It was spoken in the Khabarovsk Krai (Komsomolsky, Sovetskaya Gavan, and Ulchsky districts).

The Russian government and the scientific field disagree on whether the language is living or extinct.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, some researchers combined the Orochi with the Udege, considering them as close dialects.

The Association of Indigenous Peoples of the Khabarovsk Krai stated that the last fluent speaker of the Oroch language died in 2008.

In 2010, this association held a meeting of elderly Orochi, who together were able to remember only about 20 Oroch words, and could not count to ten.