No, I can’t say I have done any extensive research on modern linguistics. I’m not belittling it or anything. I think it is a very interesting area of study. For example, J. R. R. Tolkien was a linguist and I was always impressed by his ability to construct fictional languages with fluidity, grammar, and etymologies that actually made sense (eg. Quenya).

But I’m sure a CS class on designing translation software would require at least a basic understanding of linguistics. I will go out on a limb and say that it is probably easier to teach computer scientists basic linguistics rules, than it is to teach linguists programming, text parsing, and modern textual analysis paradigms…

I might be wrong though, and I would love for someone to explain to me how this class would work, what topics it would cover, and what would students be expected to get from it.

I’m going to go out on a limb and presume you know nothing about modern Linguistics….

Yeah, I know. WTF?

Is teh computer revolution passing YOU by?