第二年第三百五十五天

[nnozomi]

语法
或者 + V1 + 或者 + V2 "do either X or Y"
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Providing_two_options_with_double_%22huozhe%22

词汇
西北, northwest; 西餐, Western food; 西方, west; 西南, southwest; 西医, Western medicine 西北 xīběi, northwest; 西餐 xīcān, Western food; 西方 xīfāng, west; 西南 xīnán, southwest; 西医 xīyī, Western medicine
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-2-word-list/

Guardian:
[no double 或者]
立马调档一下西北山区的历史, immediately check the documents on the history of the northwestern mountains
那请问您是中医还是西医呢? may I ask if you are a Western or a traditional Chinese doctor?

Me:
或者做作业或者睡得早，反正不要打游戏熬夜啊。
今天我想要吃西餐，那家商店的汉堡非常好吃。

Comments

[grayswandir]

那请问您是中医还是西医呢? may I ask if you are a Western or a traditional Chinese doctor?

I forgot about this line! It's so strange to me to think of Haixing having 中医 vs. 西医. I mostly just sort of ignore the question of whether countries outside of ~China even exist in Guardian (and try not to ask why there's random English all over the place XD).

[sakana17]

That line always stands out for me, too. I try to keep Haixing and China separate concepts, so I speedbump this line as "a potential worldbuilding question for Haixing."

why there's random English all over the place

My headcanon is that although the words look English to us, on Haixing the letters have completely different sounds or meanings. XD (I know, I'm trying *really* hard here.)

[trobadora]

I mean, either they're speaking Chinese, in which case no reason not to have other things identical to Earth too, or that too is just a translation convention, in which case everything else is, too. If they're not speaking Chinese, but instead Haixinghua, and for obvious reasons it's translated into Chinese for the audience, then likewise the English (and other languages that sometimes are visible in the background) is just a stand-in for other languages on their planet. The ubiquitous English suggests that there's another major language, but that's all. *g*

(My headcanon, for no good reason other than the name "Haixing", is that their planet has more ocean and less landmass than Earth. /tangent)

[nnozomi]

Yes, on the whole the "English as translation convention" works best for me. You could have a lot of fun playing with the history and geography of Haixing as a whole, although it would only be very tangentially related to the actual drama content lol. (I played with some history stuff a little in the background when I was writing my long ZXC fic, and got into it.) The ocean idea is great!

[trobadora]

Yeah, I love the worldbuilding potential! And I really need to find some time to go back and read that fic; it's been on my to-read list for so long and I'm still really looking forward to it.

[nnozomi]

(late reply, but <3 <3 <3. and here's to more worldbuilding fic!)

[sakana17]

Translation convention makes sense!

And I like the idea that Haixing has more ocean than Earth. XD

[grayswandir]

Yeah, "just a translation convention" is pretty much what I assume as well, though I'm also always sort of perplexed that any other countries exist on Haixing at all, since it seems like everything historically important is centered around Dragon City, and there's no indication of Dixingren trying to escape to other places, or any mentions of travel abroad or anything. And hah, yes, I also assumed, based on the name, that the planet was mostly water! Maybe with just one continent, even. Otherwise I end up wondering about the war 10,000 years ago, and whether it was worldwide or the rest of the world was uninhabitable or what...

[trobadora]

since it seems like everything historically important is centered around Dragon City, and there's no indication of Dixingren trying to escape to other places

If the only passage to Dixing is in Dragon City, then it makes sense to me that everything would centre around that place. Some Dixingren probably did just quietly leagve the area and ended up living elsewhere.

It looks like back in the day it was easier to get from Dixing to the surface (and vice versa?), considering all those people migrating after the meteor strike. But it could still be that whatever method they used only let them reach one particular area. In which case on ohter continents people were struggling with the aftermath of the meteor but didn't have a superpowered war to contend with as well ...

So much potential for worldbuilding, I love it! :D

[nnozomi]

although the words look English to us, on Haixing the letters have completely different sounds or meanings
That's a fun one! Like the way Hmong is transliterated, where some letters stand for tone markings instead of sounds...

[grayswandir]

(I know, I'm trying *really* hard here.)

No, no, that's what we're here for! It can all make sense if we try. ;D

[nnozomi]

It's so strange to me to think of Haixing having 中医 vs. 西医.
Yes, I noticed the same. I can't think of any worldbuilding where it would really fit, but one could try ;)
(Also I figure one of those cities that aren't Dragon City that get named in passing? must be English-analogue speaking ;) )

[grayswandir]

Also I figure one of those cities that aren't Dragon City that get named in passing? must be English-analogue speaking ;)

Yeah, maybe one of the ones with a time zone shown on the clock wall? (Obligatory link to extrapenguin's clock wall post.) Though, damn, the existence of multiple time zones is messing up my theory that there's only one continent, unless that one continent has a bunch of (weird) time zones...

[nnozomi]

Thank you for the clock link! I kept trying to find that one. Those time zones are nuts...