Deciphering the Inkling Language

[@rassicas]

Updates that have happened since this video! 4/10/23 - Sign script W found on a box in the S3 Artbook. The symbol is a repeat of "B". 6/21/23 - Runic script X found through matching strings of gibberish on Undertow Spillway. The symbol is the same as "G". 7/27/23 - Halfmoon script V found by Cackle on a sign in Mahi-Mahi Resort. The symbol is the same "D" and "G". 12/1/23 - Bold script lowercase v finally found by splattershot_jr on a sign in Bluefin Depot. Confirmed to be a repeat of "d". 2/25/24 - Mistake found in the Halfmoon cipher and then updated. T and D actually share the same character. Sadly, this means that the "Genterless bathroom" actually does say "genderless"

[@skyjumper4097]

3 letters sharing the same symbol is insane

[@camijs5466]

Looks like Runic Script has finally been completed!

[@cosmo2590]

"does that mean our efforts to solve this script were effectively pointless ? pretty much. do we care ? no." splatoon script brainrot in a nutshell

[@HotBlasterBot]

One must imagine Sisyphus happily translating splatoon script.

[@Likasense]

I think sign script is the official script of the city. I also think that squids, octopuses and other marine life talk only in one language and have many scripts, that also could mean that there is a universal script or language. Pretty complicated!

[@multigrandmarquis]

Expectation: hidden lore Reality: FRIDG

[@juliankalugin2073]

How you post 2 days before video come out????

[@cosmo2590]

@@juliankalugin2073 patreon

[@yggdrasilsaltar]

“because it looks cool” really is the main motto of the entire splatoon franchise and i think thats very funny

[@mayanightstar]

haha absolutely

[@wellokthen3834]

It's so in character for the inklings to not have a fully functional language just bc it looks sick

[@sundalosketch4769]

I love how every kind of sea person just collectively agree that scripts are cool designs. I'll still be puzzled over how they use the internet or type in general.

[@choco_L8]

@@sundalosketch4769 I guess it's like keyboard smashing but somehow understandable

[@sundalosketch4769]

@@choco_L8 *keyboard smashes in agreement*

[@lluc_riberax1038]

Doing almost impossible lore related things for little to no reward is a staple of the Splatoon Lore Ink. members.

[@tomohawk2177]

Splatoon Lore Inkorporated. Good pun lol

[@ender691]

Imagine if they pulled a Tolkien and made the inkling language a real language

[@CK895-YT]

Take notes Nogami

[@ActualAlien_]

Splatoon will be real in 2100

[@jan_sipiki]

make a squonglang

[@sharkwaffle1582]

That would be amazing! I’ve actually been working on an analysis of spoken Inklish and Octarian using the transcribed song lyrics to find character frequency (although there’s likely plenty of errors), and have used it to calculate the most similar languages

[@Jimblemimble]

There's a channel that did that lol

[@arztinil]

honestly still the funniest part was me discovering the inklanguage blog like we literally spent so much time with runic

[@cosmo2590]

i will not rest until we find the runic X because thats the only way to recover from that L /j

[@CChuuyaNakahara]

I agree

[@theplaguegamer6216]

A weapon in Splatoon 3 called the Splatana Stamper actually has a full alphabet on its spinning part because it is based on an old fashion ink stamper you have to turn to make words.

[@mimi.sues.]

Ohhhh that’s so cool!!

[@Wasarety]

I have all the fonts installed, they're super fun to use for easter eggs and little secrets

[@jesus2383]

where can I get them?

[@Wasarety]

@@jesus2383 check the video description

[@jesus2383]

@@Wasarety oh okay Sry for not paying attention btw I'm just SO EXCITED

[@yeetywoomy]

Ello wasarety! :3

[@Blueturtle1]

is it just me or are the alternative and the bubbling the only ones that are loading? All of the others are blank for me

[@riatsila144]

Somehow it makes perfect sense that in Inkling society, even in written language, everything takes a back seat to aesthetic. Intentional or otherwise, could scarcely imagine a more Splatoon explanation for all of it.

[@Junosensei]

I find it hilarious that the last pokemon splatfest we just had labeled its teams with ほのお ("fire" type, written in hiragana), ミズ ("water" type, written in katakana), and what looks _to me_ like a sideways stylized 草 ("grass" type, written in kanji). It was the first time I looked at the written language with utter confusion and decided to check it out further myself. I didn't get very far. In the end, a part of me just decided the written language is treated like art to inklings. Rather than using it as their own writing system, they just noticed a bunch of things humans left behind and copied them, thinking writing to be a form of visual art, almost like how _shuuji_ (Japanese calligraphy) is treated in Japan. Even in terms of written communication, when it is used to convey something to the denizens, it might be more like how a "no smoking" sign is used to convey its meaning to us without actual words. "Humans used to communicate through this kind of art, so we can, too!" Of course, this is all headcannon rather than actual speculation. It makes sense, considering inkling society definitely prides itself on art more than communication, what with their ink painting abilities and lack of communication options in game...

[@Junosensei]

Lol I just realized the Japanese site you showed briefly in the video around 18:35 pointed out that they can't tell if the grass type symbol is kanji (草) or katakana (クサ). I guess the サ makes sense, but it really does look like a sideways 草 to me.

[@sherbertshortkake6649]

Makes you think of the signs that say "PED XING", where the X just stands for "cross".

[@applechoco483]

This absolutely does not play into any statements featured in your comment other than maybe the human thing but that's a super stretch, but the "Inkopolis Cafe" sign (actually "DORTTA RPO" with one of the letters flipped) uses the real font StopD! Which I thought was kind of amusing in a game where most of the fonts were made specifically for the world itself.

[@sherbertshortkake6649]

@@applechoco483 Which Inkopolis Cafe sign, if I may ask?

[@applechoco483]

The one you usually find next to the battle tower (like in 2 where a certain urchin likes relaxing)

[@officersoulknight6321]

9:25 With Jelfonzo’s tuesday shirt, as a beach resident I can confirm people do wear stuff like that. There’s a weird amount of shirts that have a cartoon character flipping the viewer off. In a way, it’s Contrast, contrasting an Innocent-looking character with a not very innocent gesture. With Jelfonzo’s tee it’s contrasting “Fuck You” with the fact that shirt’s red design looks like a kiss mark.

[@bananasauz4337]

I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but the fact that Rassicas’s avatar is wearing a maroon shirt that makes them match with Ardnins avatar is adorable.

[@rassicas]

It was intentional!

[@yumes_studio]

Ayo welcome back rassicas!! Splatoon’s world building never ceases to amaze me and y’all deserve props for making this info so accessible. Great job on this video with both the editing and your findings!!

[@tit-sucker-3000]

wow its yume

[@hellgazer8370]

hi yume nikki i love ur squid game videos 👍

[@keynanmartinez]

Happy to see you here.

[@trabunt7111]

I like to think that the reason Alterna script is so similar to Latin script is because it actually *is* Latin script, but since we're playing in the POV of someone who wouldn't be able to read it, it's scrambled into a bunch of close approximations to get the general form of it correct but make it unreadable. Like one of those "what English sounds like to a non-English speaker" videos, except in text form. -I know the existence of the active bear area signs on Ruins of Ark Polaris disproves this but let me have my headcanon dammit-

[@sgamerbro4943]

13:49 "avocados continue to plague the universe after humanity's passing" Based Marceline

[@hallwaerd]

I honestly really like how a lot of the scripts use repeating characters for multiple letters, or multiple characters for the same letter, because it kind of makes it more realistic. It’s like how R and L are essentially indistinct and interchangeable in Japanese. It makes the scripts feel more like they represent actual languages with their own unique rules and sets of sounds, rather than just coded English or Japanese.

[@grayscale4960]

This is a very small detail, but the script on the cover of Haikara Walker having A and H as the same character reminds me of a feature in the Korean writing system called "batchim". Essentially, certain characters in Korean have different pronunciations when placed at the end of a syllable, such as the character S being pronounced as T at the end of a syllable. It also brings to mind the Thai script. In Thai, the consonants are written down, with the vowels taking the form of accent marks on top of, before, after, or under the consonants. I want it to be a combination of these two linguistic features, but something tells me I am reading WAY too far into it.

[@flutterdashie64]

2:06 This isn't entirely true. One of splatoon's composers stated that while writing songs for the squid sisters, she used japanese syllables since their music is based on traditional japanese folk songs. And when writing the lyrics for squid squad's songs, she made it sound more like the english language since their music is supposed to feel like something a western band would write. The actual meaning of the words in the songs is still indecipherable though

[@rassicas]

If I had to change one thing about this video, it would be to spend a bit more time explaining the spoken language. While it is ultimately is supposed to be nonsense, yes, theres some interesting thought that went into how those who worked on the game decided on that sound!

[@flutterdashie64]

@@rassicas that would be a good sequel to this vid

[@ieyemyeyes]

31:39 ALL SPLATOON SCRIPTS DECIPHERED (NO MISTAKES, 100% PLAYTHROUGH)

[@keynanmartinez]

I have to give Nintendo mad respects for making Inkling/Octoling Language in the world of Splatoon plus thank you for solving them so we can understand for lore purposes.

[@travisnakahira7320]

My head cannon for the weird written language of splatoon is that most inklings and octoling are illiterate so they just use the characters that look cool for their shops. This is the reason that when translated using a script is gibberish.

[@travisnakahira7320]

Also I just thought of this, it’s the reason inklings use places like museums and academies for turf war since they are all illiterate and can’t read the descriptions on walls. Might as well use them for turf war.

[@Holyphoquenjg]

I used the halfmoon script to translate the stuff on the Coffee “Shop” behind inkopolis Square. It’s called Coffee Cart which I think is a cute name for a cozy coffee shop thingy

[@lrgogo1517]

I remember seeing the Splatoon Direct all these years ago, watching the Sisters sing, and thinking, "hey, it looks like this glyph matches up with this vowel in the song! It seems they invented a proper alphabet for this!" Little did I know how much further beyond the fanbase would examine this..

[@aedaniammx7559]

I noticed the Runic script is lacking a letter X, there’s some text along the bottom of Octostomp’s face that has some runic text I deciphered a while back, which seems to be jibberish, but does incorporate flipping and it’s lower quality and hard to get a good look at since he’s constantly moving. But at the end of it, it has what seems to be “3x3” on it, both of which would be new symbols for the font if I’m not mistaken. I also found the same 3 symbol on the signs hanging above Walleye Warehouse, so maybe you could extrapolate the rest of the numbers from those?

[@NCXDKG]

I am extremely and eternally grateful that you guys completely annihilated your mental state and everything else to decipher these strange scripts and making them into fonts that we can use to make the funny squid game stuff ourselves.

[@lady_zora]

I commend you guys for working so hard to basically world-build the Splatoon World! Using these mostly translated fonts is gonna be fun!

[@Kota_lovesyou]

When the world needed them most, they’re back

[@Weirdthingsareexisting]

Never been so invested in fictional language, but oh my goodness! This video makes it interesting and incredibly captivating. Keep it up!!

[@seapop311]

Not sure what would be more impressive, making an entire new language to sing, or singing gibberish that sounds like it’s own language rather than just sounding like gibberish

[@OUCHquestionmark]

the joke at 31:39 is genius, its so good oh my god

[@mysryuza]

People trying to decipher the Inkling language gave me the same vibe as when people were trying to decipher the Hylian language in Zelda, which is probably why i felt so drawn to the Inkling text! 😂 It would be interesting to see more text and displays from the Octarian language because not only I’m fixated on Octolings, all I know is that in the Japanese version, Octolings used katakana to imply an accent, which opens other possibilities of what their language is like.

[@hollow.princess]

Cool man! Thank you all for your work and sharing it with us.

[@mayanightstar]

This is so amazing. I dreamed about decipherable splatoon text since the first game. I briefly took a stab at figuring it out myself but I didn't get far.

[@MadameSomnambule]

This got me thinking, considering that English, Japanese, and even Chinese come in a variety of different dialects, I think it would only make sense if, in universe, the same would apply to the inkling and octoling languages. It would at least partially explain some text discrepancies (again, in universe). And once octolings and inklings started living together, another dialect that mashes the two languages together would develop (like how some hindi speakers also add english to their speech, hinglish if you would. same goes with spanish speakers also using english in addition to spanish, known as spanglish). Hell, the jellyfish's language probs uses a different script than what we've seen so far but their language (once again, in universe) could liekly be transliterated into the other scripts used. You also got the fact that the jellies are implied to speak inkling as a second language which is a pretty neat detail imo.

[@scruffmutt]

Ardnin's custom copypasta at 37:26, translated : (under read more for those who want to do it themselves!) AMONG US DID YOU SEE WHAT I JUST DID THERE I JUST MADE AN EXTREMELY FUNNY REFERENCE TO THE POPULAR VIDEO GAME AMONG US, A SOCIAL DEDUCTION GAME IN WHICH AN IMPOSTER HAS TO BE EJECTED FROM A SPACESTATION MY GOD PLEASE MAKE IT STOP I CANT LIVE LIKE THIS ANYMORE. I CANT FUCKING TAKE IT ANYMORE I SEE A VAGUELY AMOGUS SHAPED OBJECT AND OK NVER MIND THIS IS PROBABLY AS FAR AS ANYONE WOULD TRY TO DELCIPVER THIS. UNLESS YOU ARE STILL ON IT, IN WHAT CASE CONGRATULATIONS there's a few typos, but i like to think it's a reference to nintendo's own typos when translated ;) great video!

[@ardnin]

You actually did it lmao There are some actual typos bc I came up with this on the spot in the recording and didn't even see what I was typing lol Some typos are bc of L/V and G/W being the same symbol

[@scruffmutt]

@@ardnin Yep, I just fixed some mistranslations of my own! Kinda scary how I started to sightread most of it halfway through, lol. Really appreciate the effort you both have put into all of this (even when some of it's for silly stuff like amogus mental breakdowns)

[@novakami935]

you guys really are doing the most tm, ill definitely be using the deciphered languages for fun in my own personal oc server with my friends so I thank you all for spending so much time deciphering all of these things, your efforts were not in vein in my opinion!

[@Cypherlord]

Oooh that sounds fun

[@ikbenmaxim]

cant wait for the "spire script" deciphering process (the script from side order which appears on chips and other stuff)

[@Glory2Snowstar]

AYYYY CHRISTMAS HAS TRULY ARRIVED! CEASELESS SQUID KID LORE TIME!!!!!!!!!!! Great to have ya back Rass, this is gonna be a blast! I plan on adapting this language into a secret code effective immediately.

[@fivetopoint]

my god, u guys have actually done it??? genuinely mad props to u madlads, i didnt know that the scripts could actually b decipharable but here we are lmao very very very small thing 28:43 , the big text could b read as studio (assuming mimicry lmao not sure if its actually the case), and the tinier text is what services they provide! judging from "passport" and "restoration", mayb theyre some sort of photo studio service nd this is their flyer

[@Selena19973]

this is a good example for what I like to say about Splatoon Lore. It's a much bigger and wider rabbit hole than FNAF Lore ever was.

[@GandalfTheTsaagan]

*Is that the splat of 87??!?!?1!?*

[@NaXEthan]

omg i love the splatoon lore ink logo at the end, and the jingle has that little bit from the sunken scroll opening jingle, that's so cool!!

[@scrappedmetal]

decyphering text may be mostly pointless but i did decypher (maybe?) some of the text on turquoise october's second album cover and it seems like the album name is MPIRES? which is a really neat detail. i am not very sure about how real any of the rest of it is but it was the least gibberish thing i've tried to translate that wasn't already on the wiki at the time

[@Kevinblue035]

i love funny cipher languages like this and appreciate all the hard work you've done into deciphering it!! i've even tried using some of the inkling lnaguages you've deciphered in my splatoon fanart lol btw for a game where the fake language is put on focus, i recommend Tunic to anyone who reads this

[@sharkwaffle1582]

Yooo this is awesome, I’d expect nothing less from the Splatoon lore-master themself!

[@Diamondbacc]

It's been 5 long years, glad y'all could do it.

[@Thesupremeone34]

I cannot wait for the video where the deciphering shows more hidden lore

[@lavaght]

I forgor how awesome your avatar looks, soo nice ^^

[@CoolBeanSoup]

Kudos to you guys for trying to decipher the Splatoon language. It's so fascinating to see how much the community has discovered in these games.

[@7ujn1qaz1qaz]

Oh sick my favorite vessel of Splatoon knowledge is back

[@uhik]

I respect your efforts into making it readable. Maybe the upcoming DLC will help fill in missing letters? You never know.

[@thatanimetamilian5356]

You know it's a great day when rassicas uploads

[@kerfuzzle]

Nice video! interesting to see how everything came together after only seeing the final results (most importantly jelfonzo’s tuesday t-shirt)

[@johnathancactus]

your work on deciphering scripts has been a huge help in figuring out what some stuff says! how you guys go about this is really interesting (and kind of makes me want to do this myself, if it wasn’t so overwhelming…) thank you!! 💚

[@gitchx9593]

I was just thinking about your videos the other day. Glad to have you back, especially with this tasty bit of lore.

[@Sporquill]

this video is legitimately exactly what i was searching for like 2 months ago, thank you so much rassicas! another banger as usual

[@gumi_b3ar]

31:15 hey, i don't wanna be rude, and i get that english syntax is a nightmare, but "it's" is the abbreviated form of "it is" and "its" is the possesive form of "it." just thought i should mention it in a video about linguistics (kinda)

[@cheesegavioli]

So glad this video is finally out! I've been patiently waiting :) You guys did a great job

[@Likasense]

I waited years for this video and you finally did one video, thank you!

[@TopEye64]

Finally they're back! I'm fine with the break though, they needed time for their school

[@kratangg-arang]

YOOOOOOO this one is gonna be wild. Love the rad breakdowns like this, and your videos have only made me love the series more over the years! Thanks for all the work you do despite the business!

[@lavacakez]

Can't believe the Pearlina Comic popped up here lmao

[@ellieemerald6064]

You have no idea how much I smiled when I saw you posted

[@TheRealGenm]

great to see a new video from you! i binged a bunch of your stuff awhile back and it's great to see more content from you!

[@tsu08761e]

these were already deciphered in a jp splatoon discord earlier on, this video is good to provide it in english

[@rassicas]

Where?

[@MrRhombus]

I didn’t knew you were making a video like this; Can’t believed I missed it! Rn as I’m writing it is premiering but I wanna watch the whole thing I beat this is your beat video ever

[@CocatGaming]

Yes! A new video! I love your Splatoon videos.

[@Zolerian]

30:25 In that EBR-ST poster it also seems to mimic "SINCE 1924"

[@cheetcato]

As an artist, if I wanted to replicate a real life piece of clothing with text, using the Splatoon scripts can make it convincing enough to look in universe.

[@alys2776]

This was super cool to watch, thanks for reaching out!

[@shame2189]

14:09 GOSH DANG IT THEY PLANNED THE GRIZZ BEAR FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. They even outright TOLD us the last mammal alive was a bear!

[@Zakar0]

With the way all of the scripts tend to line up to the latin alphabet and especially tend to say the exact same (gibberish) in a row, it almost makes me wonder if the Splatoon world was able to roughly keep a mutual spoken language and thus structure and format while individual groups/species had their written language diverge in terms of symbols being linked to letters. Maybe it's because early writing would be either not Water Friendly like paper or not transport friendly like rock or stone, while those groups may still travel far enough to keep spoken language mutually intelligible. Like, it's -probably- just convience for the art team, but the in-universe implications of consistently having the exact same message, letter for letter, just in different scripts feels fascinating

[@marleyskydye_kr]

I'm surprised how much of it was readable to an extent. You and your friends got *a lot* of patience doing that for months

[@emiliomurkmere]

yknow its really sad that the devs didnt put more thought into this, it would've been so cool

[@ghostfaces6392]

this is so cool! damn it must be so much work to decipher another language that sometimes isn’t. actually a language lol

[@NintendoSegaGuys]

Maybe the reason Splatoon has so many srcipts is because different species make different sounds.

[@avacadooctolingdemon]

Have ya'll tried to use the wacky words of Shellendorf Institute? Also my headcanon is that the Inklings and Octolings found broken text of English (Considering most of the Technology and Stone engraved things would have been somewhat eroded) and pieced it together in their own vision, therefore creating Mimicry. And throughout centuries they slowly evolved from Mimicry. And since different countries have different writing systems they may all have washed up onto the Bay of Inkopolis and Splatsville. Meaning diverse languages.

[@rassicas]

Some of The text in shellendorf in square script actually translates to the "lorem ipsum...", filler text! it's not mentioned in the video, but I used that to find q in square script when it was missing from maidcactus' cipher .

[@avacadooctolingdemon]

@@rassicas ah I see! Thanks. I really wanted to once translate it, but I figured it's gibberish. Thanks for proving my useless theories correct for my sanity's sake!

[@RapidProbably]

Haven’t finished yet but excited to see

[@AzhulGechl]

Thanks I'm gonna learn the alternan one and gonna do another one probably :D

[@JNJNRobin1337]

i am going to use all of these knowledges to make images that use mimicry trying to use known languages to replicate words in alien language thus making it look like a weird gibberish

[@aSh-pi1in]

9:31 this got me howling

[@bumpis7830]

You guys are insane, thank you

[@fernavliz1]

WOW! I mean, WOW!.... I didn't know there were so many different fonts on the splatoon universe. You didn't decipher the inkling language, you decipher like language of so many different cultures, countries, peoples on the splatoon universe. There is just so many. It makes me thing that inkopolis is truely a cosmopolitan area, with many people of many countries on that universe. Imagine how many different languages branch there could be. Man, the splatoon universe is incredible rich in lore and culture that people just don't notice. Thank you rassicas and thank you ardnin for doing this video exposing your countless crazy amount of hours you put into decyphering this.

[@nyxasoul364]

waking up to see that rassicas posted is such a treat :D

[@dr.zzeuss]

Great video as usual! Nice to see you back.

[@Tyarokip]

Funny to think that in game inklings and octolings are probably doing the same thing with our writing.

[@quicksilveryt4000]

*screams in new Rassicas upload*

[@woast5818]

Rassicas Ardnin colab????!!! hooray

[@j.corbygaming]

Oh shit your back! Will you make a video on the new lore in the game?!

[@lavenchanSSP]

Came here because I was curious of the splatoon logos, but I still haven't figured out the characters. I still can't make out what what letters are being used in the squid sisters logo. Looks like it says Rita.

[@rassicas]

Many of the logos, like the Squid sisters logo, don't correspond to any of the scripts. It's just a design that doesn't have meaning in the text

[@itx_Nero]

finaly i found your yt acc again took me only 2 years. after watching your vids in school bc i was bored but not logged into my yt acc but now ur on ym homepage and ill follow now

[@HypersleepGaming]

Splatoon lore is so damn cool, thank you for your amazing work.

[@JangoMango5]

Y’all are the true squid research lab

[@Its_Just_Ibarra_here.302]

I like the part where you introduce yourselves to us with the music in the background just like in Splatoon 3

[@ecstaticmechanic]

after the part you said "Do we care?" I'd gotten an ad that just YELLED "YESSS"

[@e5858]

Now that we have the precisely translated Suffer No Fools music video, it seems like there’s a lot more than could be done. That video could be a Rosetta Stone for the spoken Inkling language.

[@bathilra5364]

fiinaly im glad that we have confomation you survived big run and your oc wasn't killed on the job

[@Sylver-DXCVII]

I write in square script because I find it easiest to copy from the alphabet charts for inklish

[@WildWildWeasel]

That's some Robert Langdon level of deciphering y'all did here, holy crap!

[@Happywaffle1010]

AYYYYY THEIR BACK. FIRST SPLATOON 3 VIDEO

[@kneesox6521]

New rassicas video dropped, lets squiddin' gooooooooooo