18 Mind-Blowing Facts About Blade Runner

Described by Deckard as “a mishmash of Japanese, Spanish, German, what have you”, Cityspeak is the local dialect of futuristic Los Angeles heard spoken by Gaff – the mysterious fellow blade runner with a penchant for taunting Deckard with origami figures.

Cityspeak is largely the creation of Edward James Olmos, the actor that portrayed Gaff, who came up with it initially as a means of enriching his character.

Inspired by the Mexican-American actor’s own multicultural background – which includes Hungarian Jewish ancestry and a stint living in the Philippines – it’s a curious mix of French, Japanese, German and Chinese with a bit of Hungarian and English thrown in for good measure that he perfected at Los Angeles’ Berlitz School of Languages.