Using The English Of Non-Native Speakers In Order To Make Smarter Computers

The English of Non-Native Speakers Could Make Smarter Computers

Researchers create first major database of non-native English in an effort to improve machine learning

Amar Toor | July 29, 2016

Researchers at MIT have created a database of annotated sentences written by non-native English speakers, the university announced in a press release Friday, in an effort to improve the ways in which computers process written or spoken language.
Most natural language processing (NLP) technology is based on machine learning, whereby computers identify patterns in large datasets. The problem, though, is that these systems are based on standard English, and therefore might not be able to pick up on the quirks and subtleties of non-native speakers.

[Click to Enlarge] Source; http://esltreebank.org/#about

"The Top 30 most common mistakes Non-Native English Speakers use." Published May 23, 2016. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lIDowbg6A0

<more at http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/29/12320736/non-native-english-database-language-translation-esl-mit; related articles and links: http://news.mit.edu/2016/first-major-database-non-native-english-0729 (First major database of non-native English. Resource could yield linguistic insights, practical applications for non-native English speakers. July 29, 2016) and http://news.mit.edu/2014/essays-english-yield-information-about-other-languages-0723 (Essays in English yield information about other languages. Grammatical habits in written English reveal linguistic features of non-native speakers’ languages. July 23, 2014)>