Inhae @Inhae

Inhae @Inhae@social.inhae.blog · 18:35

Playing Genshin in Chinese, I find that the World Quests are by far the most difficult content for me. First it’s not voiced, and then it introduces a lot of concepts and lore related to the region. I really want to understand all Natlan lore in Chinese only, so I’ll do my best to study 5.x world quests and not switch back to English.

I’ll post my study notes here, it’s a good motivation for me, and I can consult vocab easily when needed!

It’s all going to be under CW, but if you want to filter it out, I’ll use

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Inhae @Inhae@social.inhae.blog · 09:00
Genshin TC “A Prayer for Blessings, Told to Crested Peaks” - chapter 1 “Tepetli Dissonance” - spoilers + long

Quest name:
嵴锋的异响: jífēng de yìxiǎng

Work is starting to pay off with recurring vocab. 嵴锋 literally means “the edge of a mountain” and is the name of the Tepetlisaurus. I learnt that “Tepetl” means “mountain” in Nahuatl.
异响: yìxiǎng: unusual sound, strange noise

I didn’t want to start this quest now, but it started automatically when I went there.

Characters:
伊蜜: yīmì: the little girl who is crying
夏温师父: xiàwēn shīfu: Master Xiawen, the person who went missing. 师父 is a variant of 师傅.

Master Xiawen went somewhere to collect 火山晶石 (huǒshān jīngshí: volcano spar). A spar is a crystalline, easily cleavable, light-coloured mineral.

守卫叔叔: shǒuwèi shūshu: guards (uncles). That’s how Yimi calls the guards. They’ll need to make preparations (筹备 chóubèi) before taking action, so that’s when we say: 包在我身上 bāozài wǒ shēnshang “Leave it to me!”

Places:
缝影针 fèngyǐngzhēn: “Shadow Pin” (crack, crevice, fissure + shadow + needle)

Master Xiawen might be there.

Lastly, I learnt a new word to say “rescue, save”: 营救 yíngjiù.
The word I’m used to seeing in Genshin is 拯救 zhěngjiù. I’m not sure how they differ.

——

We learn that Master Xiawen is the owner of:
穆胡鲁宝石铺: mùhúlǔ bǎoshí pù: Muhulu (?) gem store.

Xiawen is a 宝石匠 bǎoshí jiàng: a gem craftsman/artisan.

Some vocab related to gems mining and crafting:

矿脉 kuàngmài: mineral vein
纯净 chúnjìng: pure, clean (used to describe the volcano spar)
矿 kuàng: ore deposit
挖 wā: dig, excavate
打造 dǎzào: forge, make, create
工匠 gōngjiàng: craftsman, artisan
锻造 duànzào: forge
探矿 tànkuàng: explore for mineral deposit
矿石 kuàngshí: ore
枚 méi: measure word used for gems.

Characters:

特拉佐莉: Tèlāzuǒlì: A craftsman who used to forge Ancient Names. She gave up everything when her daughter fell ill in order to take care of her.
妮赫佳: Nīhèjiā: Telazuoli’s daughter. Has recovered from illness but is still weak. Wants to become an Ancient Names forger like her mother.
希诺宁: Xīnuòníng: recipient of Nihejia’s letters? Maybe I missed something.

Replies 1 · edited
Inhae @Inhae@social.inhae.blog · 09:03
Genshin TC “A Prayer for Blessings, Told to Crested Peaks” - Chapter 2 “Hoarse Echoes”

Quest name: 喑哑的回声 yīnyǎ de huíshēng: hoarse (mute, dumb) echoes.

I found this dialogue rather easy in Chinese, there’s a lot of casual discussions, and it’s voiced.

Some vocab:

延古: yángǔ: Telazuoli’s tepetlisaur.
挖掘 wājué: excavate
结晶体: jiéjīngtǐ: crystal
痊愈 quányù: fully recover from an illness

燃晶名刻: ránjīng míngkè: lit. Burn + crystal + name + engrave. I had to look at the English text to find the translation: Blazegem Inscription

This blazegem inscription could be used as a 首饰 shǒushi. This word’s original meaning is “head ornaments”, but today it simply means “jewelry” I think. Though here, this blazegem inscription can hardly serve as jewelry, so “ornament” is more appropriate.

The only difficult part of the dialogue was Xiawen talking about the Blazegem Inscription:

口口相传的话语总是不牢靠的。在转述的过程中，它会变得残缺，逐渐被遗忘，甚至被讹传

相传 xiāngchuán: tradition has it that…, pass on, according to legend…
牢靠 láokao: dependable, reliable
转述 zhuǎnshù: to pass on (stories)
残缺 cánquē: incomplete, fragmentary, with parts missing
逐渐 zhújiàn: gradually
讹传 échuán: unfounded rumor, false rumour, to pass on mistaken belief to others.

> (bad translation, but my goal is just to get the meaning right) Words that are passed on orally are not reliable. In the process of being told, they will become incomplete, gradually be forgotten and even turn into false rumours.

但如果将话语刻在这枚「燃晶名刻」上，就可以让它恒久存在。而且意义明确，绝无半点扭曲的可能！

扭曲 niǔqū: distort

> But if words are engraved in this Blazegem Inscriptions, they can exist forever, their meaning will be clear and accurate, and there’s absolutely no room for distortion.

This dialogue was on the easy side, however… I just don’t understand the logic of it. Telazuoli made a gift for her daughter, and then Paimon says she wants one too? Isn’t this an unreasonable request that puts work on Telazuoli when she just said her daughter has a fever. Xiawen even points out that she knows how much work is needed to create one. If I understood correctly, Xiawen is offering to pay for our Blazegem Inscription? And we just accept?