"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."―Rick Deckard[src]
Cityspeak was a street language of the denizens of Los Angeles. It was a combination of Japanese, Spanish, German, and other languages.[1][2]
Gaff was a known speaker of Cityspeak, having used it when retrieving Deckard on behalf of Harry Bryant,[3] while being briefed on escaped Nexus-6s,[4] and while being interviewed by K.[5]
Behind the scenes[]
Much of the Cityspeak used in the first film was devised by Edward James Olmos, during background research for his character, Gaff.
In addition to Japanese, Spanish, and German, Olmos also used elements of Hungarian, Chinese, and French. Other street dialog in the film uses Korean.