History Main / MisplacedAccent

* In ''TheDarkKnight'', the villain [[EvilForeigner Lau]] speaks Mandarin when [[ChineseDialectsAndAccents he would more likely speak Cantonese]] if he's from HongKong.

* In the Scandinavian co-produced biopic ''Hamsun'', Norwegian author Knut Hamsun and his equally Norwegian wife, Marie, were played by Swedish actor Max Von Sydow and Danish actress Ghita Nørby, respectively. Neither made any attempt to speak Norwegian, but both spoke instead in their native languages.

* In ''TradingPlaces'' for the plan to steal the orange crop reports on a train, Jamie Lee Curtis disguised herself by speaking in a Swedish accent even though she's wearing lederhosen, which is German.

* In ''{{Friends}}'', Joey Tribbiani evidently had vocal training to learn how to do an American Southern accent for a play about the AmericanCivilWar. However, due to his [[RalphWiggum stupidity]] it ends up coming out as a Jamaican accent.

** More importantly, Butters is stated to be from Dallas (or at least the new girl he's pretending to be in "Marjorine" is) and indeed, he has a ''very'' strong Dallas accent. The problem? He's lived in Colorado since he was ''at least'' four (see "Preschool"), and his parents only have a generic Mid-States accent (which means he couldn't have gotten it from them).

** More importantly, Butters is stated to be from Dallas (or at least the new girl he's pretending to be in "Marjorine" is) and indeed, he has a strong Dallas accent. The problem? He's lived in Colorado since he was ''at least'' four (see "Preschool"), and his parents only have a generic Mid-States accent (which means he couldn't have gotten it from them).

* In FedericoFellini's film ''LaDolceVita'', Swedish actress Anita Ekberg plays American blond bombshell Sylvia. Her accent is unlikely to fool anyone familiar with U.S. English.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* Minor ''FamilyGuy'' characters Santos and Pasqual are supposedly Portuguese fishermen yet speak in heavily accented ''Brazilian'' Portuguese.
* In the ''SouthPark'' episode "Crack Baby Athletic Association", Slash is revealed to be "Vunter Slaush", a parody on the Dutch Sinterklaas, complete with parody song. The problem? The name and song are in German, not Dutch...
[[/folder]]

* Arie van Bruggen from ''DeusExHumanRevolution'' is repeatedly called "the Dutchman" and uses "windmill" as an alias yet speaks in a Caribbean accent.

* While having the civilization leaders speak their native languages in ''{{Civilization}} V'' was a nice touch, several people criticized some of their accents as historically inaccurate: not only do they make the same mistake with Napoleon as stated above but George Washington has a Bill Clinton-esque American accent despite being British, and Catherine speaks perfect Russian despite being born as and raised by Germans. Queen Elizabeth (I) speaks with a posh modern accent that certainly did not exist in her own time.

* {{WWE}}: Kofi Kingston is from Ghana (West Africa) but uses (or did for a while) an accent more like he's from Jamaica.

* In the Scandinavian co-produced biopic ''Hamsun'', Norwegian author Knut Hamsun and his equally Norwegian wife, Marie, were played by Swedish actor Max Von Sydow and Danish actress Ghita Nørby, respectively. Neither made any attempt to speak Norwegian, but both spoke instead in their native languages, which are mutually intelligible with Norwegian.

* Often happens with historical characters: Napoleon Bonaparte was noted by his contemporaries as having such a thick Corsican accent that he was difficult to understand. If he is depicted as speaking with a French accent or, in works with TranslationConvention in effect, as speaking in a similar manner to the Frenchmen around him, then this trope is at work. Probably there are also examples with Hitler lacking an Austrian accent and Stalin a Georgian one.
* In FedericoFellini's film ''LaDolceVita'', Swedish actress Anita Ekberg plays American blond bombshell Sylvia. Her accent is unlikely to fool anyone familiar with U.S. English.
* In the Scandinavian co-produced biopic ''Hamsun'', Norwegian author Knut Hamsun and his equally Norwegian wife, Marie, were played by Swedish actor Max Von Sydow and Danish actress Ghita Nørby, respectively. Neither made any attempt to speak Norwegian, but both spoke instead in their native languages, which are mutually intelligible with Norwegian.

* The game ''ResidentEvil4'' is apparently set in a Spanish-speaking European country...where they speak Mexican Spanish.

* {{WWE}}: Kofi Kingston is from Ghana (West Africa) but uses (or did for a while) an accent more like he's from Jamaica.
* Negi Springfield in the ''{{Negima}}'' anime sounds nothing like a Welsh kid in either the original Japanese or the English language dub. In the English language dub, it sounds like [[FakeBrit an American doing an impression of a "proper" English accent]]. In the Japanese original, it is a case of NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent.

* Strangelove in ''MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' was born and raised in [[FootballPopMusicAndFlatCaps Manchester]], but has a posh U.S. Southern accent (performed by an American voice actress). To be fair, the accent itself is convincing - just ill fitting.
* Minor ''FamilyGuy'' characters Santos and Pasqual are supposedly Portuguese fishermen yet speak in heavily accented ''Brazilian'' Portuguese.
* Arie van Bruggen from ''DeusExHumanRevolution'' is repeatedly called "the Dutchman" and uses "windmill" as an alias yet speaks in a Caribbean accent.
** "Jaron Namir" (Or rather should be "Yaron Namir") is clearly meant to be a hebrew-israeli name. In game, he speaks with an arab accent. (Well, sorts of)
* While having the civilization leaders speak their native languages in ''{{Civilization}} V'' was a nice touch, several people criticized some of their accents as historically inaccurate: not only do they make the same mistake with Napoleon as stated above but George Washington has a Bill Clinton-esque American accent despite being British, and Catherine speaks perfect Russian despite being born as and raised by Germans. Queen Elizabeth (I) speaks with a posh modern accent that certainly did not exist in her own time.

* In the SouthPark episode "Crack Baby Athletic Association", Slash is revealed to be "Vunter Slaush", a parody on the Dutch Sinterklaas, complete with parody song. The problem? The name and song are in German, not Dutch...

* The anime ''SenkoNoNightRaid'' featured (historical) British diplomat Victor Bulwer-Lytton in one episode. The actor was clearly a native speaker of English, but he spoke with a distinct North American accent. Also, native residents of Shanghai were apprently speaking Mandarin Chinese rather than the local dialect of the Wu language.

* The anime ''SenkoNoNightRaid'' featured (historical) British diplomat Victor Bulwer-Lytton in one episode. The actor was clearly a native speaker of English, but he spoke with a distinct North American accent.

* While having the civilization leaders speak their native languages in ''{{Civilization}} V'' was a nice touch, several people criticized some of their accents as historically inaccurate: not only do they make the same mistake with Napoleon as stated above but George Washington has a Bill Clinton-esque American accent despite being British, and Catherine speaks perfect Russian despite being born as and raised by Germans.

** "Jaron Namir" (Or rather should be "Yaron Namir") is clearly meant to be a hebrew-israeli name. In game, he speaks with an arab accent.

** "Jaron Namir" (Or rather should be "Yaron Namir") is clearly meant to be a hebrew-israely name. In game, he speaks with an arab accent.

* Strangelove in ''MetalGearSolid: Peace Walker'' was born and raised in [[FootballPopMusicAndFlatCaps Manchester]], but has a posh U.S. Southern accent (performed by an American voice actress). To be fair, the accent itself is convincing - just ill fitting.