Head, Department of Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Studies
Director, Centre for Translation (2013-2019)
United Nations certified translator and editor (Chinese/French into English)
Member, IATIS Executive Council
Education
Pg. Dip. in Interpreting and Translating (Chinese), University of Bath (1999)
Ph.D. in classical Chinese literature, Queens’ College, University of Cambridge
Thesis: “The Fu Genre in the Mid-Tang: A Study in Generic Change”(1995)
B.A. in Chinese (double First Class), Queens’ College, University of Cambridge (1989)
Honours, Awards and Grants
GRF grant (2015 – 2019) for project: “Collaborative Practice in Contemporary Buddhist Translation Communities”.
GRF grant (2008 – 2011) for project: “Museums, Language and Cross-Cultural Communication: Bilingual/Multilingual Museum Texts and their Production”
UN Competitive Examinations for English Language Translators/Précis-writers (passed 2009)
UN Competitive Examinations for English Language Editors (passed 2009)
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TEACHING
TEACHING
RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS (representative selection)
RESEARCH & PROJECTS
TRANSLATION WORK
BA
Introduction to Translation
Principles and Methods of Translation
English for Translators I: Grammar, Structure and Style
English for Translators II: Written Genres
Communication and Translation
Reading Chinese Literature in Translation
Research Methods for Translation Studies
Translation, Museums and Intercultural Representation
MA
Bilingual Writing for Creative Industries
Methods and Strategies of Translation
PhD
Essential Readings
Continuity and Change in Chinese Buddhist Discourse on Translation: Conceptions of Translation in Modern Buddhist Translator Guidelines
https://doi.org/10.1080/1369801X.2020.1854101" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1080/1369801X.2020.1854101
Neather, R.J.(2019) “Argumentation and Generic Change in the Mid-Tang Fu: Li Guan’s (766-794) ‘Fuon Suffering the Pitiless Rains’ and the Role of theShelun Genre”, in N.M. Williams (ed), The Fu Genre of Imperial China: Studies in the Rhapsodic Imagination, Leeds: Arc Humanities Press, and Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 141-168.
Neather, R.J. (2018) “Museums, Material Culture, and Cultural Representations”, in Sue-Ann Harding and Ovidi Carbonell Cortés (eds), TheRoutledge Handbook of Translation and Culture, London and New York: Routledge, 361-378.
Neather, R.J. (2014) “Visual Paratexts in Literary Translation: Intersemiotic Issues in the Translation of Classical Chinese Literature”, in Sandra Bermann and Catherine Porter (eds), A Companion to Translation Studies, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 504-515.
Neather, R.J. (2012) “‘Non-Expert’ Translators in a Professional Community: Identity, Anxiety and Perceptions of Translator Expertise in the Chinese Museum Community”, The Translator18 (2012), 245-268.
Neather, R.J. (2012) “Intertextuality, Translation and the Semiotics of Museum Presentation: The Case of Bilingual Texts in Chinese Museums”, Semiotica192 (2012), 197-218.
Neather, R.J. (2009) “Translation in a ‘Non-Translation’ Community: Practices, Ideologies and Conceptualizations of Translation in the PRC Museum Discourse Community”, Translation Quarterly51&52 (December 2009), 145-176.
Neather, R.J. (2008) “Translating Tea: On the Semiotics of Interlingual Practice in the Hong Kong Museum of Tea Ware”, META: Translators’ Journal 53.1, 218-240.
Neather, R.J. (2003), “The Translation of Generic Designations: The Case of theFuGenre”, Translation Quarterly30,1-26.
My research incorporates a strong interest in translation in intersemiotic environments and has focused particularly on the Chinese museum context. I have explored various issues in this area, including verbal/visual interactions in translation and the effects that such interactions have on translation strategy in the museum space; intertextuality in the construction of bilingual museum narratives; and issues of expertise and community identity in the collaborative production of translations, specifically in the Hong Kong/Macau/Guangzhou area. As a next step forward, I hope to move my research into the area of visitor studies, an aspect that has previously seldom been considered in the bilingual or translation context.
A second area of interest is Buddhist translation. After involvement as a consultant in a monastic translation project, I started exploring translation in contemporary Buddhist volunteer translator communities. I am interested in issues such as how the members of such communities interact in producing finalized translation output, questions of authority and hierarchy in community structure, and how democratizing mechanisms foster inclusiveness among novice members. I am also interested in exploring the more theoretical implications of these communities, particularly how they can contribute to the theorization of Communities of Practice (CoP).
Research Specializations
Translation in museum and heritage sites
Collaborative translation and translation communities
Buddhist translation
A wide variety of freelance work undertaken (from 1999) for a variety of clients. Numerous major freelance assignments undertaken for the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG).
Published Translations (selection)
Neather, R.J. (co-translator and editor) (2008),Dreaming of a Northern Land(translations of selected essays of Wang Chonglü, with editor/translator’s preface). Shenyang: Liaoning Educational Press, in association with Bertelsmann, Berlin, 164 pages.
Poon, Ka-Man, and R.J. Neather (co-translators) (2007), “The Romance of the Rib”. In J. Minford, B. Holton and A. Chan, eds.,Islands and Continents: Short Stories by PK Leung.Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, pp. 11-19.
Poon, Ka-Man, and R.J. Neather (co-translators) (2004), “Kamdu Tea Restaurant”, story by Chan Koon Chung. In The Literary Review(AHCI listed), Summer 2004, vol. 47, issue 4, pp. 138-153.
Neather, R.J. (2003), “Cultural Exchange and the Quest for Immortality: the Heavenly Horses of the West and the Divine Dragon of China”, by Huo Wei, inEx/Change, February 2003, pp. 9-13. (Translation of an unpublished Chinese original).
Neather, R.J. (2002), “Yu Qian (Before The Rain)”, by He Qifang. InZhongguo Fanyi, 23(4), July 2002, pp 95-96. (Translation, with Chinese annotation). Republished in Yang Ping 楊平(ed),Mingzuo Jingyi: Han Yi Ying XuanCui名作精譯 –《中國翻譯》漢譯英選萃, Qingdao: Qingdao Chubanshe, 2003, pp.362-368.
