Successfully Managing

Multilingual Taxonomies

Jim SweeneyProduct ManagerSynaptica, LLC

• We live in societies that require that we are able to communicate across geography, culture, and language.

• Being able to arrive at the same concept, regardless of geography, culture or language is a necessity in commerce and communication.

• Taxonomies and thesauri are the ways that we organize and describe the world that we live in, whether we are consciously aware of them or not!

Truly a “Global” World

Building Multilingual Taxonomies

We will look at 3 approaches to building and managing multilingual taxonomies/thesauri in this presentation and the pros and cons of each:1. Single Vocabulary Method2. Asymmetric Multilingual Vocabularies3. Symmetric Multilingual Vocabularies

Single Vocabulary Method

• Using this method one effectively builds the taxonomy settling on a primary, or dominant language, and all structure is assigned based on that language.

• All translations and associated translated metadata are assigned as attributes of the primary language term.

Single Vocabulary Method

The primary language as well as each translation for the term and associated metadata are stored as attributes.

Single Vocabulary Method• Hierarchical structure is determined by the primary

language. • Consequently that languages also dictates cultural

and localization values as well.

Pros and Cons of the Method

Pros:• Simplest of the three methods we will discuss

to design and maintain• Least resource intensive to manageCons:• Most limiting of the methods• One language is dominant• Synonyms may not vary across languages

Asymmetric Multilingual Vocabularies

• This method uses wholly independent, fully structured taxonomies for each language with concepts joined using equivalency (LE or EQ) relationships.

• A single language may be selected as the exchange language through which all languages are linked

Asymmetric Multilingual Vocabularies

Though not always recommended, each Vocabulary may be built using a completely unique structure as well as number of concepts to achieve full localization.

Pros and Cons of the Method

Pros:• Provides for the most complete localization• Each language may have a unique set of attributes• No one language is dominant• New languages may be readily added• Synonyms may vary across languagesCons:• Most resource intensive method to manage• Less harmonized than the symmetric model

Symmetric Multilingual Vocabularies• This model is strongly encouraged by the former and

current ISO standards (5964 and 25964-1)• Every concept should have a Preferred Term (PT) in

each language• All languages should share a common hierarchical

and associative structure• Each language supports independent synonym sets

Symmetric Multilingual Vocabularies

• There should be an instance of every preferred term in all languages.

• These terms may then be related via an equivalency (LE or EQ) relationship or by making them preferred labels to be applied to abstract SKOS concepts.

Pros and Cons of the Method

Pros:• Allows for management of unique attributes for each

language• No one language is dominant• Synonyms may vary across languages• Much less intensive to manage because

all languages share a common structureCons:• May not allow for subtle differences of language and

culture to be expressed through variations in concepts and relational structure

Conclusions

• There are several options for managing multi-lingual vocabularies and each method possesses some advantages and disadvantages.

• ISO Standards (25964-1) strongly recommend a symmetric approach whenever possible.

• SKOS-XL provides an effective format that supports the ISO symmetric model.

• One may employ an asymmetric method when necessary, but beware the extra costs!

Thank You!

Successfully Managing

Multilingual Taxonomies

Jim SweeneyProduct Manager, SynapticaJim.sweeney@synaptica.comwww.synaptica.com