History Main / KeepItForeign

* Digimon's dub likes to do this from time to time (when it's not changing Japanese names to different Japanese names). Snowbotamon becomes Yukimibotamon, and Fairymon becomes Kazemon.

* In an early episode of ''Manga/VenusVersusVirus'', one character is encouraging another to confess his love to Sumire, and gives examples of the phrase "I love you" in different languages. In the original Japanese, she says "I love you" in GratuitousEnglish, "Wo ai ni" in GratuitousChinese, and fakes something in Russian ("Suki desuki", which is just "suki desu" with -ski added on the end). In the English dub, she says "Suki desu" in GratuitousJapanese, "Te amo" in GratuitousSpanish, and "I loveski youski" in fake Russian.

* In the German dub of ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'', Mac, the Scottish inventor hen, becomes Dutch.
** Additionally, she becomes Swiss in the Italian dub. It makes sense, considering Switzerland is north of Italy, like how Scotland is north of England.

** In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', Hamm can't continue reading Buzz's manual because it is in Japanese, instead of Spanish as in the original. [[spoiler: Buzz still changes into an hilarious Spanish mode, which in the Spaniard dub is symbolized by him speaking with an over the top Andalusian accent.]]
* There's a version of this in ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2''. Antonio Banderas voices Puss with a generic Spanish accent in the English version; [[MultipleLanguagesSameVoiceActor in both the Spanish and Latin American versions]], he voices him with a thick Andalusian accent instead, different of any of the other characters.
* In the Russian dub of ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'', Bobinski is Ukrainian instead of Russian.
* In the Italian dub of ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}} Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted]]'', Stefano, the Italian sea lion, is turned into a Spanish one.

* Weirdly downplayed in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMaskOfTheBlueFalcon'': In the original version, Shaggy claims that a sudden GratuitousFrench line he just said was actually Italian. In the Italian dub, he claims it's "French-ish".

Other times, it can have a pragmatic reason, since sometimes having the person be foreign is necessary to the plot. (For example, in the play ''Theatre/{{Chicago}}'', a minor plot revolves around an innocent woman being sentenced to death primarily because she spoke no English and no-one could understand her Hungarian. Obviously, this wouldn't work when the show was performed in Hungary, so the Hungarian was changed to Chinese.) If the cultural/ethnic particulars of a character or other story aspect are ''too'' detailed and specific, any attempts to Keep It Foreign can lead to a ThinlyVeiledDubCountryChange.

When this is ''not'' done and there is a footnote or any author/translator's commentary of sorts, it will often say something along the lines of "In English in the original".

* Similar to the above example, Anime/GoPrincessPrettyCyre has the character of Miss Shamour, whose dialogue is partially in GratuitousEnglish. One fansubber chose to change this to French, a decision which ultimately pleased no-one, leading to a swift aversion

* In ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'', a South Korean soccer team appears in the third arc. In the South Korena dub, the it was changed into a North Korean team.

* In the Italian dub of ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}} Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted]]'', Stefano is a Spanish sea lion.

** In the episode "Pavlova", Bandit dresses as a chef who speaks broken GratitiousFrench. Also in the French dub, he speaks broken GratutitousItalian instead.

** The regionalization does get a LampshadeHanging when Morgan Fey constantly refers to Lotta Heart as a "foreigner" due to her Southern accent (originally {{Kansai|RegionalAccent}}). Phoenix has to point out that the "heartlands" are still technically a part of America.

[[/spoiler]]

* In the episode of ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' where [[spoiler:Asakura attacks Kyon]], Kyon asks himself "why?" in GratuitousEnglish, followed immediately by a Japanese "naze?" The English dub [[GratuitousJapanese keeps both]], though it switches the order around. Line is referenced in episode 7 of ''Manga/NyoronChuruyaSan''.

* In an episode of ''LightNovel/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'', Rikka is trying to get her club approved by a teacher, but is told it doesn't have enough members, so no go. Rikka then makes up a "split personality" she calls Catherine. In the original, "Catherine" is from Victorian England and uses very basic English in her mostly Japanese speech. In the English dub, she's still from England, but "moved to France", uses GratuitousFrench instead of GratuitousEnglish, and even has a French accent.

* In the 17th century, French courtiers came with the custom to leave without saying a word as to not disturb or distract the King from governing matters. When the Bourbons inherited the throne of Spain, they introduced the same custom, which gave origin to the Spanish idiom "Saying goodbye the French way" as slang to leaving unnanounced. Eventually the idiom made its way back into France, but by them the custom had disappeared, so they changed it to "Saying goodbye the Spanish (or English) way". "French leave/exit" is still used in English, albeit in a casually insulting way as with other foreigner-based phrases such as "Dutch treat" (each person on a date paying their own bills).

* In the Spaniard dub of ''Film/{{Capote}}'', the GratuitousSpanish sayings of Perry Smith ("saludos amigos", etc) are changed to French. On the other hand, the "adiós" that Capote says in the Costa Brava scene is changed to Catalan ("adéu"), since Costa Brava [[LuckyTranslation is in Catalonia]].

* One thought of an NPC in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' is in English in the Japanese version. This was changed to Japanese in the English version. [[DubInducedPlotHole This comes off weird]], as the thing he's thinking about is how he only speaks English (in Japanese) and can't communicate with the locals, who only speak Japanese (in English).

** The regionalization does get a LampshadeHanging when Morgan Fey constantly refers to Lotta Heart as a "foreigner" due to her Southern accent (originally [[KansaiRegionalAccent Kansai]]). Phoenix has to point out that the "heartlands" are still technically a part of America.

* One of the first scenes in ''Manga/{{FushigiYuugi}}'' has a teacher saying "I want him to do his best," in English. In the English dub, he says, [[{{Macekre}} "El libro está en la biblioteca" Spanish for "the book is in the library."]]

* There's a version of this in ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek 2}}''. Antonio Banderas voices Puss with a generic Spanish accent in the English version; [[MultipleLanguagesSameVoiceActor in both the Spanish and Latin American versions]], he voices him with a thick Andalusian accent instead, different of any of the other characters.

* In the Japanese dub of ''Film/{{RoboCop}}'', "''Sayonara, [=RoboCop=]!''" becomes "''Bye-bye, [=RoboCop!=]''"

* ''Series/{{Friends}}''

* The Russian version of ''VideoGame/WarCraftIII'' left Rexxar's bear, Misha, nameless. Probably in order to avoid the association of ''[=WarCraft=]'' with a children's story. In most Russian children's stories with talking animals, the bear is always named Misha (short for Mikhail). The name is also often used for circus bears.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragon'', generic units will be added to your army if you lose too many units; these are named for [[NumericalThemeNaming numbers]], [[DayOfTheWeekName days]], and [[TemporalThemeNaming months]] in [[GratuitousGerman German]]. The German translation, naturally, renames them to the Japanese equivalents.

* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperStarSaga'': In the English localization, villain Fawful speaks entirely [[IntentionalEngrishForFunny in a hilariously bad Japanese-to-English translation]]. The Latin American localization kept this gimmick and he speaks entirely in a hilariously bad English-to-Spanish translation.

** In the episode "Pavlova", Bandit dresses as a chef who speaks broken GratitiousFrench. Also in the French dub, he speaksbroken GratutitousItalian instead.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Bluey}}'' episode "Camping" centers on Bluey befriending Jean-Luc, a French-speaking Black Lab, despite their language barrier. In the French dub of the show, Jean-Luc is instead an English-speaker named Johnny.

** And now a whole archtype. The Gishki were called the Ritua in Japan. Ritua is a corruption of Ritual, and Gishki is a corruption of Gishiki. Either way, both names are based upon the name for Ritual cards in the other language.

* Creator/DataEast's arcade MechaGame ''Wolf Fang'' was released overseas as ''Rohga: Armor Force''. "Rohga" means "wolf fang" in Japanese, but the English title was used in Japan.

** Similar to the ''Witches Abroad'' example, in the ''Literature/TheColourOfMagic'', when Rincewind and Twoflower are transported to Roundworld, and given new histories to fit, the German translation replaces Twoflower becoming the German tourist Jack Zweiblumen with Zweiblum becoming the English tourist Jack Twoflower. (Rincewind remains the Swedish-American Dr Rjinswand.)

* In ''Videogame/{{Portal 2}}'', Wheatley is seen shortly switching to Spanish BlindIdiotTranslation. In the Spanish dub, he is [[http://youtu.be/x4RKEe7YCTI speaking]] English.

* In the Japanese version of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', Mitsuru Kirijo uses GratuitousEnglish at times. In the English dub, this is changed to GratuitousFrench.

* In ''Videogame/{{Portal 2}}'', Wheatley is seen shortly switching to Spanish BlindIdiotTranslation. In the Spanish dub, he is [[http://youtu.be/x4RKEe7YCTI speaking]] [[SurprisinglyGoodEnglish English]].

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'':
** In the Spaniard dub of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', Tour Guide Barbie's saying "please remain seated" in English and Spanish is changed to Barbie saying it in Spanish and French. In the Latin American dub, she still says it first in English and then in Spanish.

** Fortunately, the most recent ''manga'' translation just relies on TranslationConvention and uses <brackets to indicate English speech>. This is necessary, since the blackboard (and at one point, the language bubbles) actually has proper English written on it.