Talk:Inkling (language)

Official name
If the Splatoon tumblr is considered canon, then Inkling is the official name per this post. --sunmarsh  ( talk )  17:24, 5 July 2015 (UTC)

That bit about Hylian
The various versions of the alphabet are all openly ciphers, thus it is unlikely that spoken Hylian is anything but gibberish (doesn't make all that much sense to write an actual language as a cipher of written Japanese or English, does it?). The functional Hylian language is a fan project, and thus Nintendo has not produced any language in the past, unless there is some other example.

Oh, and by the way I think I'm going to try to work out the details of spoken Inkling to see how far of a stretch formulating a grammar would be.

IrritatedEchinoderm (talk) 06:13, 1 August 2015 (UTC)

NatsuLink
Hey, NatsuLink, it seems you uploaded some Splatfest shirts without checking the uploaded image list. I actually already added Splatfest Tees in the Splatfest Tee page. If you could possibly remove the copies that you uploaded, that'd be great.

Thanks, --Sigma (talk) 03:44, 10 August 2015 (UTC)Sigma

Potential problems with alphabet notations
Though I understand the chart exists for the purpose of an alphabet example, the subtitled information for each glyph may be inaccurate. I mostly note that the user that created those charts has suggested "Hello" is written one way when it's quite possible there's evidence in the Plaza that it's written another way.

While we can't be certain, there are numerous "Hello My name is" type stickers plastered around the city. If anyone is familiar with something else those types of badges say, it'd be great to know. (I've not been able to find anything similar.) Of course the pronunciation is different no matter how you look at it, but it oes beg the question if they're going in the right direction.

OR MAYBE IT'S ALL GIBBERISH. But I'm seeing patterns. I study Japanese as well, so I'm looking at both versions.

Mikenno (talk) 04:14, 26 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Ehh yeah those charts have never really sit right with me. Mostly cuz there's a ton of other symbols that aren't on there, while some of the ones that are... I've never even seen used in the game. And the fact that the pronunciations given for each one seem to just be random. I don't know what an alternative would be, though. --Bzeep!   talk   04:27, 26 November 2015 (UTC)


 * It's almost... um, totally random. the producer's interview tells that. though, Some letters is similar to some Japanese words. http://news.mynavi.jp/articles/2015/08/06/Splatoon02/002.html --Azoth (talk) 04:48, 26 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Oh. That's pretty important actually, the producers confirming the language to be random. Should put that on the page somewhere... --Bzeep!   talk   04:53, 26 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Okay, I added it. But what should we do with Inkling Full 1.jpeg, Inkling Full 2.jpeg, and Inkling Full 3.jpeg? If they weren't already inaccurate, they definitely are now. --Bzeep!   talk   05:04, 26 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Oh. Talk about the most disappointing thing for a linguist to find. It's basically along the lines of "we didn't want this to correspond to any language in particular" and the goal was for it to look cool. Had someone who can read Japanese better check it and she summarized - "They wanted to make it hard to make out and distinguish, and because they were creating an entire world from scratch, they didn't want to base it on any one language." I thought maybe it still has a structure, and she responded, "I'm not sure if this is right but he seems to say they don't use phonetic symbols the way we do. Maybe that it's different structurally, but not anything about its structure if it has one." Mikenno (talk) 05:12, 26 November 2015 (UTC)


 * And more, this Arrows are also a word, for "ブイヤベース" (Booyah Base). ←"↑↑→"▼ the Artbook definitely shows that. ya, it seems there are a lot of missing letters on the character tables more than we think.--Azoth (talk) 05:43, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
 * looks like the cheat code is not a cheat code and is just Booyah Base in Inkling? Man what a bummer. 08:48, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Yes, definitely. you can see the arrows and "ブイヤベース". http://imgur.com/USyWvYR --Azoth (talk) 18:16, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
 * And this book shows one of the ways to design the Inkling character. They distort the related Japanese words to make ones, as we had expected. The distortion sequence of "みみ" (mimi) and "ミミイカ" (mimi ika, Bobtail squid. the illustration on the left). The lower one seems to be based on "ヒラメ"(hirame, Flounder). Of course they have other ways also to make characters. http://imgur.com/PJRWMvZ --Azoth (talk) 18:54, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

Before I make a silly move, I must discuss it.
Shouldn't this be renamed "Inkling (language)"? After all, 'language' is just a normal noun, not a name or title, so there's no point in capitalizing the "l". Drilly  the   Hedgehog  03:45, 5 March 2016 (UTC)

Yes, that would be good! Mr Squid (talk) 06:35, 5 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Sure, it'll match the other ones with parentheses in their names. :y --11:54, 5 March 2016 (UTC)

Ika Radio 2 picture
Anyone think that the logo of Squid Beatz 2, the Ammo Knights logo and others should be on here? S q u i d d y Girl Talk  22:40, 5 July 2019 (UTC)

Are there other languages?
In some dialogue for Manta Maria, Pearl says how she'd like to travel around the world, and Marina says she should at least learn some other languages. Does this mean that there are regional languages? I'm assuming she's not referring to octarian, since Pearl would know a bit from Marina and Idk if there are very many octos outside of Inkopolis. (Since they wouldn't know about the Splatlands) Should this be mentioned? (and if so, where? there's no trivia section) 15:42, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

Why the "F***" would you allow Jelfonzo's shirt to remain uncensored?
It is entirely different from having the word spelled out in game in English letters. It is entirely different from when other sites use it in a quote of a real person who is not bound by an ESRB rating (and in that case, should they be doing it?). If it can be referenced to on-site without repercussions, I should be able to make a topic like this in reference to content on-site, right? What average child would read it in-game and be able to decipher it? What is the logic behind putting this out in the open?

I don't care if it's partially censored, that's fine by me; the entire word being spelled out is irresponsible at best and thoughtless at worst.

Orderpunk (talk) 04:16, 12 June 2022 (UTC)


 * The job of the wiki is to be true to the source material, not to arbitrate what is inappropriate or not. Our policy was written without the forethought of finding material that we would not want to report on. And so the problem is the source material is in conflict with our own policy, which stands in the way of correctly reporting and recording knowledge about the game.
 * Furthermore, if you have a key which allows anyone to translate to/from script and English, then there is no point in hiding what the word says, as it can be easily translated by anyone. 17:24, 12 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Just because we want to be thorough and true to the source material doesn't mean we cannot be delicate about how we do it.
 * Orderpunk (talk) 20:34, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

I feel like we should censor it and add a note saying it was censored because of the wiki’s policy or something. I do agree it should be censored it some way. OrderSquid123 (talk) 10:43, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

The policy was created when no one ever expected Nintendo to do something like this. This wiki is an encyclopedia; it should accurately represent the game and educate, not censor. Censoring official Splatoon content is definitely not something a Splatoon encyclopedia should be doing. I think the policy should be changed to allow quotes from official Splatoon content; after all, there is always the possibility that Nintendo could create a T-rated Splatoon game. Heddy (talk) 17:29, 12 June 2022 (UTC)


 * The game this particular piece of information is from is not rated T. This is not about what could be in the future. It is about what rules state now, and why any exception would be made for something that is within the contents of a site about a series of games that is rated below a T, the site in question having rules against it in the first place.
 * If the key is there, people can draw their own conclusions just fine if they really care that much to know what comes after the letter F. If my topic about it needed to be censored, I think it should be censored on the page itself.
 * Orderpunk (talk) 20:34, 12 June 2022 (UTC)


 * I see that we brought ourselves to a Bob Hoskins situation.


 * I don't see a problem with having "f***" uncensored, primarily because for the reasons mentioned about censoring content that to me any information can be vital to some. Now I know we're comparing a transcription of a word to a quote said by a movie actor, but I really think Inkipedia should decide if they want to censor content or not. MarioWiki has a section regarding this topic that I recommend you read carefully. -- PanchamBro (talk • contributions) 09:11, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
 * (Replying to also mention the aforementioned section is the very last in that page, since it may be easy to miss)
 * I mentioned it here, but to have it this talk page too: I'm in favor of leaving it uncesored not only because I agree with the statement in the Mario Wiki, but also because it's documentation of something in-game
 * When internal discussion is over, we should host a vote. I've seen both sides being vocal, but not on the wiki, so this will help with understanding who is in favor of the raw text or not. ~  Nick the Splatoon Fanboy S2 Mem Cake Inkling Squid.png  Chat   Contributions  12:51, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Sure, it's in-game, but it's not in English. It's not supposed to be read so blatantly. It is in a game where language like that is not supposed to be read, at least not easily. I would be fine with a vote, but I am allowed to express how tasteless I think it is just like everyone else who thinks it's tasteful and in the name of documentation.
 * When the elaboration of Inkipedia's rule against inappropriate content, which contains curse words, says that:
 * Inkipedia is visited by a wide range of users, many of whom are children or want a safe, clean environment to read and edit.
 * How is it taking this long for someone to make a decision? If there's a final decision to keep it uncensored, I won't have any ground to stand on, but we need to be honest with ourselves. Do we actually care about who visits Inkipedia? Do we actually care about their comfort? It wouldn't be completely censored when that information is decipherable on the same page, and that's fine by me. I'm not trying to say, "we need to be dishonest about what information is in the game and we need to be as unclear about it as possible," I'm saying it should, at the VERY least, take some time to look at instead of having it out in the open on a site with clear ruling against it.
 * Orderpunk (talk) 15:14, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Making an exception to the no profanity rule in order to allow the documentation of something the devs actually put into the game does not make the wiki unsafe for children. According to your criteria, the manga shouldn't be mentioned at all in this wiki, as the heavy use of crude humor with the nudity jokes should give it at least a T rating according to the ESRB as far as I know, making it unfit for a wiki with no age restriction.
 * I don't think it's very likely that a kid reading this page would have had their first exposure to the word f*** through the Jelfonzo shirt. Even if it was, I don't think it would turn them into some potty mouthed sailor. I also don't think it would cause some sort of irreparable moral damage or trauma to them, and even if they were mildly discomforted by it, it's not something that they and their guardians wouldn't be able to handle. At least, it wasn't in my own experience. Haven't you ever seen or been a child giggling while whispering some sort of profanity to themself ?
 * In my opinion, there should be an exception not just because I think it would funny or because I want to document another instance of decipherable round script, but rather because it shines a light on the actual people working behind this game we all are pretty fond of. I understand if someone thinks it should be censored regardless, that still would be reasonable to me. I wouldn't even want it to be in the page, censored or not, in case it was a more explicit expression instead of "f*** you". But painting the wiki as this sort of morally bankrupt website because we are considering letting one jellyfish say f*** sounds pretty unreasonable to me. Cosmo95 (talk) 01:30, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * I apologize for my tone that implied I think the entire site is "morally bankrupt", then, I realize I'm expressing that I'm frustrated. What I think is unreasonable is the time it's taking and the ways in which the situation is being handled, for reasons I've already stated. Do I think everyone in charge is irredeemable? No.
 * I also feel like the stance of "they've probably already seen it before" is the exact thing I'm worried about. It's probably true for many young people on the internet, but when a site claims that it's a "safe, clean environment" that wouldn't contain this kind of thing, I can't understand why there would be an uncensored exception. It's different from something like social media or forums, where those kinds of limits don't (or can't) always apply to a large majority of it. I see it as a matter of accountability, I'm not asking for the information to be completely gone.
 * It's a fair point to bring up the manga's humor, but it's censored in the story as well. Every time.
 * Orderpunk (talk) 04:36, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * I feel like like you might be polarizing this discussion a bit much, there are valid arguments to censor this since this wiki was made for a game that should be childfriendly, so having words like this pop up is an understandable reason to have a discussion about. However, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, please think about the high horse you are positioning yourself on with your tone. It seems you try to push us into corners instead of really trying to find a solution here. Ardnin (talk) 02:11, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * I also apologize if this is in reference to me, I am truly trying to keep myself in check here. I'm, admittedly, frustrated with the notion that someone in the Discord called upon the rest of this site's channel to come tell me to take a "chill pill". I am actively wanting to understand other points of view, and I understand why people want this information to remain. What I don't understand is, if people could figure it out with a small amount of work, thanks to the rest of the page, what's the harm in censoring it? I don't think that's dishonest to what content is there. Orderpunk (talk) 04:54, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
 * @Nick the Splatoon Fanboy: "When internal discussion is over, we should host a vote." Due to this being a significant policy issue, I believe that it cannot be resolved by vote. Only consensus can be used to reach a conclusion. See the consensus policy here. And for reference, here is the voting policy as well.
 * In the Discord, the consensus seems to be using asterisks to censor it and having the description say it's uncensored in-game, which is the current state of the article. Does anyone here oppose that? Heddy (talk) 09:28, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Hear me out...
Ok, I haven't been able to be on here much at all lately (and won't for the next week, sorry), but with the shirt war, I remembered something. In the Art of Splatoon 2, the concept art for him shows this exact shirt and is labeled the "'You Suck' shirt". I can provide images if needed, but maybe this can help? It would be great to avoid profanity on a wiki for a childrens game if at all possible. 16:41, 12 June 2022 (UTC)


 * I know exactly what shirt you're talking about, and was thinking about uploading that concept art the shows all the shirts since it'd be a nice addition to the wiki. I'll do that soon. However, I don't think the '**** YOU' shirt needs to be replaced or have its entire existence censored, as it is official Splatoon content. Additionally, the "you suck" shirt uses bubble script rather than round script (it's actually where I got started on deciphering bubble script!), thus it is not exactly the same. 18:35, 12 June 2022 (UTC)

Don't have a picture, but...
The squarescript text that appears at the top left of the screen when Off the Hook's logo flashes on screen when you boot up the game reads "HIGHCOLORTV". The same text also appears at the bottom of Off the Hook's big TV where they show the stages and stuff, but only when there are no stages or anything on the screen, and even then it's partially obscured by Pearl. Both instances of this text are small and easy-to-miss, but if you look, you can spot it. Another thing I translated is an orange sign with a few Inklings on it to the left of Crusty Sean's food truck. There's a lot of squarescript on this particular sign, but I believe that only the big stuff at the top is non-gibberish. The biggest word (it's two letters long) just says "NO". Very... helpful? The slightly smaller text next to it reads "(G/W)ONIN NO IKA WA OR INASU COO(L/V) MA MO". I do not speak Japanese (like, at all), but between Google Translate and my knowledge of "IKA" meaning "SQUID", I think it says something about five squids looking cool and posing. Feel free to correct me, because I am probably (definitely) wrong. Also, the text is fairly grainy on this sign and some of the letters blend together, so I might have gotten a few characters wrong. Avery_TSP ( conversing ) 01:14, 13 June 2022 (UTC)


 * Oh, that orange sign was something that was attempted to be deciphered in my discord server! Not just the first line, but the entire poster is in proper Japanese. However, some letters were impossible to read. I'll see if I can upload it with what was deciphered.
 * As for the first example, you could probably find an image of Inkopolis News here on the wiki somewhere, and explain the translations in the description.  Rassicas     {Talk}    {Contribs}  04:19, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
 * First off, wow! You all are so diligent! (I should be taking notes!) And, uh, thanks for uploading the sign for me. I don't really have an easy way to transfer screenshots from my Switch onto my computer, so thank you for that.
 * And yeah, I did that! Finding a picture of the intro was... surprisingly easy. Thank you for the guidance! Avery_TSP  ( conversing ) 15:33, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
 * And yeah, I did that! Finding a picture of the intro was... surprisingly easy. Thank you for the guidance! Avery_TSP  ( conversing ) 15:33, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

More findings
This is actually really fun to do in my spare time! I'll just put whatever I find on here and maybe try to upload some photos later.

The sign in front of the Crust Bucket says a bunch of stuff in Japanese (I think) that I can't read.

If you stand on the pole near the telephone pole all the way in the back right of Inkopolis Square, you can see this blue sign with the Annaki symbol and some graffiti. On the bottom of this sign is some square script text that doesn't seem to say anything (nonsense characters at the very front) but mimics the words "www.jabal.edu".

The white square script text on the plaza post box (is that what it's called? That's what I've always called it) reads "S(F/Y)OP".

The three identical movie-poster-like signs to the left of the entrance to the Deepsea Metro say gibberish in bold script but mimic "OCTACA" in English (warping of Octo and Tako?)

There's a sign right on the bars that block off the subway entrance with a picture of a bike on it. Said sign has some square script text on it that is probably translatable, but really small.

A white sign above Headspace has square script text that I think is gibberish but might be Japanese. Here's the last line (which is all I did): "(G/W)(L/V)ENO(G/W)(L/V)POEI(G/W)"

A pink sign on top of Deca Tower (it's just to the right of the giant phone and above the big TV screen) with a picture of the no-Internet sign but with a squid on it has words below it that don't seem to say anything but read as "Squid" upon visual inspection.

The back of the Green Striped LS says "ABCDE(Z/O)A(I/Y)G(I/Y) _LL(Z/O)(E/N)K", which probably means something in Japanese (maybe?)

The big text on the top of the back of the Deep-Octo Satin Jacket says nothing (I think) but reads "IKAUT"

The red text on the front of the Black Cuttlegear LS looks like it says OCTOPUS. Same with the black text on the front of the Red Cuttlegear LS.

The back of the Zekko Long Orange Carrot Tee (the big text anyways) says "OPQRSTU" and then on the next line "DEFGHIJKLMN"

The back of the Anchor Life Vest says "K__N O. P. R."

The Bamboo Hat has something on the top right in Japanese

The Welding Mask also says something in Japanese on the front left.

The Sailor Cap seems to say something in Deepsea Stencil Script on the top right. (It's pretty hard to see, it helps if you wait for your Ink/Octoling's idle animation to kick in before taking a picture.)

The Dust Blocker 2000 has a very smol warning label on the left side, really only visible during the last part of the Ink/Octoling's idle animation.

The Eel-Cake Hat probably says something, but I've gotta go eat lunch, so I'll translate after. The Eel-Cake Hat says "OII(B/Y) (L/R)F(V/D)_(B/Y)", so unless "OIIB RFDY" is code for "Happy Birthday", I got nothin.

Avery_TSP ( conversing ) 19:23, 13 June 2022 (UTC)


 * OKAY BIG THING! ...for me at least! One of the signs to the right of the Deepsea Metro Entrance says in Deepsea Stencil Script, "NOTICE". And that's nothing special, right? But BELOW the picture, it says "24 _OR VDEO"! So by using common sense and comparing it to other common signs and practices in this same script, that means the character before the OR would be the character for H! Yay! I'm helping for once! The character that I think is H is, uh, the one that looks a lot like an H, but with curves on the end of the top right and bottom left lines.
 * Other stuff:
 * The chalkboard sign near the cafe Spyke sits in says EATS (visually, not actually) across the top, and it looks like there are some Japanese characters below it.
 * A turquoise sign above the sign for the same cafe says "nialuub" in all lowercase in Bold Script.
 * There's a sign on the glass of Deca Tower right by Murch with some halfmoon script and some square script on it. I couldn't decipher the halfmoon script, but the square script reads "SPORTS CENTER" and then a line down "AT ZUJITUBO". I have no clue what a zujitubo is, but Google Translate tells me that fujitsubo is Japanese for Barnacles, so that's pretty cool.
 * Pictures coming soon, if I can figure out how to do it.
 * Avery_TSP ( conversing ) 20:36, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Nice sleuthing!
 * If there's any text that looks like Japanese, I can guarantee it isn't actually Japanese and is either mimicking it or is just gibberish. Don't worry about trying to translate any text that mimics Japanese if you can't read the real thing: leave that to the native speaking fans. Which reminds me that ikasekai has a collection of mimicked Japanese words in Splatoon deciphered by Japanese speakers. I might have to go in and list some of those examples at some point.
 * The majority of text that is decipherable is unfortunately gibberish. I'd say if it's gibberish, there's no need to list it on the page. To identify if something you translate is Japanese, Japanese is a more vowel-heavy language than english, so look out for a consonant-vowel pattern. Rule of thumb: if you see two consonants together that arent "sh" "ch" "tsu" "ty" or if it ends in any consonant other than "n", its likely gibberish.
 * The pink sign is for the Squid Research Lab and should be mimicking that text. That's worth listing! I think those other mimicked examples are worth listing as well.
 * All pieces of gear should have their own pages with images of it at multiple angles (that was a big project I did a couple years ago!) So its more than likely you won't need to upload any images of gear. I think long strings of text in alphabetical order and clearly mimicked texts are good to list (like the Zekko Long Carrot Tee and Red Cuttlegear LS examples), but text that's almost-but-not-quite alphabetical or straight up gibberish is not as noteworthy. In those cases, a good thing you could do is list the translation in the gallery of the gear page. You can see the Anchor life vest page for an example of this.
 * I think the Eel-Cake Hat is a combination of mimicry and deciphering. The first word mimics "happy" and "RFDAY" seems to be a cut off of BIRFDAY. Neat. 20:45, 13 June 2022 (UTC)