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Overview

The Summer 2008 program is no longer accepting applications Single courses may be available » Next program starts: Summer 2009 Details will be posted in Winter Program location: Online; local students also have option to attend on-site class sessions Sign up to receive e-mail updates >> Contact a program representative >>

You can be on the forefront of predictive text messaging, speech recognition software, dialogue systems and speech prosthetics. You can learn how speech and language processing can be applied to machine translation and information retrieval.

Natural language processing, a subfield of computational linguistics, studies the problems of automated generation and understanding of natural human languages. A growing number of companies are turning to natural language processing as a means of identifying and accessing information of strategic or commercial importance. The Department of Linguistics at the University of Washington has developed this new Certificate Program in Natural Language Technology to meet a growing demand for expertise in this area.

Some common applications of natural language processing include:

• Biomedical informatics (including intelligent search and indexing of patient records for improved diagnosis)
• Litigation support
• Monitoring of world events
• Predictive text to improve input methods in mobile devices
• Context-sensitive advertising
• Monitoring the Web to gauge the reputation of products
• Spell checking and grammar checking

Follow these links to learn more about how natural language processing impacts our lives:

• New Endeavors - MSNBC
• Top Ten Startups - Wired
• Scientists Seek Help - CNN

This three-course certificate program is comprised of courses from the Computational Linguistics Master's Program, focusing in particular on the algorithms for annotating naturally occurring text in order to prepare it for a variety of data extraction purposes: sentiment analysis of product reviews, extraction of diagnoses from medical records, triage of customer service e-mails, and others.

As a student of this program, you will be connected to the larger community of Computational Linguistics Master's Program students and alumni, which represents a growing number of companies including Amazon, Google and Nuance. Upon completion of this certificate program, you will have the option of applying your completed coursework towards the M.A. degree.

Online or Classroom: It's Your Choice

This program is designed for online delivery, though local students can also choose to attend some or all of the class sessions in person with students in the Computational Linguistics Master's Program. Whether you participate online or in the classroom, you will be able to interact with other students in the class.

See more information on the online course format.

Contact a Program Representative

For more information about this program, please call 206-685-8936 in the greater Seattle area, or 888-469-6499, or e-mail us.