Chapter 79 How to Type Desert Words

Chapter 79 How to Type Desert Words

After listening to Harold's suggestion, Setale thought of several theater troupes in Xumi City, and she immediately showed a somewhat embarrassed look.

As Azar's assistant, she also traveled to these theaters at the sage's behest and urged the vizier to ban some "vulgar" art performances.

She said a lot of harsh words at that time, and perhaps the troupe members and the troupe manager still remembered her. She felt it was difficult for her to ask these troupe artists to perform the poems and novels she translated again.

It wasn't that she didn't want to apologize. She didn't think the troupe's performance was really that unbearable. She said those words just to fulfill the mission of the Ministry of Education.

But she is the sage's assistant, and her behavior to a certain extent also represents the attitude of the great sage. If the news that she admits her mistakes gets out, she will definitely be expelled from the House of the Order.

She already had enough savings and talent, and it would not be difficult for her to make a living if she left the House of the Orders. However, if she wanted to continue translating literary works, she had to stay in the House of the Orders, because those untranslated books were not recorded in the void, and Xumi's paper books were extremely precious. Almost all books related to desert civilization were under the control of the House of the Orders.

Kavi did not notice Setare's embarrassment. When he heard Harold's words, he immediately shouted happily, "Good idea! I think it would be best to perform it in the form of an opera or poetic drama in order to let the audience experience the uniqueness of desert poetry and novels more intuitively.

In Fontaine, this kind of stage art is very popular. We originally had similar song and dance performances in Xumi, but due to the restrictions of the Church, there were very few that directly combined dance, music, and literary works. Perhaps the manager of the crew would like to try a new form of performance - I happen to have a few Fontaine records here, I'll look for them."

Kavi rummaged through the cabinet and quickly found a few records. He placed the records on the turntable of the phonograph, pulled down the needle, and as the records spun, the singing quickly flowed out.

The opera was sung in Old Fontaine, and only Elhaisen present could understand it. However, the record captured the voices of seven actors, so even if others could not understand it, they could still judge the actors' moods based on the timbre of the singing.

"This seems to be a sad story." Setale listened very carefully. She was pleasantly surprised to find that she could actually perceive the emotions the actor wanted to express from the singing, even though she didn't understand the song. If she could understand it, the song would definitely touch her more deeply.

"Really? There are indeed many tragic elements in it, but I think it should be a comedy." Seno has a different opinion.

"The opera is called 'Helen's Wedding'. The screenwriter believes that Helen's wedding is the beginning of all tragedies, but because it is a wedding, the music carries an atmosphere of holiness and joy. The people of Fontaine like this sense of drama, so this opera is very famous. I still have stage photos here. I'll look for them." Kavi began to rummage through the boxes again.

Kavi took out a photo album and showed the stills to everyone, saying happily: "This is the bride Helen, this is her husband Menelaos, and standing next to them are Helen's father and the king's ministers.

You see, everyone's clothes are very distinctive, so you can clearly feel that Helen's father's temperament is different from others, because he is the God King! "

After watching the stills, Setale felt that this art form was feasible. The costumes of some desert tribes were very recognizable and might be loved by the people of the rainforest. At the same time, she was more worried about how to negotiate with the manager of the troupe. She couldn't help but look at Harold——

Harold was reading carefully a short story she had translated.

Setale immediately looked away. She couldn't always let that adult take care of everything for her.

After Harold finished reading, he looked up and said, "The plot of the novel is very good, but the lines need to be revised. After all, the audience are the residents of Xumi. They go to the theater just to kill time or relax after a busy day at work. If you ask them to watch some incomprehensible opera, they won't pay for it."

It's like asking you to read a classical Chinese novel after six days of school. No matter how exciting the plot is, most people won't be able to finish it.

"Of course, there are not many types of entertainment in Xumi City. The gorgeous costumes and beautiful singing can attract many audiences, but if we want to achieve the purpose of spreading culture through opera...how to change the lines to be more in line with the tastes of ordinary people without changing the general idea is a difficult problem." Harold continued.

"...Hmm." Kavi fell into deep thought. He felt that what Harold said made sense.

"It's better to leave this kind of thing to the playwrights in the troupe. After years of studying, we have been more or less influenced by the Institute of Education, and our way of thinking is different from that of ordinary people." Seno said regretfully.

Harold: "Yes, if we do it, it is inevitable that there will be mistakes. Senior Setare is the assistant of the sage, and it may not be convenient for him to come forward directly. Senior can write the reason in an anonymous letter and attach the novel he translated. If the troupe happens to be short of scripts, the troupe manager will accept this delivery method.

Or you can give yourself a pen name, like "Shakespeare". In order to prevent your handwriting from being recognized, it is best not to write manuscripts by hand or print documents in Xumi City, otherwise it will be easy to be tracked.

Seniors can ask foreign merchants in Omos Port for help. They usually have their own private typewriters to submit documents required for trade inspections. "

With just a few words, a few people solved the problem that they had not yet expressed. Setale was relieved and grateful at the same time. She thanked them repeatedly and praised the juniors generously. The exaggerated compliments made Kavi blush slightly.

After talking about literary works and opera, Seno and Setale said goodbye to the three and left. Soon, only Harold, Kavi and Elhaisen were left in the house.

Kavi repackaged the used record and put it back in its place, saying, “It seems that Senior Setare has put a lot of effort into this... But spreading the literature and art of the desert in the rainforest?

Harold, you really came up with a good idea. It's amazing that you thought of using opera. I didn't even dare to think of it before. Hmm... If it's handled properly, our Xumi will also have its own unique opera form. That's great. I hope Senior Setare can get what he wants."

"But this method is just a drop in the bucket to eliminate prejudice." Harold said with a helpless smile.

"Prejudices are not formed overnight, so it would be strange to eliminate them completely all at once! I dare say that this is the beginning of change! Hey, then aren't we the pioneers of a new era?" Kavi said optimistically.

Harold chuckled at the statement.

"You are not laughing at me, are you?" Kavi said with dissatisfaction, narrowing his eyes.

Harold raised his hands in surrender: "Of course not, I just think what you said is cute."

Kavi's eyes widened, "Huh? Cute? You're using the wrong words again."

Harold coughed lightly and turned the topic back to cultural communication: "If the desert people still cannot receive education, even if the rainforest people know that the desert people once created a brilliant civilization, they will still be dismissive. Many people may even say, 'That's just a thing of the past. Have they created any new works in the past hundred years?'"

Kavi was immediately attracted by this topic. He frowned and said, "I also know that the desert people have no access to knowledge. The Order is unwilling to grant the desert people void authority. There are no paper books in the desert. I heard that the Order strictly checks the goods flowing into the desert, fearing that someone will sell books to the desert."

Harold: "Actually, there are some. Sometimes the Gilded Brigade will secretly take the books back after completing their work in the rainforest, but the number is still too small.

Moreover, most of the books in the rainforest area are written in the Sumeru common language. Even in Aru Village, which is close to the rainforest area, there are still many desert people who cannot write the Sumeru common language, not to mention other tribes deep in the desert.

They live near oases, and the tribes are far apart, so even the desert people use different languages, which makes it more difficult to develop education. As far as I know, there are four types of desert scripts commonly used in the desert, and there is no such thing as a "common desert script."

"Perhaps what they need most is a textbook on the Xumi common language," Kavis thought about it but couldn't think of a way to completely change the current situation. He had to settle for the second best and think of a way to help some people first.

He thought of the desert people who provided singing and dancing performances at Rukani's hotel. They had come to the most prosperous area of ​​Xumi, but due to their education problems they were unable to integrate into the community. They couldn't even communicate with the customers. It was truly sad.

"If they can learn the common language of Xumi and communicate with the rainforest people without any obstacles, their chances of finding jobs in the rainforest will be greatly improved. If they can settle down in the rainforest, then maybe their descendants will be able to receive education in the House of Religion, and their lives will gradually improve." Kavi thinks far ahead.

This means asking the desert people to give up their original land and migrate to the rain forest. However, the House of the Order will definitely not accept a large number of desert people pouring into the windbreak, and people are also worried about the attitude of Ahmar's followers in the desert towards their compatriots who have committed such "betrayal".

But it must be said that without overthrowing the rule of the Council of Faith, what Kavi proposed is indeed the easiest to implement and the most effective method.

"But the writing of textbooks is another big problem. If we want people of all ages in the desert to accept it, then the textbooks must include a comparison between the common language and their idiomatic language. It would be best if different textbooks could be written based on the different living habits of different tribes.

The common language is simple, but the desert language used as a reference cannot be typed. We simply cannot print these words in books unless we make engravings. But if we have to do this for every book, I am afraid we will not be able to complete this project in our lifetime." Kavi estimated the amount of work and couldn't help but back off.

Harold knew where Kavi's worries came from. Of course, Xumi had a typewriter. The typewriter was invented by Fontaine. Its principle was based on movable type printing. Simply put, after pressing the keyboard, the machine will use a seal to print the letters you type on paper.

The typewriter was passed from Fontainebleau to Xumi. Because the two countries had different writing systems, the Congregational Decrees naturally had to make some modifications to the typewriter, but the basic principle remained unchanged.

Both the Fontaine script and the Sumeru common script are phonetic scripts, that is, writing systems that record pronunciation, and all words are composed of a limited number of letters.

We can use English as an analogy. There are a total of 26 letters in English, so an English typewriter only needs 26 letter keys and 10 number keys, plus a few punctuation marks.

A typewriter that can type the Xumi universal language only requires increasing or decreasing the number of keys and changing the letter types. In essence, it is still about choosing the seal you want and stamping the letters on the paper.

But some tribes in the Xumi Desert area are different. They use ideographic characters, just like Chinese, which can record pronunciation and express ideas.

This type of writing has a unique advantage in terms of the amount of information it contains, but the number is large. For example, there are more than 2,000 commonly used Chinese characters. If you want to make a Chinese typewriter using the principle of an English typewriter, you will have to put more than 2,000 keys on it.

In the information age, it is very difficult to type these characters using typewriters, computers, etc. If this problem is not solved, when others use typewriters and computers, people who use ideographic characters can only use traditional movable type printing to print books.

When the typewriter was first introduced to China, China was troubled by this problem. Many foreigners mocked China's backward writing system and even drew many satirical cartoons. At that time, not only foreigners, but many Chinese people also wanted to use Latin letters instead of Chinese because Chinese and typewriters were not compatible.

At the beginning, many predecessors used various methods to make typewriters that could type Chinese. However, it was not until the advent of the computer age and computer input broke through the mechanical boundaries that this problem was finally solved by "Pinyin".

But in the era of mechanical typewriters, the best solution to improve the efficiency of ideographic character input was the 18-plate character picking method.

If I had the Void authority, this problem of setting up Pinyin input would be easy to solve, Harold sighed in his heart.

"It's not impossible to print textbooks. We can make some typewriters that can type in desert script. Three of the four most commonly used scripts in desert areas use letters, and only one is ideographic.

That is to say, there is actually only one project that can make people bald. Senior Kavi, I think you can keep your hair. "Harold said with a smile.