Language processing generally refers to the field of computer science
and artificial intelligence (AI) that involves the interaction between
computers and human (natural) language. It encompasses a range of tasks
related to understanding, interpreting, and generating human language.
There are two main aspects of language processing: natural language
understanding (NLU) and natural language generation (NLG).
Natural Language Understanding (NLU): This involves the computer's ability to comprehend and make sense of human language. NLU tasks include:
- Speech Recognition: Converting spoken language into written text.
- Text Understanding:
Extracting meaning from written text, which may involve tasks like
sentiment analysis, named entity recognition, and semantic parsing.
- Language Translation: Translating text or speech from one language to another.
- Question Answering: Understanding questions posed in natural language and providing relevant answers.
Natural Language Generation (NLG): This aspect focuses on the computer's ability to produce human-like language. NLG tasks include:
- Text Generation: Creating coherent and contextually relevant sentences or paragraphs.
- Speech Synthesis: Generating spoken language from written text.
- Language Translation: Generating text or speech in a target language.