Cityspeak

From Off-world: The Blade Runner Wiki

Cityspeak is the "street" language of the denizens in the Blade Runner world.

In the movie, the first person to say something Cityspeak was Gaff, when he first accosts Rick Deckard at the noodle bar. In the voice-over for this scene, Deckard says:

That gibberish he talked was Cityspeak, gutter talk, a mishmash of Japanese, Spanish, German, what have you. I didn’t really need a translator. I knew the lingo, every good cop did. But I wasn’t going to make it easier for him.

[edit] Background

Much of the Cityspeak used in the film was devised by Edward James Olmos, during background research for his character (Gaff).

In addition to Japanese, Spanish, and German; Olmos also used Hungarian, Chinese, and French. Other street dialog in the film uses Korean.

[edit] External links

• The Blade Runner FAQ: Language Matters (including Cityspeak, Blimp Ad and full Noodle Bar scene)