| Product: |
Computational Linguistics at University of Manchester Institute for Science and Technology |
| Date: |
10.08.01 (84 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: .
Disadvantages: .
Computational Linguistics is a bit of a mouth-full. As for cunnilingus? Well I can’t say I’ve ever tried it myself...... Would you look at that? Already I’m off topic You can tell it’s almost weekend . Anyway......
At UMIST last year there were 3 1st years studying comp ling. I was one of them. The others were Kat and Phaphonassississ (sorry, he’s Greek and I never really figured out how to spell or say his name although in my dream last night about stealing something from the Freud Museum here, he appeared for some reason). We were the last 1st year under grads that the Language Engineering dept will be taking in. As of this September they are phasing out the whole UG part and concentrating on post grad courses and research only (which means I can say I was the youngest person ever to study the subject here). You might be wondering by this point why only 3 people ended up on the course – is it really that bad? Alternatively you may have fallen asleep by this point......Let’s for a minute assume that you are still awake and very curious. So off you go:
“why were there only 3 people on the course?”
“well Mr or Mrs Dooyooer, the course is a very specialised one which requires a very specialised interest, and the entry requirements aren’t low. In fact 2 people didn’t get the grades and therefore weren’t allowed in”
“ok, so what exactly is computational linguistics?”
“erm, good question. Ask me in 3 years and I might know.....”
“Hhmmm. What sort of things do you study?”
“Finally a question I can answer in detail. Last year we did the following modules.
Linguistics 1 & 2 : a general introductory course to language including ambiguity, word classes and homo-forms, with a bit of Chomsky thrown in for good measure
Artificial Intelligence : aaarrrggghh imp
ossible course. Not really, but the lecturer was slightly odd. We learnt about ELIZA, chess, going from Manchester to Buxton, face masks (the computer kind, not the oatmeal and honey ones) and ambiguity once more – all in the name of AI.
Maths : taught by a sheepdog... – here we did stats and logic and other fun things. Did you know that some dogs read newspapers? Neither did I, but according to Mr C they do..... Aimed at people with A Level maths but never mind. We coped without.
Programming : With lovely Gareth and Paul! Basic introductory concepts for those who haven’t programmed before. We learnt lots of lovely theory and spent many a long wet Wednesday morning in the labs trying to put it into practice. Linked lists and football league tables became the bane of my existence.
Computational Linguistics : the subject itself! Lots of sitting around contemplating the universe, watching 2001 A Space Oddessy and guess what – some more ambiguity. Our lecturer seemed to spend a lot of time in India, but didn’t like our suggestion of it being a good place for a field trip.
A MFL (modern foreign language) : not my favourite part although I love German - something to do with having to learn to talk about textiles and genetic engineering in the language. The French class had much more fun with abortion and capital punishment :(
That was about it for the 1st year. I’ll be back in a year’s time to tell you more”
“Sounds interesting (not). What were the exams like?”
“Not that bad as exams go. Luckily lots of subjects overlapped – learn to draw the tree diagram for “I saw the old man in the park with the telescope” once and use it 3 times...”
“Does any of this apply to real life?”
“YES! I’m currently working for a company where I have to use my programming skills daily, be a
ble to understand and wax lyrical about the wonders of ambiguity. Oh and my MFL is being used every day since all this is taking place in Austria”
“Anything else I need to know?”
“Well the 3rd year if you’re doing the MLangEng course is spent abroad, either working or studying which should be fun”
“Well you’ve convinced me. I’ll go and sign up now”
“Ha ha you can’t. They’re not taking in 1st years any more, remember?”
“So why have I wasted 3 minutes of my life reading this?”
“To improve your knowledge of the big wide world, oh and to earn me 5p if you rate it”
“Sod it, I’m off to see if Quentin’s written anything new recently”
“See ya”
Summary:
|
|
