The determined scholarship recipient is now enrolled in not one but two master’s degree programs: Computational Science and Cognitive Systems. She also completed her bachelor’s degree in Potsdam. She began her studies in linguistics in Bogotá. During an exchange semester at the University of Potsdam in 2019, she enjoyed working at the Department of Linguistics so much that she decided to stay. “They do very good research there.”
Indigenous Languages and Artificial Intelligence
Alejandra Camelo Cruz has been interested in indigenous languages across the world since her bachelor’s degree in Colombia, but then she also became interested in computational linguistics in Potsdam. “‘Natural language processing’ is about enabling AI to process language. This is mainly done with major languages such as English, French, Spanish, and German. However, there are about 7,000 languages in the world. I’m interested in how to process the so-called ‘small’ languages, which not many people speak.”
Camelo Cruz has a part-time position at the Leibniz Centre for General Linguistics in Berlin, where she is responsible for the computer-aided preparation and follow-up of experiments. The center works with 50 languages, including a Mayan language. “I support research with the help of computational tools. Grammatical categories of words in a sentence, for example, often need to be specified manually. I’m helping to automate this task.” This research area is not yet well represented in Potsdam. “There are not many people who are familiar with both computational methods and ‘small’ languages,” says Alejandra Camelo Cruz.
The scholarship recipient encountered many challenges on her educational path. When she decided to continue her bachelor’s degree in Potsdam in 2019, the pandemic began. At that time, she already had German language skills at B1 level. “But that wasn’t nearly enough, I couldn't really understand anything. It took me about a year to write and speak at the university level.” The language barrier, cultural differences, and the pandemic made it twice as difficult to make friends. Financing her studies was not always easy either. “I come from a poor country. My father gave me a bit of money in the first few months, but I had to find a job quickly."
When she arrived in Potsdam, Alejandra Camelo Cruz initially lived in a student dormitory. Now she lives in Berlin. “Berlin and Potsdam are very open cities,” she says. She underwent her gender-affirming surgery here during the COVID-19 pandemic. She decided to transition when she came to Potsdam in 2019 – still a man. “At that time, I thought: I want to do this now, otherwise I’ll never do it.” She started hormone treatment in late 2020. Social distancing during the pandemic gave her the opportunity to find herself before she would meet other people as a woman. So she initially worked from home. “I was able to try myself out and wear everything without getting immediate feedback. I didn’t need to show myself until I felt comfortable.” A year ago, she went to university for the first time as a woman. “Everyone reacted positively, including my professors. That was a great relief. People were very supportive and quickly adopted my new name and pronouns.”
For her, it was the right decision to transition in Germany. And yet: “There are people who stare at me. But I also felt that as a man when I walked hand in hand with another man. You have to live with that.” However, Alejandra Camelo Cruz is concerned about the rising influence of the far-right in Germany. “You can feel that hatred is on the rise. Many people feel encouraged in their positions by society and perhaps also by politics.”
Overcoming obstacles with the university scholarship
She receives a lot of support from her family, although she has only been able to travel to Bogotá three times so far. “My family is very open and I’m grateful for that. My father is a conservative man, but he has grown with my transition.” Camelo Cruz went to a Catholic school in Colombia and decided to join a monastery after graduating. She lived with the Dominicans for three years and wanted to become a priest. "You have to study philosophy or theology for that. I also wanted to learn Latin and ancient Greek in order to be able to read the classical philosophical texts.” The grammar of the ancient languages fascinated her – which led her to linguistics. She left the monastery to study. However, her religious upbringing and her time in the monastery have had a strong influence on her. Although she is more critical of the church today, she occasionally visits the Catholic Student Community (KSG) in Berlin. “There is a wonderful priest there. They also celebrate queer masses at the KSG.”
Alejandra Camelo Cruz has now been receiving the University Scholarship Potsdam for a year. “This is really a great relief for someone like me. It means that I have to worry less about money and can focus better on my studies.” She recently applied for an extension and will likely be supported for another year. After graduating, the linguist hopes to continue working at the intersection of technology and language. Whether in research or industry, that remains to be seen. One thing, however, seems certain: Her strong will will lead her to her goal.
The University Scholarship is funded as part of the Deutschlandstipendium of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and through donations.
Further information:
https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/universitaetsstipendium/index
The term Transition refers to the process of changing from one gender to another. This can include adopting a new name, changing clothing style, updating gender entry, and undergoing medical treatment.
Alejandra Camelo Cruz is studying Computational Science and Cognitive Systems at the University of Potsdam and is recipient of the University Scholarship.
This text (in german language) was published in the university magazine Portal - Zwei 2024 „Europa“ (PDF).