Multilingual Natural Language Processing — Overview
Course: Multilingual Natural Language Processing (5204MNLP6Y) — 2026/27 Sem. 1, Period 1 Programme: MSc Artificial Intelligence, UvA Credits: 6 EC Instructor: Christof Monz (Informatics Institute) Time zone: Europe/Amsterdam Lectures: Mondays 13:00–14:45 (SP L1.02) and Wednesdays 09:00–10:45 (SP C0.110, room varies), twice weekly through 2026-10-14 Seminar / lab: Wednesdays 11:00–12:45, SP B0.208, Group 4 Exam: Thursday 2026-10-22, 09:00–11:00, Roeterseiland (REC), not Science Park
Prerequisites
- Basic math: linear algebra, calculus, probability
- Basic machine learning: train/dev/test split, linear regression, classification
- Basic implementation experience
Course Content
Provides an overview of NLP problems where multilinguality plays a role:
- Multilingual scenarios: NER for multiple languages, language-independent parsing, cross-lingual classification
- Crosslingual scenarios: Machine translation, crosslingual QA, crosslingual unlearning, crosslingual reasoning
This course is NOT: a comprehensive intro to ML or NLP — it focuses specifically on multilingual/crosslingual aspects.
Assessment
| Component | Weight | Deadline | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mini Project | TBD | Report, code and slides: Fri 2026-10-09 12:00; presentation in week 7 | Teams of ~5; picked by 2026-09-04 17:00 |
| Exam | TBD | Thu 2026-10-22, 09:00–11:00 | Rooms: REC B3.05-B3.06-B3.07 / REC B3.08-B3.09 |
The exam is at Roeterseiland, not Science Park
Thursday 2026-10-22, 09:00–11:00, in REC B3.05-B3.06-B3.07 / REC B3.08-B3.09. That is the Roeterseiland campus. Every other MNLP session this period is at Science Park, so do not run the usual commute on autopilot.
The mini-project deadline exists only in the project description
MNLP publishes zero assignments through the Canvas API, so Fri 2026-10-09 12:00 will never appear in a Canvas to-do list, calendar feed or reminder. It lives in MNLP - Mini Project and here, and nowhere else.
Notes
- Monz always requires pass on both assignments and the exam. Realistically, you’ll need at least a 5.5 on each.
- Lectures run twice a week through 14 October, in parallel with the project. The project is not a substitute for attending: the exam is examined off the lectures.
Weekly Schedule
Standing times and rooms, confirmed from MyTimetable, synced 2026-09-16
- Lecture A: Mondays 13:00–14:45, SP L1.02
- Lecture B: Wednesdays 09:00–10:45, SP C0.110, except SP H0.08 on 23 Sep and SP L1.01 on 14 Oct
- Seminar / lab: Wednesdays 11:00–12:45, SP B0.208, Group 4
- Teaching runs through Wed 2026-10-14. Nothing is timetabled after that except the exam.
- Exam: Thursday 2026-10-22, 09:00–11:00, REC B3.05-B3.06-B3.07 / REC B3.08-B3.09 (Roeterseiland)
Week 1 (31 Aug–4 Sep): Overview and Multilinguality
Canvas module “Week 1” holds two decks.
| Topic | Lecturer | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 | Introduction to NLP, applications, course admin | Monz | MNLP-L01 - Overview |
| L2 | Multilinguality and writing systems | Monz | MNLP-L02 - Multilinguality and Writing Systems |
| Key date | Team formation and problem selection by Sep 4 |
Week 2 (7–11 Sep): Morphology and Segmentation
Canvas module “Week 2” holds two decks plus the Zoom recording of 9 September, which was moved online because of the public transport strike.
| Topic | Lecturer | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| L3 | Morphology and word formation | Monz | MNLP-L03 - Morphology and Word Formation |
| L4 | Subword segmentation | Monz | MNLP-L04 - Subword Segmentation |
Read L4 before choosing a mini-project
Subword segmentation is where the tokenizer decisions live, and every mini-project makes them whether or not it thinks about them. L4 also flags an error in the lecturer’s Algorithm 2, which prunes the highest-value tokens as printed.
Week 3 (14–18 Sep): First Model
Lectures continue alongside the project work.
| Slot | Lecturer | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| L5 | Mon 14 Sep, 13:00–14:45, SP L1.02 | Monz | Given. No note yet, topic not recorded, see Source material not yet processed below |
| L6 | Wed 16 Sep, 09:00–10:45, SP C0.110 | Monz | Given. No note yet, topic not recorded, see Source material not yet processed below |
| Lab | Wed 16 Sep, 11:00–12:45, SP B0.208 (Group 4) | ||
| Project | Implement first model, evaluate, debug |
Week 4 (21–25 Sep): Refinement
| Slot | Lecturer | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| L7 | Mon 21 Sep, 13:00–14:45, SP L1.02 | Monz | Given. No note yet, see Source material not yet processed below |
| L8 | Wed 23 Sep, 09:00–10:45, SP H0.08 | Monz | Given. No note yet, see Source material not yet processed below |
| Lab | Wed 23 Sep, 11:00–12:45, SP B0.208 (Group 4) | ||
| Project | Refine or try alternative model; dropout, layernorm, residual connections |
Week 5 (28 Sep–2 Oct): Error Analysis
| Slot | Lecturer | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| L9 | Mon 28 Sep, 13:00–14:45, SP L1.02 | Monz | Not yet given |
| L10 | Wed 30 Sep, 09:00–10:45, SP C0.110 | Monz | Not yet given |
| Lab | Wed 30 Sep, 11:00–12:45, SP B0.208 (Group 4) | ||
| Project | Second model refinement, error analysis, conclusions |
Week 6 (5–9 Oct): Finalize
| Slot | Lecturer | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| L11 | Mon 5 Oct, 13:00–14:45, SP L1.02 | Monz | Not yet given |
| L12 | Wed 7 Oct, 09:00–10:45, SP C0.110 | Monz | Not yet given |
| Lab | Wed 7 Oct, 11:00–12:45, SP B0.208 (Group 4) | ||
| Due | Fri 9 Oct 12:00: 4-page report, code, slides |
Week 7 (12–16 Oct): Presentations, last teaching week
| Slot | Lecturer | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| L13 | Mon 12 Oct, 13:00–14:45, SP L1.02 | Monz | Last Monday slot |
| L14 | Wed 14 Oct, 09:00–10:45, SP L1.01 | Monz | Last session of the course. Room differs from the usual C0.110 |
| Lab | Wed 14 Oct, 11:00–12:45, SP B0.208 (Group 4) | ||
| Project | Team presentations (10–15 min + 5 min Q&A) | See the inference below |
Presentation date: narrowed, not confirmed
Canvas says “week 7” and gives no date. MyTimetable has no MNLP session after Wed 14 Oct except the exam, so the team presentation has to land in one of the final teaching slots, Mon 12 Oct or Wed 14 Oct. This is an inference from the timetable, not a confirmed date. Ask Monz or check an announcement before booking anything around it.
Week 8 (19–23 Oct): Exam
| Slot | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Exam | Thu 22 Oct, 09:00–11:00 | REC B3.05-B3.06-B3.07 / REC B3.08-B3.09, Roeterseiland campus |
Key Deadlines
| Date | What |
|---|---|
| 2026-09-04 17:00 | Submit team + problem choice (Google Sheet) |
| 2026-10-09 12:00 | Submit report (4 pp PDF), slides, code (GitHub link) |
| 12 or 14 Oct | Team presentation (inferred from the timetable, not confirmed) |
| Wed 2026-10-14 | Last teaching session |
| Thu 2026-10-22 09:00–11:00 | Exam, Roeterseiland (REC), not Science Park |
Mini Project: What Makes a Good One
- Good succinct description of most relevant research papers
- Good description of data preprocessing/settings
- Good motivation of neural architecture choices
- Thorough evaluation under different settings/architectures; error analysis
- Report focusing on most relevant findings: what works and what doesn’t, why
- MNLP - Mini Project — full project description, schedule, deliverables, and evaluation criteria
Source material not yet processed
Fetch these from Canvas Modules on the laptop, in one pass
The MNLP Canvas Files tab returns HTTP 403 for students, so the decks cannot be listed or downloaded through the Files API from anywhere. They have to come from the Modules page, which needs a logged-in browser or an API token. Checked again 2026-09-24: Canvas itself was reachable, the Files tab was still 403. Topics are deliberately left blank rather than guessed.
| Item | Slot | Status |
|---|---|---|
| L05 | Mon 2026-09-14, 13:00–14:45, SP L1.02 | Lecture given. No slides in the vault, no note, topic unknown |
| L06 | Wed 2026-09-16, 09:00–10:45, SP C0.110 | Lecture given. No slides in the vault, no note, topic unknown |
| L07 | Mon 2026-09-21, 13:00–14:45, SP L1.02 | Lecture given. No slides in the vault, no note, topic unknown |
| L08 | Wed 2026-09-23, 09:00–10:45, SP H0.08 | Lecture given. No slides in the vault, no note, topic unknown |
All four need the deck pulled from Canvas Modules (the Files tab is blocked) before any note is written.
Resources
- Mini Project slides (PDF in Assets/)
- Canvas modules: Overview, Mini Project