period.

* ''{{Futurama}}'''s Bender Bending ''Rodriguez'', has been known to slip into his native tongue from time to time. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], since his chest plate reads "Hecho en Mexico".

* Croco in Super Mario RPG spouts "Adios amigos!" when he runs away during the first battle. Cortez in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door speaks in [[Gratuitous Spanish]], also.

** The ''correct'' form would be "Ochenta y cinco"; his name is more like "8-5" rather than 85. Although he probably DidNotDoTheResearch, his new legal name would probably sound too wordy and not as catchy if correct.

Often, what occurs is that a Spanish person will only use Spanish terms that most English users know (such as "sí" meaning "yes", or "amigo" meaning "friend") but otherwise speaks in perfect English, as noted in the above quote. It's a way for the writers to remind us that the character is Spanish, but exactly ''why'' the character needs to slip back into Spanish for such simple terms is never quite explained. There is a little bit of TruthInTelevision here -- as anyone who's bilingual will tell you, sometimes you will say automatic responses (such as "yes") in your mother tongue without even thinking about it -- but this trope generally extends far beyond normal levels of this. See also PoirotSpeak.

Since so much TV is produced in California, and California has a border with Mexico (Sonora and Baja California Norte, to be specific), it is only natural that U.S. TV writers would insert Spanish words and phrases into their series to make things seem exotic. This trend has recently become popular in Japan, though has a way to go before it becomes as popular as [[GratuitousGerman German]] or [[GratuitousEnglish English]].

* Victor from ''{{Runaways}}'' uses random Spanish words when speaking, to illustrate he's from Mexican descent. It's very accurate Mexican Spanish though, and he's displeased when fellow teammate [[IdiotHero Chase]] insists on calling him "amigo".
** It's also [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that [[spoiler:his creator, {{Supervillain}} Ultron, purposefully made him a TokenMinority so he would have more chances to get accepted into TheAvengers when he grew up]].

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* Parodied in commercials for the Bing search engine. The commercials are done in telenovela style with dialogue all in Spanish (other than proper names and the word "links") and subtitled. However, when the Mysterious Stranger displays his laptop showing Bing, it's apparent that the characters are in San Jose, California (showing movie listings for local theaters or airline fares from the city) -- almost 700 miles from the Mexican border.

* In the [[KeepItForeign French dub]] of ''TheAddamsFamily'', Morticia drives Gomez mad with passion by speaking Spanish (it was French in the original...SoYeah).

* In MedaBots During the World Championship arc, the mexico Team consists of three guys that wear Ponchos and "sombreros" and just spout the word "Amigo" over and over, even while losing the robattle. emm Racism or Parody? you choose.