`If you like computers and you like languages then you can have the best of both worlds," says one student on the BSc in applied computational linguistics (ACL) in DCU..
ACL is run jointly by the computer applications department and the School of Applied Languages and Intercultural Studies in DCU and it is the computational linguistics dimension of the course differentiates it from typical computer/ language degrees. It also offers graduates the opportunity of highly- skilled jobs in the computer industry.
The four-year programme includes one year studying in either France, Germany or Spain. The Spanish language strand was only recently added to the programme, explains lecturer Dr Jennifer Pearson. The degree structure is roughly one-third computing, one-third language and one-third computational linguistics and natural language processing.
Computational linguistics and natural language processing have been described as the "development of mathematically precise and computationally implemented models of human natural languages". The fact that computers are working in the complex area of language reflects an advance from computers specialising in numbercrunching to wordcrunching.
Students are taught three core subjects, computer science, linguistics and a language over the four-year programme. In the final year they choose specialist courses focusing in one of these areas. Specialist subjects like psycho-linguistics and artificial intelligence are also offered. There are some 20 places on the course and there are twice as many women as men on it.
Third- and fourth-year students can study different options. Audrey O'Connor specialises in phonetics and developing a speech programming language.
Keith Brazil, who studied ACL, now works in Berlitz Global Languages, in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, carrying out localisation of software programmes and website translation. The variety of skills he learned equips him with the skills to work in different capacities. "I can work as a programme translator, a programme manager, a linguist and a localisation engineer," he says. "We study languages and what makes them up," says another student, Caroline Nolan. "We try to solve problems associated with translating and apply them to computing," she adds.
While between 10 and 20 per cent of ACL graduates find employment in language-related areas, the majority of graduates go into computing, says Dr Joseph Van Genabith of the Computers Applications Department.
Minimum subject requirements are a C3 in ordinary or D3 in higher maths and a C3 in higher level French or German. There is no specific requirement for students who take Spanish.
The languages part of the programme allows students to do lucrative shift work during the summer months in many of the call centres now operating here, supplementing their income while studying.
