<p><strong>The language is officially called &quot;Orte&quot;</strong>, based on &quot;Orte Empire&quot;.</p>
<p>In the original manga, it appears only in written form with Japanese translation (<em>no transliteration/spoken form</em>). The character looks like a random scribble (and even like <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Hd4hsl.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this...</a>), but later was thought to be a modified Japanese hiragana &amp; katakana.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/j60jD.png" alt="Orte text" /></p>
<p><strong>Transliteration:</strong></p>
<p><strong>げきぶ</strong><br />
どりふたあず<br />
がくにを<br />
もしわれ<br />
さんどうする<br />
のならゆみ<br />
をとりやを<br />
つがえ</p>
<p><sup>From <a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/801428517435023360" rel="nofollow noreferrer">佐とさん's Twitter</a></sup></p>
</blockquote>
<p>When <em>Drifters</em> got animated, Kouta Hirano (the author) didn't think about it at all. He mentioned it on the <a href="https://twitter.com/hiranokohta/status/784396607605182464" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Twitter</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The incoherent character that I wrote randomly on the spot, known as Orte language, was adjusted to be a fictional Latin-based language by the anime staffs. I can only say sorry while <em>dogeza</em>-ing with my head thrusting the ground.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Seiichi Shirato, a setting researcher for <em>Drifters</em>, also mentioned about the difficulty in dialog speech due to Orte language. From <a href="http://kai-you.net/article/33481" rel="nofollow noreferrer">his interview</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>What's the most memorable impression when doing researches for <em>Drifters</em>?</strong></p>
<p>The problematic one is about the dialog speech. Regarding the Orte language that is spoken by the elfs, there's a conversation to just reverse the Japanese text/dialog. When we tried it, apparently it's still similar to Japanese, thus we created a language based in Europe. There's an idea to modify Latin little by little, but since Scipio (a character in <em>Drifters</em>) speaks Latin, he would find out!</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>Surprisingly</em>, Orte language seems to have its own language structure. <a href="http://102037.hatenablog.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">A Japanese blogger</a> tried to analyze the language, though it ended only until episode 3.</p>
<p>Examples:</p>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>seda- : stop (verb)</li>
<li>neruc- : kill (verb)</li>
<li>quinacos: what (intransitive)</li>
<li>quinacom: what (transitive)</li>
<li>tu: you (2nd-person pronoun)</li>
<li>hi/hii: he (3rd-person pronoun)</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-18T14:42:13.357Z
2017-05-18T14:42:13.357Z
2020-06-17T09:17:53.303Z
Aki Tanaka
<p>This anime is still fairly new so I may be jumping the gun a bit, but in the episodes so far the people living in the world that the protagonist Toyohisa was transported to don't appear to speak Japanese. </p>

<p>Now my assumption may be off as I am not a fluent speaker, but as a third semester Japanese minor I usually can pick up on some words, phrases and contexts without looking at the subtitles. </p>

<p>When the elves speak there is a clear change in tone, pitch and pronunciation of words.</p>

<p>Are they speaking a different language entirely? Or just some sort of abbreviated form? </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-25T04:26:35.883Z
It seems to be an artificial language based on Latin, according to the author on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/hiranokohta/status/784396607605182464).
кяαzєя
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-05T02:35:00.807Z
I'm trying to find out the answer to this question myself. It's definitely not japanese, or any language that I've heard before. (Although Japanese accent speaking a different language may be throwing me off) I was wondering if they might be speaking Esperanto, it's the largest spoken artificial man-made language.
Random Guy
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-05T13:48:01.733Z
According to @кяαzєя's link as well as the author's twitter there is some derivative of latin/pig-latin that is very popular in the manga world but I still have no clue the formal title or how it works.
Callat
<drifters>
Language of the elf-like people?
# Language of the elf-like people?
Posted by: username_0 on 2016-10-24
This anime is still fairly new so I may be jumping the gun a bit, but in the episodes so far the people living in the world that the protagonist Toyohisa was transported to don't appear to speak Japanese.

Now my assumption may be off as I am not a fluent speaker, but as a third semester Japanese minor I usually can pick up on some words, phrases and contexts without looking at the subtitles.

When the elves speak there is a clear change in tone, pitch and pronunciation of words.

Are they speaking a different language entirely? Or just some sort of abbreviated form?
**Tags:** drifters
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: It seems to be an artificial language based on Latin, according to the author on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/hiranokohta/status/784396607605182464).  
> **username_2**: I'm trying to find out the answer to this question myself. It's definitely not japanese, or any language that I've heard before. (Although Japanese accent speaking a different language may be throwing me off) I was wondering if they might be speaking Esperanto, it's the largest spoken artificial man-made language.  
> **username_0**: According to @кяαzєя's link as well as the author's twitter there is some derivative of latin/pig-latin that is very popular in the manga world but I still have no clue the formal title or how it works.  
---
## 1 answers
### Answer by username_3 on 2017-05-18. Score: 2 | Accepted answer
**The language is officially called "Orte"**, based on "Orte Empire".

In the original manga, it appears only in written form with Japanese translation (*no transliteration/spoken form*). The character looks like a random scribble (and even like [this...](https://i.sstatic.net/Hd4hsl.png)), but later was thought to be a modified Japanese hiragana & katakana.

> ![Orte text](https://i.sstatic.net/j60jD.png)
>
> **Transliteration:**
>
> **げきぶ**  
> どりふたあず  
> がくにを  
> もしわれ  
> さんどうする  
> のならゆみ  
> をとりやを  
> つがえ
>
> From [佐とさん's Twitter](https://twitter.com/i/web/status/801428517435023360)

When *Drifters* got animated, Kouta Hirano (the author) didn't think about it at all. He mentioned it on the [Twitter](https://twitter.com/hiranokohta/status/784396607605182464),

> The incoherent character that I wrote randomly on the spot, known as Orte language, was adjusted to be a fictional Latin-based language by the anime staffs. I can only say sorry while *dogeza*-ing with my head thrusting the ground.

Seiichi Shirato, a setting researcher for *Drifters*, also mentioned about the difficulty in dialog speech due to Orte language. From [his interview](http://kai-you.net/article/33481),

> **What's the most memorable impression when doing researches for *Drifters*?**
>
> The problematic one is about the dialog speech. Regarding the Orte language that is spoken by the elfs, there's a conversation to just reverse the Japanese text/dialog. When we tried it, apparently it's still similar to Japanese, thus we created a language based in Europe. There's an idea to modify Latin little by little, but since Scipio (a character in *Drifters*) speaks Latin, he would find out!

*Surprisingly*, Orte language seems to have its own language structure. [A Japanese blogger](http://102037.hatenablog.com/) tried to analyze the language, though it ended only until episode 3.

Examples:

> * seda- : stop (verb)
> * neruc- : kill (verb)
> * quinacos: what (intransitive)
> * quinacom: what (transitive)
> * tu: you (2nd-person pronoun)
> * hi/hii: he (3rd-person pronoun)
---
