Welcome to the Natural Language Systems Division

Department of Informatics, University of Hamburg

The Natural Language Systems Division (NATS) is headed by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Menzel and dedicated to the design and realization of software systems for knowledge based natural language processing. Based on the assumption that natural language processing can contribute in a fundamental way

• to facilitating human access to contemporary IT systems,
• to improving cross-lingual communication in the global village, and
• to dealing with the constantly growing problem of information overload efficiently

various application scenarios are considered. Special focus is on

• access to large information systems,
• information extraction from documents,
• information summarization for texts or complex information processing results,
• machine translation and interpreting, and
• computer-assisted language learning.

Moreover, fundamental research is conducted into central issues of speech and language processing that are crucial for the deployment of human language technology in everyday settings. These inquiries are geared towards increasing robustness and fault tolerance of natural language systems and providing means for adapting to user expectations and actions in order to facilitate flexible and adequate interaction.

Available Information

• People: who's who ... and what NatS-people look like
• Research: current research foci
• Publications: publications of NatS-members
• Downloads: get software from NatS
• Teaching: courses taught by people at NatS
• Curriculum: general Information for Students at NatS
• Abschlussarbeiten: current, past (and upcoming) student activities
• Jobs: job offerings
• Contact: how to get in contact, how to find NatS
• Social Life: NatS excursions