Diqin Designer

Chapter 33: Common Writing and Common Language
Li Nian nodded and said, "Your Majesty is wise! But if you want to implement education well, you must not only have the right content, but also the right tools to make it easier and faster for people to learn."

"Today, bamboo slips are not suitable for teaching in the whole Qin Dynasty. Not only does a bamboo slip contain little information, but it is also heavy and inconvenient to carry."

From the sound of it, you still want everyone in Daqin to learn to read and receive education?

Yes, he came from later times, when everyone was literate and knew history. To him, everyone being literate and knowing history was as important as their daily meals and drinking.

Ying Zheng thought to himself, "You want to use what you call 'paper' to replace bamboo slips?"

Li Nian said: "Yes, in the history of China, the number of people who can read and write gradually increased because of the invention of paper and printing."

“Paper carries text, and printing is the process of printing text on paper. The combination of the two solves the problem of the dissemination of written records.”

"A book of this size would require a cartload of bamboo slips to record all the words."

Li Nian gestured the size with his hands, which surprised Ying Zheng and Meng Yi. An object of this size was actually bigger than a cart of bamboo slips.

The "five carts" in the idiom "learned as much as five carts" that describes erudition refers to "five carts of bamboo slips."

Of course, the five carts of bamboo slips is a fictitious reference, indicating that Huizi was knowledgeable, but if we really talk about the five carts of bamboo slips, they are only equivalent to dozens of modern books.

'If a book made of paper could really record so many words, it's no wonder that everyone in the future could read.'

Ying Zheng could naturally see the huge advantages of books over bamboo slips.

"In addition to changing the means of recording and disseminating texts, the text itself must also change. Forgive me for being frank, but the Qin Dynasty's text is too difficult to write."

"As a tool for disseminating content, I believe that writing should be concise and clear. It should be easy to understand and learn, and it should also accurately convey the meaning."

Ying Zheng asked, "How do you want to change it? Do you want to imitate the writing of later generations?"

Li Nian really thought so: "That's what I mean. The characters I learned in the later generations also evolved from the characters of the Qin Dynasty. They have been tested in practice and are easier to learn. I think it's okay to change the characters of the Qin Dynasty to the characters of the later generations."

Ying Zheng did not say yes or no, but said: "When paper is invented, you can copy an article in the language of later generations, namely, Li Si's "Remonstrance Against Expelling Foreigners", and present it to me."

Li Nian knew that Ying Zheng wanted to see the goods first before making a decision, so he said, "I obey your command!" and then said, "Not only the text needs to be changed, but also the language of Daqin."

Ying Zheng asked: "Do we also want to change it according to future generations?"

This time, Li Nian shook his head: "That's not necessary. We should adapt to the times and the local conditions. Things in the future may not be better than those in the Qin Dynasty, nor may they be suitable for the Qin Dynasty."

After hearing Li Nian say "Things of later generations may not be better than those of the Qin Dynasty", Ying Zheng was quite satisfied.

Our Great Qin is not inferior to later generations in every aspect.

"The writing can be changed to the writing of later generations. Firstly, there are not many people who can read nowadays, so even if it is changed, the impact will not be great. Secondly, the writing of later generations is also evolved from the writing of today, so it will not be difficult for people to accept it after the change."

"The language of later times is different from that of the Qin Dynasty or even the other six kingdoms. If we force people to use the language of later times, it will be like asking everyone in the world to learn to speak again."

Li Nian wanted everyone in Daqin to speak Mandarin, but the fact is that this is difficult to do. It took many years to promote Mandarin in later generations, let alone Daqin at this time. Not considering the actual situation of Daqin and making random suggestions will only backfire!

After Li Nian's explanation, Ying Zheng nodded secretly and did not give any random advice. He felt that things from later generations were good and he wanted to move them to Daqin with great care.

"Are you going to use elegant language?"

There was also a common language in this era, called "Ya Yan". If there was no common language, how could the kings of different countries communicate with each other? How could talents from other countries serve Qin? Would they have to bring an interpreter with them when they went to court to see the king?

But the elegant language is only circulated among the elite groups. Ordinary people do not know it at all and still speak the local dialect.

Li Nian was speaking to Ying Zheng in the elegant language. He said, "Elegant language is fine. The change I'm talking about is not about changing how we speak, but about establishing a language as the common language of the world. No matter if you are from Qin or the six kingdoms, no matter if you are a king or a minister, or a farmer or a commoner, you must learn this language and spread it throughout the world."

"In the past, elegant language was only circulated among princes and nobles, but I think it should not be limited to nobles, peddlers and hawkers should also learn it."

Li Nian wanted to add "same language" to Qin Shihuang's "same track for vehicles, same writing for books, same ethics for people, same territory, same weights and measures, same shape for currency". No matter what country people were from before, they would have to speak the same language in the future.

Ying Zheng understood Li Nian's intention and became serious. If this matter succeeded, it would be of great benefit to the Qin Dynasty.

Language barriers are the biggest obstacle between people. If we can speak the same language, many problems can be solved. If we don’t speak the same language, it will be impossible to communicate.

"And in order to become a language that is used by all people in the world, one must be eager to learn. When I was learning a language in later generations, there was a phonetic method that taught me to learn it quickly."

"This phonetic method is also simple. The pronunciation of characters is divided into initial consonants, medial vowels, finals, and tones. As long as you master the rules and have a dictionary, you can learn the pronunciation of all characters in the world."

Li Nian gave an example: "For example, the '秦' in Daqin, you can set the initial consonant to 'q', the final to 'in', and the tone to the second tone of Yangping, and it will be read as '秦'!"

"q" and "in" were pronounced by Li Nian, not the pronunciation of later generations. He read them according to the pronunciation of Qin characters at that time.

This is just a way for the author to express his meaning, after all, the author is not familiar with elegant language.

Ying Zheng and Meng Yi were both extremely talented people of their time. They easily understood the meaning of Li Nian's statement, and the two were quite surprised.

Because according to Li Nian's method, learning to read does not seem to be difficult, but the prerequisite is to give the so-called "pinyin" for all the characters in the world.

Li Nian said: "The difficulty of this method is to annotate all the characters with pronunciation, which requires compiling a dictionary that includes all the characters."

"A dictionary is a book that contains words, including the pronunciation and meaning of the words. To compile a dictionary is not a trivial matter. It is best to gather many learned people to compile it together."

Ying Zheng said proudly: "As long as it is beneficial to the Qin Dynasty, I will not be afraid of any difficulties or dangers! But the dictionary can only be made after paper is made, right?"

It contains all the characters in the world and provides phonetic notation and explanation for each character. If it were to be recorded on bamboo slips, a dictionary would probably require several carts of bamboo slips. Only so-called paper is suitable.

Li Nian said, "Yes! If we use bamboo slips to make a dictionary, we need a lot of them, which is not only inconvenient to carry, but also inconvenient to look up. One of the main functions of a dictionary is that you can look it up when you encounter a word you don't know."

Just imagine finding an unfamiliar word from a carriage of bamboo slips, Ying Zheng immediately understood it.

(End of this chapter)