SANJIESAN LORE / Bilingual rules
Keep a fictional rule’s possibility and requirement aligned in two languages
A translation can turn an optional action into a requirement without changing any invented names. Google’s prescriptive-writing guidance distinguishes required, optional and possible meanings. Apply that distinction to one setting rule, so the English and Chinese versions describe the same fictional behaviour rather than two conveniently different systems.
Choose a rule with a real consequence
Invent a doorway that might open when a particular bell is heard. Decide whether the bell is sufficient, necessary or merely one possible trigger. These are different rules, not stylistic variants. Write the intended relationship in plain words before polishing its literary phrasing. A beautifully translated sentence is still a problem if it lets a character guarantee an escape that the other language treats as uncertain.
Compare the same attempt in both versions
Describe a character hearing the bell and approaching the door. Ask what each version permits the reader to predict. Then remove the bell and ask whether opening remains possible. Check words equivalent to only, always, may and must in context; a word list alone cannot repair a sentence whose condition attaches to the wrong action. Keep the original reference rule beside both versions while making the comparison.
Resolve the rule before editing scenes
If the versions disagree, decide which reflects the approved setting and correct the other. Do not preserve both readings by adding a new exception unless the project actually authorises that change. Revisit the scene whose outcome depends on the rule and check its dialogue and illustration notes. In an established universe, translation clarification must preserve the settled mechanics rather than becoming an indirect way to invent a new power.