Chapter 594: The Literature Association and Language Barriers
“What? You mean just now, a visitor from the academy claiming to be Yang Yuelan came to Ninglan New City?”
In the city defense military camp situated under the remains of the city wall, Mo Le suddenly stood up upon hearing the intelligence brought by this City Guard.
Even though several months had passed, Mo Le still clearly remembered the young girl named Yang Yuelan.
It was during that time that Ninglan New City experienced its greatest disaster, and after enduring that calamity, the city began to rejuvenate.
From that dream demon incident until now, they had encountered many new phenomena, continuously stimulating their nerves and allowing them to uncover more truths.
They were not the last remaining humans in this world; however, they were the last flicker of civilization adhering to the Expanding Realm.
They had also witnessed how terrifying the assistance from the “Witch Academy” could be: the expansion of Ninglan New City, the monthly energy tides being curtailed, the area outside the city becoming explorative, and even…
Therefore, he naturally knew about the Witch Academy’s formal opening to Ninglan New City.
Not long ago, after experiencing a monumental change in the world, everything outside the city had changed drastically, and they finally witnessed the great power of the Extraordinary Witch.
But after the matter calmed down, the instructors from the Witch Academy would not interfere excessively in their affairs. In the following period, the Witch Academy promised to send more personnel to Ninglan New City to help them resolve issues outside the city.
After the great change in the world, they saw scenes they had never encountered, with humans fleeing in a frenzy towards Ninglan New City. They could not communicate, nor did they dress similarly. He learned from the acting City Lord that these people were ordinary individuals who had “traversed” from another world.
No matter how absurd the explanation sounded or how incomprehensible the content was, the fact had already happened here.
In the last day or two, five or six visitors from the Witch Academy had arrived through the teleportation portal.
According to City Lord Qiuyue, the first to arrive in batches were the teaching assistants from the Witch Academy, who were above students but below instructors.
After the first group of students’ applications were approved, a large number of students would subsequently arrive at Ninglan New City.
As the highest officer in the city defense army, Mo Le naturally met those few assistants who had arrived, but the reception was not entirely smooth, with some encountering obstacles.
From the few he could contact, they showed great interest in the intelligence from outside the city. After settling down, they had mostly lost contact with Ninglan New City.
Perhaps this was what was called venturing out to deal with those troubles outside the city.
The troubles outside the city had already surpassed Ninglan New City’s capacity for tolerance; they could only selectively accept some outsiders, establishing temporary refugee camps for them in the planning area of the old city wall’s strategic buffer zone.
They even needed to restrict their movements and manage food relief. Ninglan New City certainly could not allow these people to wander aimlessly in the city. They were a mixed lot, and language barriers meant it was unnecessary to complicate matters further.
Now, with the arrival of a girl they recognized in Ninglan New City, though not too familiar, the scholar Xiao Han at least should remember their prior connection, making communication easier than with the previous few.
After learning some other details from the City Guard, Mo Le directly handed over the matters to his deputy and left with the guards and the City Guard soldier.
…
At that moment, after leaving the hotel where I was staying, I began to explore the city according to my plan.
Although I had gained some understanding of the new construction of Ninglan New City through the Earth Vein Identification Technique, there were still many places I wanted to see.
For example… how has the Extraordinary Research Association developed now?
Has the Underground City opened to the outside world yet?
And those former scholars, after such a long time, having accepted my teachings on Rune Literature along with the extraordinary materials brought back by Ninglan Qiuyue, how far have they progressed?
I was quite curious about all these things.
As for the resource grabbing outside Ninglan New City… I wasn’t in a hurry. After all, a whole small world had merged into the Expanding Realm, a vast land big enough to be regarded as a world; no one could claim it as their own with a mere word.
It belonged to the Witch Academy, which merely granted everyone the right to “explore,” “extract,” and “search.” What you manage to take, find, or extract could belong to you, but the Expanding Realm, resource points, extraordinary mining areas, and so on did not belong to you.
So before that, I planned to thoroughly understand Ninglan New City, after all, a place I had once visited.
The first place I came to was the Extraordinary Research Association, the one that the guy named Wumali had taken over from his ancestors. Back then, he was quite inept, managing the Extraordinary Research Association somewhat… poorly?
But that shouldn’t concern me much.
However, now it seemed that the Extraordinary Research Association was larger than when I last visited; presumably, extraordinary techniques related to it were spreading quickly in Ninglan New City.
Although this association wasn’t a specialized extraordinary research base, it housed many amateur members, but it was, after all, an interest organization in extraordinary techniques for the general public in Ninglan New City, wasn’t it?
However, upon my arrival, I noticed there seemed to be quite a number of people in the association.
“Hello, welcome to the Extraordinary Research Association. This young lady seems unfamiliar; is this your first visit?”
“Not exactly…” I glanced at the approaching receptionist and gave a vague answer, “I’m curious, why are there so many people here today?”
“Oh, are you referring to these people? Some of them are from the Literature Association.”
“The Literature Association? Ninglan New City has such an association?” I became somewhat interested.
“Of course! Although the Literature Association isn’t well-known in Ninglan New City, it bears the important responsibility of cultural dissemination in our city. Moreover, Ninglan New City is about to open to connect with the Witch Academy, so the unique cultural heritage of Ninglan New City will naturally be showcased first…”
“Oh…” I nodded with some interest, wondering what moving works those writers, who had been living in such dire conditions for a long time, would create?
It would be nice to check it out when I had the chance.
“Then why did these people suddenly come to the Extraordinary Research Association?” I continued to ask.
“This… It’s because of the decline of the Literature Association, so they don’t have a specialized headquarters like the Extraordinary Research Association…”
“So they are more like a formality?”
“Pretty much, but I’ve heard that a planning area in Ninglan New City has reserved a headquarters for the Literature Association, and their visit this time has other reasons.”
“What reasons?” I continued to inquire.
I couldn’t help but lament the tragic state of the Literature Association; culture… literature, these are things that bear a civilization’s spirit and development, yet they don’t even have their own headquarters?
Are they meeting in someone’s home alternately?
“Recently, a large number of refugees have surged in from outside the city, and since we cannot communicate with them, to facilitate communication, we had no choice but to engage in language translation with each other, and this task was voluntarily taken on by the members of the Literature Association.”
“Oh, translation.”
I nodded; if someone loved literature, they would probably also yearn to exchange different insights with people from different civilizations, right?
Furthermore, translation can reveal the evolution and development of a civilization’s language, as well as thought processes and cognition, considering I had learned many mainstream languages during my time in that small world.
“Yes, not only translation. From our side, Ninglan New City is also trying to teach them about our language. If we can achieve communication through language, it will help us better manage those refugees outside the city.”
“Is that so? You seem to know a lot.” I remarked.
After all, Ninglan New City wasn’t very large, and many functions would overlap for efficiency. Even the receptionist at the Extraordinary Association knew so much.
“That’s natural. May I ask if you have business at the association?”
“I just casually came to take a look, to see how things are. By the way, is it convenient to introduce me to those members of the Literature Association? I have some insights into language and translation.”
“Really? If you have your own insights on translation, I believe they would welcome your involvement…”
After this introduction, and with my emphasis, I successfully met the honorary president of the Literature Association.
He was an elderly man, provided with an office specially by the Extraordinary Research Association, and at this moment, he was still studying the comparative materials in front of him.
“Um? May I ask what business you have with me?”
Upon seeing the office door opened, he adjusted his reading glasses and looked up at me, noticing it was the receptionist who had brought another… white-haired young girl, he couldn’t help but ask curiously.
“Mr. Shentu, this young lady says she has some interest in translation, so…”
“Young girl… if you’re just interested, it might be better to communicate with those young people outside. We are currently tasked with the important duty of translating languages and texts, so I’m afraid we won’t have time to satisfy your interest.” Mr. Shentu, as he was called, spoke, his tone lacking any arrogance but with a hint of weariness.
After all, there hadn’t been any clash of different languages within Ninglan New City’s literary system.
Translation was a new field for them, so many areas were unsatisfactory; hence, that was what troubled him at the moment. He still had to personally engage with the refugees from outside.
Otherwise, merely staring at the sorted materials wouldn’t yield any substantial results.
I had originally thought that the Extraordinary Association could interpret the historical remnants of those extraordinary inscriptions and runes, which might help with translation, but ultimately, it turned out to be of little assistance. Instead, the vacant spaces provided them with temporary venues.
“Mr. Shentu, perhaps upon seeing me, you might have the preconceived notion that I am here to disturb your time, but I believe you might have misunderstood.” I stepped forward, glancing over his somewhat cluttered desk.
“For example, the sentence you’re trying to translate, ‘The sun rises in the east and sets in the west,’ you first identified the keyword ‘sun,’ thereby determining the imagery of rising and setting.”
“Then, based on the sentence structure, you chose the directional words ‘east’ and ‘west.’ This method of learning, while basic, is an important step in understanding language structure and vocabulary meaning.”
“At present, you may not have received systematic training in non-comparative translation, but through this method, you can gradually build an intuitive understanding of the language.”
“In the translation process, sensitivity to keywords and grasp of sentence structure is indeed quite crucial. If you were given a bit more time to interact with those people, I believe your translation skills could improve further, but that will take time.”
Upon listening to my words, Shentu Le, the elderly man over fifty years old, immediately stood up.
“You know quite a bit…”
He wanted to say something, but I interrupted him.
“Allow me to introduce myself. I am a teaching assistant from the Witch Academy, having come to Ninglan New City recently after its opening. My name is Yang Yuelan. I happened to pass by here and thought you seemed a bit lost, so I came to check.”
After I finished speaking, the expressions of both Mr. Shentu and the receptionist nearby immediately brightened, especially the receptionist.
“Y-you are the teacher from the Witch Academy? I apologize for my previous rudeness!” Shentu Le hurriedly apologized; after all, he had heard of the Witch Academy’s reputation!
That unparalleled power and the extraordinary witches had left them with endless imaginations regarding such an academy.
“No worries, I already had a slight understanding of your situation, so it’s nothing.”
“Um… Are you Miss Yang Yuelan? The scholar Xiao Han? I… I will go call our president right away…” the receptionist asked excitedly.
“Sure.” I shrugged, not minding. Since I had already decided to help them with translation, having someone cooperate would certainly facilitate the process, furthermore, I was just lending a hand.
After the receptionist left, Mr. Shentu let go of his earlier biases and even began to humbly inquire from me.
“I came here by coincidence this time, and my interest in translation is merely whimsy; to be honest, I have had contact with those refugees outside, but that was before they descended to your place.”
My words contained slightly significant information, and it took him a while to respond.
“So you mean, Scholar Xiao Han, you understand that civilization’s language?”
“Yes, I spent a lot of effort mastering several mainstream languages of that civilization, hoping it can assist you in communicating with them.”
“Really!”
Upon hearing this result, Shentu Le couldn’t help but widen his eyes, not expecting that the translation problem that had caused them difficulty would be resolved directly due to the arrival of a teaching assistant!
“Um, I remember that the Witch Academy also accepted a student. That student was from this civilization; she also knows the language of that civilization. I don’t know if she can come over, but the probability is low. However, I have plenty of time, and if you all are able to learn quickly, I should be able to help you master one of the mainstream languages and scripts of that civilization, at least allowing you the capability to communicate with them.”
Just as I was conversing with Mr. Shentu, the office door was soon pushed open again.
I turned to look at the newcomer, and it was a person I somewhat recognized, Wumali.
“Hey, Wumali, it’s been a while; do you still remember me?”
“You… you really are Teacher Xiao Han!” Wumali’s eyes widened upon seeing me, and even though I didn’t provide too much explanation, he still believed it.
“Oh… that confirmed it?” I raised my eyebrows, somewhat surprised.
“Of course! I heard from City Lord Qiuyue… City Lord Qiuyue mention you. She said your appearance has completely changed from before, with white hair and red pupils. I believe besides Teacher Xiao Han, no one would dare impersonate you.” Wumali said excitedly.
“I see.” I nodded; it appeared that this Wumali had somewhat established goodwill with Ninglan Qiuyue, and from the looks of it, that relationship had not been severed, even though Ninglan Qiuyue had grown into the high and mighty City Lord.
“Since that’s the case, this should be simple. I happened to come here by coincidence. Since fate has intertwined so, I can afford some time to help you solve some difficulties, particularly related to translation. Hmm… I do not particularly like trouble, and I heard that Ninglan New City is connected to the Witch Academy’s network. Do you have the relevant equipment here?”
After all, regarding the knowledge of those languages, if I were to teach them, I didn’t know how long it would take. Rather, it would be better to integrate information and knowledge through the Great Knowledge Tree and the connecting academy network, allowing them to learn slowly. After all, I had already pointed out a path for them; I couldn’t let them be entirely dependent on me.
