I would focus on statistical, data-driven approaches to NLP, rather than formal or linguistic approaches. I would develop a solid foundation in ML. Lastly, I wo

I would focus on statistical, data-driven approaches to NLP, rather than formal or linguistic approaches. I would develop a solid foundation in ML. Lastly, I would focus on building large-scale systems. The main reason is that this will increase the generality and breadth of what you can build and ship. But my approach is very applied. Good books or important papers is an involved question. If you ask on MetaOptimize Q+A, we can discuss it there.