LINGUIST List 8.34

Fri Jan 17 1997

FYI: Course, Scholarship, Arabic

Editor for this issue: T. Daniel Seely <seelylinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Goodin, Bill, UCLA short course on "Machine Translation"
2. Weiping Wu, Zhonghua Scholarship for EFL teachers
3. Mark Mandel, Arabic

On April 2-4, 1997, UCLA Extension will present the short course,
"Machine Translation", on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles.

The instructors are Eduard Hovy, PhD, USC Information Sciences
Institute; Kevin Knight, PhD, USC Information Sciences Institute; and
Jaime Carbonell, PhD, Carnegie Mellon University.

Machine translation describes computer translation of one human
language to another, and is one of the oldest large-scale applications
of computer science. In today's increasingly networked world, the
need for systems to translate documents to and from a variety of
languages is expanding, for applications as diverse as: o Multilingual
e-mail o Browsing (such as on the World Wide Web) texts in other
languages o High-quality translation of business letters and reports o
Translation of technical documents and articles o Speech-to-speech
translation for business and travel.

While useful MT technology is currently available, it is not yet
capable of providing both high-quality and wide-domain performance
simultaneously. For higher quality, the domain may be limited, and
human assistance required while for wider domain, output quality may
be sacrificed. MT research continues to push the boundaries of this
automation-quality-scope continuum. New techniques, such as
statistical MT and example-based MT, add new capabilities and
possibilities to the older tried-and-true methods and theories of MT.
But comparing systems, and measuring MT quality, can be challenging.

This course covers the entire scope of machine translation, including
the original and the latest techniques and technology. It is intended
for both the interested layperson as well as the computer science
professional who wants to become familiar enough with the technology
to construct a simple MT system, or to make informed decisions when
purchasing an MT system or MT services.

The course fee is $1195, which includes extensive course materials.
These materials are for participants only, and are not for sale.

For additional information and a complete course description, please
contact Marcus Hennessy at:

(310) 825-1047
(310) 206-2815 fax
mhennessunex.ucla.edu
http://www.unex.ucla.edu/shortcourses

This course may also be presented on-site at company locations.

 ZHONGHUA SCHOLARSHIP 1997

INTRODUCTION: The ZHONGHUA SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM (ZSP), managed by
the Cross-Culture Education Center of Washington (WCCEC), is open
to all native speakers of English who are interested in China and
the Chinese language. It is a one-year learning-by-doing
immersion program starting from September every year to July of
the following year. The scholarship offers an opportunity for the
recipient to live in China and be "part of China". WCCEC is
responsible for making recommendations to host institutions in
China, which then make the final selection from among the
recommended candidates.

BENEFITS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
* Travel expenses (round trip) from the U.S. departure point
 to the host institution in China;
* Medical insurance
* Room and board;
* A monthly stipend (1,500 RMB and up, about the salary of a
 full professor at the university in China);
* A 4 week paid vocation in winter for independent travel;
* A paid cultural tour at the end of the program.

The ZSP has a Personal Tutorial System (PTS) that aims at
increasing the recipient's proficiency in Chinese. Graduate
students could make arrangements for independent study or conduct
a China-related research (field of specification open). As part
of the cultural exchange, it also has an English teaching
component that requires the recipient to teach English to K-12
students (about 12-14 hrs/wk, equal to scheduled time for Chinese
study).

ORIENTATION, EXPENSES AND TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS: Scholarship
recipients are required to participate in the one-week
Orientation Program, which is not covered by the scholarship.
Expenses from each participants include a $500 fee to defray
Orientation cost such as teacher honorarium and accommodation for
the participants, and a $70 fee for visa application and group
travel arrangements. WCCEC coordinates all travel arrangements so
that all recipients will depart for China at the same time.

APPLICATION AND DEADLINES: All application materials, including
the Application Form, resume, three letters of recommendation,
cover letter, and the application fee (US$50. payable to WCCEC)
should be sent by April 1st, 1996 (post marked or by fax) to the
following address:
 Dr. Weiping Wu, Program Director
 WCCEC, 9709 Kings Crown Court, #201
 Fairfax, VA 22031, U.S.A.
 Fax:(703)934-8855; Email:weipingcal.org

P.S. Applicants in Australia and New Zealand should send their
applications to Dr. Beverly Hong-Fincher, Australian National
University, Canberra, ACT, 0200. (Fax: 616-2493144)

In 8-17, Michael Hall writes:
	I'd like to hear from anyone with an interest in Arabic linguistics.

Anyone interested in Arabic linguistics should be aware of the Arabic-L
email list. The following is excerpted from the message sent to new
subscribers:

 * * *

ARABIC-L is a mailing list for Arabic Linguistics and Arabic
Language Teaching, sponsored by Brigham Young University, the
Arabic Linguistics Society and the American Association of
Teachers of Arabic. The list encourages contributions, squibs,
queries and responses in those areas. The subject line of each
message will begin with either LING for a message in the area of
Arabic Linguistics, or with PEDA for a message in the area of
pedagogy. A message of potential interest to both groups will be
labelled GEN. We ask that all subscribers send an initial message
indicating their name, e-mail address, areas of interest, dialects
spoken natively, and dialects or forms on which the sender has
expertise or has access to native speakers. We will include this
information in a master list of subscribers and make it available
to all subscribers so that individual contact can be initiated for
discussion purposes and for the exchange of dialect and other
information.

To subscribe to ARABIC-L, send the following command via
electronic mail to listservbyu.edu:

 subscribe arabic-l your name

Don't forget to include your name; note that you send messages to
Arabic-L directly (arabic-lbyu.edu), but you send subscribe and
unsubscribe notices directly to the listserv (listservbyu.edu).