ISOT - years 2008 and 117

[nickjbor]

ASB's come and ISOT the world back to 117. Cities, roads, cars, even weapons are left in place. They are kind enough to turn off all the nuclear plants and factories (that might otherwise explode without human intervention) but leave the guns and tanks intact and ready to go.

Problem? None of the people go back. Instead, all of the people in the year 117 (greatest extent of the roman empire) wake up to a loud rumbling and run outside just in time to see their cities dissapear, and be replaced by strange looking buildings and other items.

what happens next!!

[admkenshin]

Sinowank :D

[Ion_StormH]

Wait until the Romans discover that some books are written in latin. From that one, some more intelligent one could derive French, Spanish, etc. From that one, again, also English and other Germanic languages.

It might take some decades, but eventually, people will be discussing who did it and why it happened. But it will be also clear, soon enough, that it must be from another time or "sphere", plus a massive culture shock for everybody.

How much does Mandarin differ from ancient Chinese? What about Japanese? Hindi? Arabic?

Language plays an extremely important role here, because only after decipherering whatever there was, people will be able to understand how things work. And after they did that, things can get really, really bloody. So you better be the first one to understand.. :D

PS: Romans will be able to understand infrastructures such as sewers and roads quite fast. I would even say that they and the Chinese might have the easiest time coping with all the new stuff due to the centralised and unified position they can take up. Everyone else is rather tribal and disunited.+

The Romans have the language advantage though..

[admkenshin]

Well, AD 117 japanese have very little in common with the modern one. In fact, modern japanese people didn't really exist until about 300 AD (bones from this time have the same features as modern day japanese), before that there was the Ainu and proto-japanese. There will be people in japan that could read chinese characters though, and perhaps even decipher some spoken japanese from audio sources.

Modern mandarin is also quite different I think. Still, the writing will be understandable with time (modern compound words will probably not make any sense though...). Still, they will have an easier time than the Romans.

[pieman3141]

Mandarin is quite a different dialect, even when compared to other existing dialects. Cantonese or another southern dialect, I suspect, would be closer to what Chinese would've sounded like.

[nickjbor]

What if we assume the ASBs were kind enough to give them dictionaries :P I'm more curious how they would have reacted to their new found powers and abilities. Also, how would oddities (such as having the worlds most powerful military in the hands of native American tribes) have played themselves out?

[admkenshin]

Mandarin is quite a different dialect, even when compared to other existing dialects. Cantonese or another southern dialect, I suspect, would be closer to what Chinese would've sounded like.

Very true (although I think one of the more central dialects, as spoken along the southern shore of the Yellow River, would be closer to the dialect spoken by those in power), but while there are of course some differences, the writing language is very similar. The basic characters are all the same, and most of the compound words are as well.

The Japanese will have a harder time, they didn't use a writing system at all in this time...