Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Zilong]

I have an undergrad degree in linguistics and I've seen that the Computational part seems to be pretty interesting. I'm wondering if anybody has any knowledge of this field, and if so what kind of background I need to get into a CL program. as I have no programming or quant credit at all in my undergrad. Thanks.

[CentralCali]

The prerequisites will vary based on the requirements of the program. Here is the information for both the PhD and MS programs in Computational Linguistics at Georgetown University.

[Thiuda]

Since you're posting in the Korea Forum, I assume you're in Korea, asking about programs at Korean universities.

Korea University offers a CompLing stream at the MA/PhD level. To get into the MA program you need to have a BA in Ling or a related field and a 3.1 GPA or above. I haven't taken any of the CompLing courses yet, but my fellow students tell me that they are very good and that one doesn't require any special knowledge to sit the intro classes.

KLing

[Zilong]

Thanks all for the info.

[jugbandjames]

I've been told that having a programming certification can help. You can do that sort of thing online, but make sure you do it at a reputable school.

[jugbandjames]

On a side note, all of the computational linguistics jobs I've seen that don't require a PhD seem to prefer programmers over actual linguists. Unless, of course, the linguist has programming experience, but all things being equal, they seem to prefer computer science folks.

...might explain why most speech recognition software sucks.

[Zilong]

[Thiuda]

[jugbandjames]

Just take a look through job postings and see for yourself. I know nothing about comp ling, but I generally take notice of any ling-related job posting I see, and I know some comp ling folks. Try a search on linguistlist.org:

http://linguistlist.org/jobs/search-job1.cfm

All of the teaching and research positions require PhDs, and the private industry jobs often say something like "MS in Computer Science with a computational linguistic focus" or something like that. I've also heard from other linguists that I know who are into that sort of thing that you need a pretty strong programming background. Most of the private companies basically have one or two project managers with PhDs in Comp Ling or a long work history with it who make the important decisions. The entry level jobs are basically for code monkeys who are familiar enough with NLP or whatever it is their software does to pick things up quickly. So if that's what you're looking for, you might be better off applying for Comp Sci programs that allow you take a couple of comp ling courses or do an internship or something. Otherwise, go for a PhD.

Again, I'm not in that industry so this is all second hand knowledge and observations from job ads I've seen. Someone else might know better.