Rise of the Machines: Computational Linguistics

We've said before that Google Translate isn't very good, and it isn't. The main problem is that when we compare it to human translators, it's proven to be horrendous. However, the science behind it, known as computational linguistics, is very impressive.

If you've ever tried programming you know it's not the easiest subject. Programming languages follow a strict syntax that can rarely be broken. With natural languages you can make a mistake and be understood, whereas computers refuse to allow the user such liberties.

When you combine programming with the field of linguistics you end up with what we call computational linguistics. Its function is to model human, or natural, languages, often with the use of crazy mathematics and programming.

Computational linguistics, like most technology, came about due to political paranoia during the 1950s. When the United States became aware that it had made some foreign enemies, it decided that messages needed to be translated into English, rather than learn another language. How times have changed...

Even this is more advanced than the
machine they tried to translate with.

The initial research was done using text, as speech recognition poses its own problems. Unsurprisingly, what really interested the Americans was the Russians. They needed scientific journals translated from Russian to English, and en masse.

As you can imagine given the state of current machine translation, sixty years ago the technology was even less advanced. So much so that the scientists were required to reassess the whole field. Word for word translation would barely make any sense, and once they knew that grammar, syntax, lexicon, and morphology were essential to producing high-quality and accurate translations, they had ultimately given themselves significantly more work.

What started as research into using machines to monitor the Russians has since developed into the study of what makes languages work and how to synthesize them. Though  machine translation can be easily criticised, you cannot take away some of the phenomenal work that goes on in computational linguistics departments across the world as they endeavour to map, model and analyse our favourite thing in the world, languages.

Naming Life in Greek and Latin

If you've ever studied any of the sciences, you've likely noticed that most words in science are of Greek or Latin origin. This is especially true in biology, where a system exists for naming things in Latin.

Most sciences have borrowed their names from either Greek or Latin and biology is no exception. The word βιος (bios) in Ancient Greek means "life" and λογος (logos) means "the study of", which gives us "the study of life". Even the word etymology came from the Ancient Greek ἐτυμολογία (etumologia).

As you probably know, there are billions of living things on this planet, though not so many on the other planets in our Solar System. When it comes to naming them, numbers, as most linguists will agree, are too boring. So what can you do? Create a system.

What an impressive pinus erectus...
Actual name Pinus ponderosa.

Binomial Nomenclature

Binomial nomenclature, the convention used to name pretty much every living thing using only two words, is not only common in Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoons but in real life too. Before binomial nomenclature, species were named using polynomial nomenclature, which used many words for naming things. It was useful for descriptions but not great at getting a point across quickly. The binomial system was simpler and gave things a unique identifier instead of giving too much information about them.

There were so many wonderful benefits to only using two words. Firstly, it's cheaper to print the names (if you're on a budget) and it also makes everything a lot easier to remember. It also helps maintain a standard across the world. It would be great if everyone could speak every language, but this isn't the case and scientists know it.

Though Latin and Classical Greek are the preferred languages when it comes to naming animals, there are a few exceptions. Big-headed scientists occasionally break the rules and name something after themselves or even put jokes in them, though don't expect them to be side-splittingly funny, they are biologists after all! Needless to say, Rubus cockburnianus is a strong contender for our favourite.

Why You Can't Learn A Language At Home

As featured in our list of great places to learn languages, there is where you have to go if you want to learn languages. Though many well-read scholars will try to argue that they can learn everything they'll ever need from books and the internet, they're wrong. Here's why:

Sometimes there are no words for it.

Culture and language are inextricably bound. A language develops with a culture. As our favourite linguistic anecdote, courtesy of Edward Sapir, explained: Eskimos have thousands of words for snow. As incorrect as this is, you can understand the point he was trying to make. You can't take the culture out of a language, just as you can't take the cheese out of a cheeseburger.

Concepts exist in languages due to both culture and history. History certainly shapes a language. The English language is interesting because for many years, England was Europe's whipping boy that was conquered, almost on a daily basis, by other civilisations. Then, following years of being Europe's bitch, England got sick of it and decided to take the English language on tour and create a global empire.

The same can be said for Spanish, which thanks to some eager sailors, pretty much spans the entire continent of South America, with the exception of Brazil, where they speak Portuguese. The French language was spread in the same way. Aeons ago we did a post on how European colonialism affected the spread of languages, which shows that you can spread a language very quickly if you have a big army.

Would you really want to stay at home?

There are certain things you can't learn entirely from a book. Life lessons, how to satisfy a woman sexually and how to speak a foreign language. Granted, you can supplement your language learning by reading their literature, watching their films and listening to their music, but you can never truly understand the language if you've never met the people, lived their life and immersed yourself in their culture.

There are so many nuances in languages that are nearly impossible to explain without having seen the things they refer to first-hand. Even between British English and American English there are many lexical differences due to the difference in cultures. Most Brits are unfamiliar with strip malls in the same way that many Americans are a little confused if someone lives in a semi-detached house.

The day-to-day language is rarely covered in books. How many Spaniards know that WhatsApp got its name from "what's up?", the colloquial expression? If you really want to know the language that people are ashamed to write down, you have to go into the streets, frequent the bars and get involved with the culture that shares a bed with the language you want to learn.

Mourning Ferdinand de Saussure

He could also grow an amazing moustache.

100 years ago yesterday, a relatively unknown man died. The man was not unknown, however, in the field of linguistics. Ferdinand de Saussure was considered one of, if not the greatest linguists of the 20th century and his work changed the way languages are thought of.

Ferdinand de Saussure was born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1857. He was a talented man who studied Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, and various other courses which would lead him into graduate work at the University of Leipzig.

He wrote his doctoral thesis on Sanskrit in Berlin, and after receiving his doctorate in Leipzig he moved to Paris where he taught for eleven years. A professorship in Geneva saw him return to his hometown. In 1907, Saussure began teaching his Course on General Linguistics.

His work on general linguistics was second to none at the time and although the field of linguistics has progressed enough to make his work rather outdated, the field would be nowhere near where it is today without him.

Film Club: Césars 2013

We're now knee-deep into awards season and only days away from the Oscars, but before we get to the Academy Awards we have to pay a visit to France's Césars, so expect a lot of films in French!

Best Film

Versailles is nice when it's not being invaded by revolutionaries.

Farewell, My Queen (Les Adieux à la reine)

The French drama tells the tale of a young servant, Sidonie, who refuses to abandon Queen Marie Antoinette as the French Revolution reaches the Palace of Versailles.

Amour

The French-language film Amour has already won a BAFTA and is looking to add a few more awards to its trophy cabinet at both the Césars and the Oscars this weekend.

Camille Rewinds (Camille redouble)

The drama follows the story of Camille, a woman in the midst of a divorce who wakes from a drunken night to find herself a teenager in high school in the '80s once again. She attempts to change the course of her life and avoid her future husband, but things are never that easy.

In The House (Dans la maison)

Nominated for a Goya, In The House eventually lost out to Untouchable. It is based on the Spanish play The Boy in the Last Row by Juan Mayorga. Perhaps it will fare better tonight!

Rust and Bone (De rouille et d'os)

A film that has been getting lots of nominations, including both the BAFTAs and the Goyas. We really needn't say more. The protagonist moves to France with his son and falls in love with a killer whale trainer.

Holy Motors

A drama about a man who transcends multiple realities and lives is garnering a lot of positive praise and may very well be rewarded with a César this evening. There's not much more we can say about it except that you should probably watch it!

What's in a name (Le Prénom)

A comedy about the naming of a child. Yes, you're not mistaken... in France, comedies can get the nod for awards, even when they're about the naming of a child. The word prénom is French for "first name". What's more, the child in question isn't even born yet!

Best Foreign Film

We've covered the French and French-language films, so what are the opinions in France when it comes to films from around the world?

One of the rarest sentiments to ever be expressed on a sign.

Argo - United States

Ben Affleck's political thriller about the "Canadian Caper" has gained widespread approval and has been nominated for seven Oscars. It has already won the BAFTA for Best Film and a couple of Golden Globes. Could it add a couple of Césars to the trophy case as well?

Bullhead (Rundskop) - Belgium

This Dutch-language film is centred on the story of a young cattle farmer from Limburg. He's encouraged by a vet to make an unusual deal with a West-Flemish beef (and possibly horse-meat) trader. Everything goes awry following the murder of a policeman.

The film was nominated at last year's Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film but eventually lost to A Separation.

Laurence Anyways - Canada

The Franco-Canadian film Laurence Anyways covers the story of Fred (who happens to be a woman) and Laurence (who happens to be a man who wants to be a woman). As the film is Québécois, it will be no surprise that this is film is in French.

Oslo, August 31st (Oslo, 31. august) - Norway

This Norwegian drama covers a day in the life of Anders, a recovering drug addict, as he encounters people from his past. Ironically, the events of the film take place on August 30th. The film was also on the shortlist of Norway's submissions for the Oscars.

The Angels' Share - United Kingdom

The story of a Glaswegian man on community service who attempts to turn his life around following a visit to a whisky distillery has received favourable reviews and earned director Ken Loach the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

He may be king but his missus
is shagging another bloke.

A Royal Affair (En kongelig affære) - Denmark

The historical drama has already been nominated for a Golden Globe, where it lost to Amour, as well as being nominated for an Academy Award.

The film covers the story of Christian VII of Denmark and the romance between his Queen and the royal physician Struensee. The 1935 film The Dictator, not to be confused with the Sacha Baron Cohen film of the same name, covered the same events as A Royal Affair.

Our Children (À perdre la raison) - Belgium

The Belgian drama has already won Émilie Dequenne the Un Certain Regard Award for Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival. Though it didn't make the shortlist for the Academy Awards, it has been nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Césars. It covers the true story of a woman who killed her five children.

As we approach the end of awards season, we can look forward to the Academy Awards on Sunday night before we have to wait another year to find out what is considered good according to the upper echelons of cinematic society.

Get It Right: Spelling

One of the most annoying things for language enthusiasts is the misspelling of words. We often come across (not accross) a large number of errors, especially when it comes to handwritten notes. Thanks to spell checkers, many people don't make time for spelling things correctly and assume that no matter where they go, they can hope to see a squiggly red line when they need to review the spelling of a word.

This isn't a problem if you're using a computer, but if you don't know how to spell you will definitely (not definately) look like a fool. Bad spelling is basically (not basicly) the best way to show other people that you have a limited knowledge (not knowlege) of the English language. We've lost count of the number of emails sent to us by colleagues (not collegues) that are almost completely (not completly) misspelt.

This sign makes us want to cry.

If you actually care about languages, it can be embarrassing (not embarassing) to see the squiggly red line, the computer's way of telling you that you cannot be trusted to use your own language. If you do struggle with spelling, there are many mnemonic devices you can use to help you.

The word "necessary" (not neccessary) can be easily remembered if you recall that a shirt has one collar (one instance of the letter c) and two sleeves (two instances of the letter s). It's even easier to remember if you're actually wearing a shirt.

Unfortunately (not unfortunatly), this tendency won't change until (not untill) people begin to understand the importance of correct spelling and stop relying on spell checkers. If you couldn't tell, this issue really (not realy) annoys us.

All the underlined words (excluding links, of course) are featured in Oxford Dictionaries' list of common misspellings.

Learning Languages with Social Media

One of the best ways to learn a language is to speak it. So what do you do when there's nobody around to talk to? If, like us, you spend most of your life in front of a computer, you should consider getting on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or any of the other social media sites and start communicating.

Long before the aforementioned social media websites existed there was instant messaging. Services such as MSN Messenger and AIM enabled us to talk with our friends from anywhere in the world, as long as they had a modem and a good tolerance level for high-pitched squealing noises anything was possible. As its popularity and reach grew, the internet quickly became one of the great places to learn languages.

You can learn a language from the comfort
of your home, no pants required. 

Practising languages is tantamount to your success in learning a new language. You can study as much as you want but as we've found, if you don't use the language it becomes very easy to forget everything you've learnt. Instant messaging can help you practice your writing, but also requires quicker comprehension in order to formulate a response. You don't need to be as quick as if you were actually speaking to someone, but you need to be faster than if you were writing a letter or an email, which makes it a perfect middle ground for those wanting to exercise their language skills.

Now that the popularity of instant messaging is on the decline, its space has been taken up by social media, most of which come equipped with a chat function. If you have friends that speak a language you'd like to learn, communicate with them. Send them some messages in their language and get learning. If you're not sure how to say something then look it up, just not on Google Translate, and keep going.

As well as chatting or tweeting to your friends, look for groups, forums or other places where language learners want to get together to practice and learn languages. There are thousands of communities for language aficionados on-line so you have no excuse not to be doing it!