Contents
[Language Grid Playground: New Services Opened!]
[Monthly Maintenance Schedule]
[Language Resource Wrapping Manual Updated]
[Services Computing School Website Launched]
[Language Grid Users] Introduction of Kitamura Lab in Kwansei Gakuin University.
Language Grid Playground: New Services Opened!
The following services are now available at Language Grid Playground. They can be accessed easily through a Web browser:
Morphological Analyzer
Performs morphological analysis of eleven languages (German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Russian, Bulgarian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese) with the analyzers on the Language Grid.
Dependency Parser
Outputs dependency relations between phrases of entered texts.
Concept Dictionary
Cross-searches concept dictionaries such as WordNet or EDR.
The following services will be released by the end of November:
Multilingual Chat
Multilingual chat using dictionaries and machine translators on the Language Grid. Japanese, English, Korean, Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, German, and French are available.
Document Translation
Translates documents into different languages without changing the original format, including the position of line feed. In addition, if a part of the translated text is highlighted, the same part will be highlighted in the original document as well so as to allow for easy comparison of texts. Japanese, English, Korean, Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, German, and French are available.
Dictionary Creation
Users can create their own dictionaries. There are two types:
-Temporal Dictionary: This can be combined only on the Playground.
-Local Dictionary: This is converted into a Web service and can be combined with the machine translators in external tools as well as the ones available on the Playground.
Monthly Maintenance Schedule
The next maintenance of the Language Grid will be conducted on Monday, December 1 from 18:00 to 21:00 JST.
If you wish to use the Language Grid during this period, please contact us in advance at:
operation [at] langrid.org
Language Resource Wrapping Manual Updated
The manual for wrapping language resources was updated on October 22. This manual describes how to create Web services from language resources using the interfaces and wrapping libraries defined by the Language Grid Project. For the latest details, visit the langrid-developers-wiki page (http://langrid.nict.go.jp/langrid-developers-wiki-en/#xfcdb32e).
Services Computing School Website Launched
A Website for professors to educate students on services computing has been launched.
Students can practice combining various language services on Language Grid and learn basic technologies of services computing such as WSDL and BPEL.
URL: http://langrid.org/services/en/index.html
E-mail: contact [at] services.langrid.org
.
Language Grid Users: Kitamura Lab in Kwansei Gakuin University
Kwansei Gakuin is a mission school founded in 1889 by a missionary from North America. The school focuses on English education. Their research on multicultural societies is also very active.
Kitamura Laboratory, in cooperation with other organizations, is conducting research on the Language Grid.
1. Machine Translation System for Children
Kwansei Gakuin Elementary School was established in April of this year. English education is the main focus and the school has planned exchange programs with American schools and a study program in Canada. We developed a machine translator for children who cannot use Chinese and English characters very comfortably; these children can enter Hiragana in this translator. This system is currently being used in classrooms. (See the figure above.)
2. Support for Volunteers of United Nations
Kwansei Gakuin University is a member of the program called United Nations Information Technology Service. Every year about ten students are sent as volunteers to developing countries including Mongol, Kirghiz, Madagascar and Vietnam. We have developed a communication tool for Japanese and Russian, which uses parallel texts, to support the students sent to Kirghiz.
Owing to its usefulness to society, research on Language Grid highly motivates students and has positive educational effects.