A multilingual usage consultation tool based on internet searching: more than a search engine, less than QA

ABSTRACT

We present a usage consultation tool, based on Internet searching, for language learners. When a user enters a string of words for which he wants to find usages, the system sends this string as a query to a search engine and obtains search results about the string. The usages are extracted by performing statistical analysis on snippets and then fed back to the user.Unlike existing tools, this usage consultation tool is multi-lingual, so that usages can be obtained even in a language for which there are no well-established analytical methods. Our evaluation has revealed that usages can be obtained more effectively than by only using a search engine directly. Also, we have found that the resulting usage does not depend on the search engine for a prominent usage when the amount of data downloaded from the search engine is increased.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.7 DOCUMENT AND TEXT PROCESSING
      I.7.1 Document and Text Editing

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS
      H.4.m Miscellaneous

General Terms:
Design

Keywords:
question answering, text mining, usage consultation