A research center will bring together several university departments to try to solve real-world problems using language research, which some professors said could make the university a global leader in language science.

The Maryland Language Science Center, which will analyze and study language, launched Sept. 27 at the fourth annual Language Science Day. The center — part of the largest network of language scientists in the continent — encompasses more than 200 language scientists from six colleges and 16 departments and centers across the university, a collaboration that makes it unique, center director Colin Phillips said.

The center will focus on the basic science of language, applying it to disciplines such as education, technology (such as machines and translators) and health (brain processes relating to language). By bringing together diverse fields, the center hopes to solve problems that couldn’t be solved within just one discipline, Phillips said.

The center will address language translation problems like those seen with Google Translate and other difficulties when translating between certain languages. More.

See: The Diamondback

Subscribe to the translation news daily digest here. See more translation news.