Nathan Roberts - Learning chinese to help save tigers

Health and FitnessTalking Digital
Written By Matt Roberts

Nathan is an incredible human, and not just because he’s my brother! Over the years he has worked all over the world with the aim to protect and restore its natural beauty and inhabitants.

In 2017, he headed to China to take his research to the next level and understand the fundamentals of forest management and the impact that can have on the tiger population. But first, he had to learn Chinese!

 

Where and how did you start learning Chinese?

 

I started with virtually zero Chinese language. Bit of an impromptu opportunity came up to get involved in the tiger work, so I downloaded a quick Chinese language audio course from the library, packed my bag and jumped on a train!

It was certainly a bit tricky communicating on arrival, and at least for the first few months; that’s a few months of learning the basic phonetics and tones, and writing Chinese characters over and over again. Add to that a whole lot of charades and Pictionary, and a lot of patience of those of those I’m trying to communicate with.

The first year I was in China I was in full-time language classes; blackboards, PowerPoints, audio recordings, and textbooks. Apps such as Pleco (a dictionary app), Youdao (a translation tool), and WeChat (a multi-purpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app) with inbuilt translator has also really helped in recognising characters.

What was the most useful language tool?

 

For learning, the most useful tool is definitely the dictionary app, Pleco. It can be pretty hard to guess what a Chinese character is, what it sounds like, and what it means. The App has a screen you can draw on, and Chinese also has a phonetic system of ‘pinyin’ so you can search for a character you see or hear by typing in what the word looks like or sounds like. Assuming you have done a half-decent job of drawing the character, the App will then load up the closest matches and you can check the dictionary.

It also has an audio file per word or character so you can hear the sound. This is very, very helpful as Chinese is a tonal language, so even a small difference in how you say ‘ma’ can go from meaning ‘mother’ to meaning ‘horse’.

Any hiccups with translations?

 

Of course! I ordered a wife in the school canteen!

I now think not about translations, but rather about what it is that I want to say. What does the story look like in my head, and how can I communicate that idea? For the record, I was trying to order vegetable rice.

You work in remote areas, what do you do without a signal?

 

Pictionary, charades, and explaining ideas with sticks and stones in the dirt or snow gets you a long way. Just need a little vocab to fill in the blanks.

That said, dictionaries on the phone work without internet…as long as the phone works in – 30°C degrees!

What digital tool have you found most useful for conservation?

 

Yes, the aim is to get tigers and leopards back on their feet, so to speak, which comes from understanding nature, communicating good science and making a few good decisions.

There are many really useful digital tools we use in our team, whether basic field equipment like GPS, satellite imagery and laptops, or the camera traps which gives us a good chance of photographing tigers and leopards so we can effectively do a who’s who, head count, and look at where they are and where they go. Statistics and data analysis is a vital part of our work, so specialist tools are certainly incredibly helpful, as are the tutorials and forums online for troubleshooting stats issues. My colleagues and others use a whole bunch of other tech, in genetics, animal health, etc.

Without the tech, it could be a bit tricky, definitely. Even if just for the simple fact we can share files and communicate ideas and results with other experts so quickly online.

What digital tool would you create to help with the protection and survival of tigers?

 

Good question!

I think there is a degree of human learning and experience needed in this nature restoration process, rather than a silver bullet of a single technological solution, per se, especially if we assume a goal of people and wildlife living in the same landscapes. Unless of course we split the world in half and use the tech for policing to keep the people out!

With that in mind, a sort of social media recording local residents’ and workers’ experiences, challenges and ideas could be useful to researchers, decision makers and users alike – big data, a communications platform, and instant feedback to support and guide effective conservation. Email me!

Where can we keep up to date with you?

 

Links: Keep up to date with Nathan

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