How to know how to translate -たり form

Question

I read that -たり form can either be translated as "and" or "or", and that it indicates no particular chronological order.

My question is, how do you know when which is which?

For example, I came across these sentences:

• シャワーをあびたり、晩{ばん}ご飯{はん}を食{た}べたりします。

I take a shower or I have dinner.

• 夏{なつ}にはウインドサーフィンをしたり、サーフィンをしたりします。

In summer, I do windsurfing and surf.

Why were they not translated as:

I take a shower and I have dinner.

In summer I do windsurfing or surf.

Does that have something to do with use -て form for listing actions rather than -たり form?

Answer 1

You can translate it as “do things like windsurfing or surfing” but the context generally communicates the meaning. “We filled the long summer months of our childhood with surfing, hiking, and bonfires on the beach” is the kind of thing that wd get translated with 〜たり forms in Japanese.

Remember, real language has context. Single-sentence examples in textbooks are not real language.