For Prospective Students
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What is Computational Linguistics and Language Technology?
Computational Linguistics is the scientific study of how human language can be represented, analyzed, understood, and generated by computers. Language Technology focuses on developing practical systems that process spoken, written, and signed language.
Today, Computational Linguistics and Language Technology form a core part of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Language and Speech. They provide the scientific foundations for technologies such as conversational AI, machine translation, speech recognition, large language models, sign language processing, multilingual information retrieval, and language accessibility.
At the University of Zurich, our department combines expertise in linguistics, computer science, machine learning, speech science, and cognitive science to advance research and education in AI for language and speech.
Why study Computational Linguistics and Language Technology?
Language is one of humanity's richest sources of information and the primary way people interact with AI. Advances in artificial intelligence increasingly depend on methods for understanding, generating, and interacting through human language. Computational Linguistics and Language Technology equips you with the theoretical foundations and practical skills to contribute to these developments.
Graduates work in natural language processing, speech technology, multilingual AI, machine learning, data science, conversational AI, and generative AI across research institutions, technology companies, healthcare, finance, public administration, and many other sectors.
Why study at UZH?
Our department at the University of Zurich combines internationally recognized research with research-oriented teaching. Students benefit from close interaction with researchers, small class sizes, and opportunities to participate in current research projects.
Our research spans spoken, written, and signed language and covers multilingual NLP, machine translation, speech technology, phonetics, language accessibility, digital linguistics, multimodal AI, and large language models. This broad perspective enables students to understand both the scientific principles and the practical applications of modern AI for language and speech.
Our study programs
We offer Bachelor's and Master's study programs in Computational Linguistics and Language Technology, as well as the Master's minor Digital Linguistics. Our programs combine theoretical foundations with practical experience in programming, machine learning, experimental research, and modern language technologies.
Explore our study program pages for detailed information about curricula, admission requirements, recommended study plans, and career perspectives.