Chapter 62: Chapter 60: Simultaneous Interpreter and Exploration Plan
One day later.
Inside the language project group research room at Fire Camp.
The main leaders of the camp gathered together.
Lin Ziming curiously examined a small black box:
"Professor Ma, does this thing really work?"
Next to him, Ma Ning slightly pouted, crossing his arms over his chest:
"This is a simultaneous translation machine our language project group created with the help of the base camp. It’s been tested many times. You can try it if you don’t believe me."
That’s right.
Just as Ma Ning said.
The bunnies created a simultaneous translation machine!
At this moment, it has been exactly eleven days since Chixian City and the bunnies officially signed a trade agreement.
During this time.
The language team led by Ma Ning has been tirelessly analyzing the language and script of the Damo Realm day and night.
After all, the language barrier is currently one of the biggest communication obstacles for both sides.
However.
In this language analysis process, the biggest contributor was neither Ma Ning nor Wei Niandong.
But the transmigrator who wrote the Spring Festival couplets—Cheng Shiqing.
In the language materials compiled by this language teacher before his death, he recorded over nine thousand Damo words corresponding to Chinese characters.
There were even two jade slips with clear pronunciation, passed down from generation to generation.
Bear in mind, the Xinhua Dictionary only has around ten thousand characters.
Perhaps like the letter left by Wei Siming.
Cheng Shiqing’s material also contains countless complex emotions and a hint of elusive hope.
This is an exile’s obsession with and longing for the cultural heritage of his homeland.
It is also a perfect interpretation of an educator’s duty.
With Cheng Shiqing’s materials.
Under the assistance of the bilingual genius Wei Niandong, the project group conducted a detailed and accurate analysis of the Damo language system.
The team ultimately compiled over six thousand common Damo characters and more than fifteen thousand less common Damo characters.
In comparison, the corresponding numbers for Huaxia characters are about 2500 and 7000.
After all, the history of the Damo Realm is older than that of Huaxia, with a cultivation history spanning tens of thousands of years.
In addition to its vast land and unique social structure.
It is reasonable for the language to be more complex than that of Huaxia.
Once the language compilation was completed, the next steps were simple.
Ma Ning and others organized these materials into a detailed audio file, which was sent back to the language research institute under the Academy of Social Sciences.
With the assistance of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the language research institute used the supercomputer "Mangzhong" for tonal analysis.
Ultimately, a few simultaneous translation devices were hastily produced—this isn’t some unrealistic black technology; back in ’19, someone demonstrated a seven-language simultaneous translation machine at a conference without any manual assistance. (If you’re interested, you can look up the WMT competition)
Of course.
Due to language environment and emotional factors, the simultaneous translators produced by the Chinese Academy of Sciences couldn’t achieve absolute AI translation precision for now,
but they should be sufficient for some everyday communication.
According to actual tests.
The primary translation accuracy of these simultaneous translators is about 83.7%, while the secondary transfer accuracy is as high as 92.4%.
This is undoubtedly a major technological breakthrough—with this translator, the camp’s development speed could increase by at least 60%!
Not to mention the ripple effect it brings.
In addition.
A translation machine, unlike missiles or fighter jets, can fully be passed off as a spiritual artifact.
After all, the term "translation" is not very intuitive for the vast majority of ordinary Damo Realm civilians or even cultivators—this world even has Beast Speakers, so a translation artifact is at least more acceptable than a modified Type 59.
Returning our view to the command center.
Lin Ziming and Ma Ning have known each other for quite some time, so he knows Ma Ning isn’t truly angry. Seeing this, he chuckled:
"Just in time, I learned a word at the Wei Mansion a couple of days ago, just right to test it."
After speaking, Lin Ziming picked up the simultaneous translator, cleared his throat, and said:
"@#￥"
In less than two seconds, a male voice came from the simultaneous translator:
"You look beautiful."
Whoosh—
Instantly, everyone’s gaze at Lin Ziming turned strange.
A cold sweat immediately slid down Lin Ziming’s face as he frantically waved his hands:
"No, no, this sentence wasn’t supposed to be ’how are you?’
Old Ma, it must be your machine that’s malfunctioning!"
"Nonsense!"
Ma Ning snorted, coldly smiling:
"The machine’s accuracy indeed isn’t 100%, but it couldn’t possibly misconstrue the meaning this much.
Besides, ’hello’ in Damo language is &!"
Just as Ma Ning finished speaking, Wang Qiang suddenly whispered mischievously:
"Colonel Lin, I remember you went to see Clan Leader Wei that day....."
Everyone’s gaze at Lin Ziming turned even more peculiar.
"..."
Just as Lin Ziming was about to explain, Yan Shaohua suddenly shook his head:
"Xiaowang, you shouldn’t make such careless remarks."
Lin Ziming felt a slight sense of relief, just about to praise his brother for his loyalty, when he heard Yan Shaohua say softly:
"The translator for him that day was none other than Wei Niandong....."
"Stop, stop!"
Seeing the conversation steering in a strange direction, Lin Ziming couldn’t help but explain: "That phrase was taught to me by Wei Niandong’s sister."
Everyone present elongated their voices simultaneously, eyes sparkling with gossip: "Eh——?"
"Alright, alright."
Finally, Lin Li spoke up:
"This matter is Colonel Lin’s personal business, let’s not press him too hard.
The simultaneous translators have been tested with over sixty thousand word pairs, so the accuracy should be high.
So Colonel Lin, take care of your own matters.
I’ll just remind you of one thing, Earthlings and Damo people have no reproductive isolation."
Lin Ziming: "...."
Then Lin Li coughed:
"Alright, let’s talk about serious matters.
In just over 50 hours, daylight will break, and our tasks over the next seven days remain substantial.
Several projects in the scientific research sector still can’t pause, and the feedback from the Wei Mansion regarding the electrical equipment has been very positive, so the city’s full electrical overhaul plan should be put on the agenda.
Secondly, the Spirit Stone mine.
Deputy Director Lei’s exploration mission is almost complete, and the mining protection team is already in place.
According to the latest handover information.
Tomorrow, a few 1130 close-in weapon systems will be shipped from the base camp to bolster our firepower. We’ll strive to officially start operations at the mine within 72 hours!
Lastly, there’s the issue of the airport.
The construction of the military base still requires some time, but our airport must be built first.
Yesterday, the Hu Fei Group supplied a few pulse devices through high-cost self-powered equipment, successfully assembling four armed helicopters.
Therefore....
We need to expand our exploration map.
This time’s exploration goals mainly include three points:
First is the two-headed cattle herd. We have only captured over forty heads up until now.
We’ve eaten... ahem, dissected for experiments a dozen or so, which is clearly insufficient.
Second is the large rivers and lakes. Due to the terrain and topography issues, I assume no explanation is needed—this is crucial intelligence we must grasp.
Third is the other cities.
Our current development area is of course still centered around Chixian City, but we still need to gather some intelligence on the surrounding other cities, especially the large ones.
If conditions permit in the future, we can also see if we can collect other intelligence under the guise of a trade caravan.
The above points constitute our main tasks for the next few days.
If there are no other issues, everyone prepare, for tomorrow is the payday at the construction site."