Dr Shani Tobias - Researcher Profile

Biography

I started learning Japanese at school in New Zealand, and spent Year 12 in Japan, which was a life-changing experience. I then went on to study Japanese and Law at university, during which time I spent a second year in Japan and grew to love the language and culture even more. After graduating, I again travelled to Japan where I worked as a translator  on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme for 3 years.  This experience motivated me to explore the process of translation and cross-cultural communication in greater depth, and this brought me to Melbourne in 2005 to pursue postgraduate study.

My PhD research investigated Japanese-English literary translation strategies focussing on how metaphorical expressions are translated. During my candidacy I began teaching Japanese and translation/interpreting at Monash. I find my own experiences useful to draw upon when teaching, and I enjoy seeing students develop their skills and become enthusiastic about Japanese and translation.
After completing my PhD in 2009 I first took up a position with Translation and Interpreting Studies at Monash, where, as well as teaching translation, my primary role was to design curriculum and implement a program of professional development short courses for translation and interpreting practitioners in collaboration with the Victorian Multicultural Commission. I was also the Project Manager for courses in basic interpreter skills training that we offered in regional Victoria. Coordinating these programs was a very rewarding experience, as I was able to work with people from a wide variety of cultural, linguistic and professional backgrounds.

Since 2011 I have been employed full time with Japanese Studies, and I am currently also the Honours Coordinator for Asian Languages and Studies.

Qualifications

PHILOSPHY

Institution: Monash University

Year awarded: 2010

BACHELOR OF ART (HONS)

Institution: Victoria University of Wellington

Year awarded: 2002

LAWS

Institution: Victoria University of Wellington

Year awarded: 2002

Publications

Journal Articles

Hlavac, J., Orlando, M., Tobias, S.L., 2012, Intake tests for a short interpreter-training course: Design, implementation, feedback, International Journal of Interpreter Education [E], vol 4, issue 1, Conference of Interpreter Trainers, United States, pp. 21-45.

Tobias, S.L., 2009, Untangling and re-spinning the web: Translations of metaphor in Tanizaki's 'Shisei', Translation & Interpreting [E], vol 1, issue 1, University of Western Australia. Interpreting & Translation Research Group, Australia, pp. 44-54.

Tobias, S., 2006, Culture-specific items in Japanese-English literary translations: comparing two translations of Kawabata's 'lzu no Odoriko', Monash University Lingusitic Papers, vol 5, issue 1, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, Monash University, Clayton Vic Australia, pp. 27-35.

Postgraduate Research Supervisions

Current Supervision

Program of Study:

(MASTER'S BY RESEARCH).

Thesis Title:

Encounter of the unknown - preserving equivalence in translation (a study on Sinhala and English literary translation).

Supervisors:

Wilson, R (Main), Gerber, L (Associate), Tobias, S (Associate).

Program of Study:

(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).

Thesis Title:

International Parental Child Abduction to Japan: An Australian Perspective.

Supervisors:

Takimoto, M (Main), Tobias, S (Associate).

Program of Study:

(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).

Thesis Title:

What factors will influence mataphor translation on cosmetic online advertisement at discourse level?.

Supervisors:

Kreutz, H (Main), Huang, H (Associate), Tobias, S (Associate).