Supposedly Watto’s accent is ‘Italian’
0_O
There are a few Mario-like stereotypical intonations in Watto’s speech. Even his word ending can cone off as stereotypically Italian.
The real problem with the PT accents is that there’s only so many sounds and intonations to take from, so it’s bound to resemble something.
I’m sure Ahmed Best added some of his own to Jar Jar. Then Brian Blessed interpreted Best’s accent with his own deeper voice, which results in intonations and inflections that can come off as cartoonishly Jamaican at times. Gen. Tarpals actually sounds Japanese at times. His tone of voice and inflections sound very Samurai-like some sentences, then suddenly the dialogue takes on certain South African-like sounds. Seriously, listen to Tarpals first few lines in TPM. It’s a hodgepodge of several accents.
You make a good point but what it illustrates to me is that Lucas and his design team were using cliched sounds and images to reflect a villain or hero etc that ended up not being the sum of what they wanted. There is no doubt in my mind that the trade federation species used Chinese/Japanese traits in language, dress, gait and manner when being created. Not a mirror image but (like Jar Jar) an amalgamation of them to create an alien species. Watto is so Hasidic looking in that bearded picture with his hat that Lucas Arts should have discarded the idea just out the odd chance someone would notice the similarity. Again, not a mirror image but enough traits of cliched stereotypes as to be very noticeable.