The term language resources refers to a set of speech or language data and descriptions in machine readable form, used as core resources for the software localisation and language services industries, for language studies, electronic publishing, international transactions, subject-area specialists and end users.

Examples of language resources are written and spoken corpora, computational lexicons, terminology databases, speech collection and processing, etc. Basic software tools are also important for the acquisition, preparation, collection, management, customisation and use of these language resources and other resources.

To know more about The Language Resources and their Applications visit the place of ELRALRs Applications

The European Language Resources Association (ELRA) was established in 1995. It is the driving force to make available the language resources for language engineering and to evaluate language engineering technologies. In order to achieve this goal, ELRA is active in identification, distribution, collection, validation, standardisation, improvement, in promoting the production of language resources, in supporting the infrastructure to perform evaluation campaigns and in developing a scientific field of language resources and evaluation, etc. These activities are achieved through ELRA’s operational body ELDA (Evaluation & Language resources Distribution Agency).

ELRA’s missions are to promote language resources for the Human Language Technology (HLT) sector, and to evaluate language engineering technologies. To achieve these two major missions, it offers a range of services described in the “Services around Language Resources” section:

- Identification, production, validation and distribution of language resources
- Promotion of the production of language resources
- Evaluation of systems, products, tools, etc., related to language resources
- Standardisation

ELRA also regularly conducts market studies and surveys in the field of HLT, and publishes a quarterly newsletter, distributed not only to its members but also to a large number of people in the HLT community. In doing so, ELRA participates in the development of HLT and promotes HLT among the players on national, European and international levels.

Services: main missions and tasks

● The catalogue of Resources : The databases are divided into 3 groups : Speech, Written Lexica/Corpora & Terminology.

● Identification and distribution of LRs : Apart from the wide range of resources in the catalogue, members can at any time turn to ELRA for information on other databases available or databases being developed.

● Legal assistance : ELRA enjoys close cooperation with legal experts in the field. Assistance can be offered when acquiring or distributing databases, or in negotiations with parties when LRs are involved.

● Production of new LRs on demand : ELRA can produce and/or package LRs at favorable pricing conditions.

● Evaluation : ELRA participates in evaluation campaigns both by supplying the language resources appropriate for evaluation and testing, and by getting involved in the evaluation process itself (evaluation of tools, systems, applications, etc.).

● Information : The ELRA Newsletter is published on a quarterly basis, with updates on the association activities and articles reflecting subjects from the different HLT areas. Other ELRA publications are also disseminated, including publications on legal and commercial aspects of the distribution of Language Resources and market surveys. ELRA collects information, facts and figures on the HLT/LR markets throughout the world, capitalizing on the experience of the ELRA members, along with that of other sources. Regular market surveys provide useful information on specific topics for members of the organization.

● LREC : Registration to the Language Resources and Evaluation Conference is offered at a discounted price for ELRA members.

Information taken from ELRA home page