Uppsala universitet  

Machine Translation, 7.5 HP / 5 HP, Autumn 2019

Course codes : 5LN711 (master; 7.5 hp) 5LN718 (master; 5hp)
Course coordinator and examiner: Sara Stymne
Teachers: Sara Stymne, Gongbo Tang
Guest teacher: Anna Sågvall Hein

Syllabus: 5LN711, 5LN718

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More Information on

Literature
Activities
Examination for Masters (7.5 hp)
Examination for Masters (5 hp)


Schedule

Date
   Time   
Room
Type
 Content Teacher
Reading / Assignments
2019-09-03 10-12 6-0022 Lecture Introduction Sara Stymne Koehn Ch.1; JM 25.1-2; HS
2019-09-05 13-15 6-K1031 Lecture MT evaluation Sara Stymne Koehn Ch.8; JM 25.9
2019-09-06 9-12 Chomsky Lab Assignment 1: MT Evaluation Sara Stymne Oral assessment in class
2019-09-09 10-12 Turing Lecture Introduction to SMT Sara Stymne Koehn Ch. 2-4, 7
2019-09-10 10-12 7-1013 Lecture Phrase-based SMT Sara Stymne Koehn Ch. 5-6
2019-09-11 13-16 Chomsky Lab Assignment 2: Moses Sara Stymne Oral assessment in class
2019-09-16 10-12 2-K1024 Lecture Introduction to NMT Gongbo Tang Koehn13 Ch.1-4; GB Ch.9
2019-09-17 13-15 Changed 2-0022 Lecture Sequence to sequence models Gongbo Tang Koehn13 Ch.4-5, 7; Luong Ch.2.3
2019-09-18 13-16 Chomsky Lab Assignment 3: LMs Gongbo Tang Oral assessment in class
2019-09-20 9-12 Chomsky Lab Assignment 4: seq2seq Gongbo Tang Oral assessment in class
2019-09-23 10-12 9-1016 Lecture Advanced NMT Gongbo Tang Koehn13 Ch.5; Luong Ch.4-5
2019-09-25 13-16 Chomsky Lab Lab 1: Attention (Only 5LN711) Gongbo Tang Codes and reports
2019-09-26 10-12 Sal XI, Universitetshuset Lecture Advances and Challenges Gongbo Tang Koehn13 Ch.8; Tsinghua MT List
2019-10-01 9-12 Chomsky Lab Assignment 5: NMT Gongbo Tang Oral assessment in class
2019-10-01 13-15 22-1009 Lecture Guest lecture: rule-based MT Anna Sågvall Hein
2019-10-09 13-15 Chomsky Project supervision Gongbo, Sara
2019-10-16 13-15 Chomsky Project supervision Gongbo, Sara
2019-10-24 08-10 Chomsky Project supervision Gongbo, Sara
2019-10-30 10.00-12 16-2044 Seminar Master project presentations Gongbo, Sara
2019-10-30 14-16 9-1016, 9-1017 Seminar Individual presentations Gongbo, Sara

Please observe that attendance is mandatory for the assignment sessions and for the two final seminars (student presentations).
If you cannot attend, please inform your teacher beforehand and we will find an alternative solution for you.

Literature

The course is based on Koehn's introduction to statistical MT and on parts of Yoav Goldbergs book on neural networks for NLP. You will also be expected to find and read research articles online.

Additional reading:

Activities

The following activities are part of the examination
  • Assignments are lab-style exercises, that will be examined orally during class time. Attendance for assignment sessions is mandatory. There will be 5 assignments.
  • Labs are larger assignments for which a written lab report should be handed in. Supervision for labs are given during scheduled (non-mandatory) lab hours. There will be 1 lab (only for 5LN711, not for 5LN718).
  • A practical group project on some aspect of MT. The group project will be presented both orally during mandatory seminars and in a written report.
  • An individual report discussing your project and related research literature
  • A theoretical presentation based on your individual reports (individual or in small groups) (only 5LN711).
Both labs and assignments should be done in pairs of two students. It is not necessary to work in the same pairs for all different assignments and labs. It is up to students to find a lab partner, and to form pairs to work in. You may not work on your own, and hand in labs/solve assignments on your own, unless there are special circumstances, and you have agreed on this beforehand with your teacher.

Assignments

There will be 5 assignments during the course, see below. The assignments will be performed and examined during a 3-hour session each. To pass an assignment, it is mandatory to be present during the full session, to actively perform the tasks given, and to be prepared to discuss your results and experiences in class. Please read through the instructions for each assignment before the session, in order to use the classroom time in the best way possible!

The assignments should be performed in pairs of students. The pairs can be formed during each session, and you do not have to work in the same pair each session.

If someone fails to attend an assignment session, you should make up for this by solving the task on your own, and either present it to the teacher during one of the project supervision sessions (given that the teacher has time), or prepare a short written report. The deadline for handing in such a report is November 1. Such a report or presentation could be done individually or in pairs.

Assignment Theme Date
Assignment 1 Evaluation September 6
Assignment 2 SMT with Moses September 11
Assignment 3 Language models September 18
Assignment 4 Sequence to sequence models September 20
Assignment 5 Exploration of NMT models October 1

Labs

There will be one lab on sequence to sequence models with attention, for which you are required to hand in a written lab report. This lab is only for 5LN711 (master 7.5hp), not for 5LN718 (master 5hp).

The lab should be performed in pairs, and the pair should hand in one report.

There is one supervised session for the lab. Attendance is not obligatory, but recommended.

Project

 There will be a practical group project for all students, where you will perform MT experiments in practice. You will work in groups of 2-4 students, working on one or two language pairs. We will put together the groups, based on the languages you know.

Each group should perform a project where you train and evaluate several MT systems for your language pair(s), linking your work to previous research on MT. The project should result in a joint project report and a joint seminar presentation.

Detailed information about the project is available here!

The report should be written in English and are due November 1 via Studentportalen in pdf format.

Individual report/presentation

All students should write an individual report where you describe and discuss your individual contribution to the group project, and where you discuss one (5LN718) or more (5LN711) research articles, potentially related to your project.

Students in 5LN711 should also do a theoretical presentation, based on the articles discussed in your individual report. Depending on the number of students the presentation might be either individual or in small groups.

Detailed information about the individual work is available here: 5LN711, 5LN718

Deadlines

Activity First deadline Second deadline
Project language wishes September 20 -
Assignment 1 September 6 *
Assignment 2 September 11 *
Assignment 3 September 18 *
Assignment 4 September 20 *
Assignment 5 October 1 *
Lab 1 (5LN711) October 11 November 8
Project presentation October 30 By agreement
Project report November 1 November 29
Theoretical presentation (5LN711) October 30 By agreement
Individual report November 1 November 29

* For assignments the first deadline is for participation in the oral examination. If you miss the session for an assignment, you need to do the assignment on your own, and either present it to the teacher during a project supervision session (given time), or hand in a written report at the latest October 25.

Examination for Masters (7.5 hp; 5LN711)

In order to pass the course, you have to:
  • Do the lab and pass the lab report. Lab reports will not be graded.
  • Do all assignments and pass the oral examination (or written report in case you fail to attend a session). Assignments will not be graded.
  • Perform a MT project in a group of 2-4 students. This includes practical group work resulting in a written group report and a joint seminar presentation.
  • Write an individual report and give a theoretical seminar presentation.

Examination for Masters (5 hp; 5LN718)

 In order to pass the course, you have to:
  • Do all assignments and pass the oral examination (or written report in case you fail to attend a session). Assignments will not be graded.
  • Perform a MT project in a group of 2-4 students. This includes practical group work resulting in a written group report and a joint seminar presentation.
  • Write an individual report.

Grading

The grade for the course will mainly be dependent on your project grade. There will be a joint grade (VG/G/U) for all members of the group, based on the written group report, which will be the main basis for your course grade. You will also get a grade (VG/G/U) on your individual report (and presentation for 5LN711), which can then individually increase (or decrease) your course grade, together with your part of the group presentation, and your individual contribution to the project work/report.