MLi - a MultiLingual data & services

infrastructure

Khalid Choukri,

ELRA (European Language Resources Association)

choukri@elda.orghttp://www.elra.info/

Report on an on-going MLi Study on eCommerce & LT

MLi Project: http://mli-

project.eu/

• A European Union Funded project (2013-2015, 24Months)

• Co-funded by the ICT programme of FP7

– (Grant agreement no 610951).

MLi Scope

� The MLi Support Action is working to deliver the

strategic vision and operational specifications needed

for building a comprehensive European MultiLingual data

& services Infrastructure

• Quoting LT-Innovate : A first Building block for a “European

Language Cloud” to bring significantly down the costs of

[Language Technology] product development

What is MLi?

• Laying down the foundations of a comprehensive European Multilingual data & services infrastructure.

– In short, it will provide the specifications for such an infrastructure, as well as an estimate of costs and a preliminary roll-out plan.

• MLi objective is to support different target audiences:

– Public and private services providers: provision online content-rich services available in several EU languages, facilitating the exchange of information.

– Language Technology services suppliers: access to multi-language facilities enabling to build, customise and run multi-national services of common interest.

– Research centres and Language Technology vendors: R&D breakthroughs and innovations empowered by language resources and services.

– Policy analysts and decision makers: arguments and evidence for advocating for a more extensive involvement in fostering and supporting the Language Technology ecosystem.

MLi FOCUS

• MACHINE TRANSLATION/ASSISTED TRANSLATION

• FOR PUBLIC DIGITAL SERVICES

• MAJOR TASKS:

� MLi HUB

� LANGUAGE RESOURCES

� LANGUAGE ENABLER

� SERVICES IN SUPPORT OF R&D

� SERVICES IN SUPPORT OF INNOVATION

MLi - Tangible outputs

� Vision & Specifications

• Functional, technical and operational specifications of the

infrastructure

� Multiannual roll-out Plan

• Individual stages of development

� Governance model

• Sustainable administrative and operative model

� Stakeholders alliances

• Commitment to support the deployment of the MLi and its usage

MLi Project -LT-Innovate Summit 2015

High growth business

7

High growth business

e-Commerce EU Market Share

9 MLi Project -LT-Innovate

� UK + Germany + France sales > 60% of sales & 12 countries 90%

� Top 5 countries: UK (€107 million), Germany (€ 63 million), France (€51

million), Austria (11 million), Netherlands (€10 million)

� Top emerging countries: Russia (fastest growth), Spain Italy & Poland

2014

UK30,0%

Germany16,8%France

13,4%Rest of Europe12,2%

Norway, Sweden, Denmark

7,0%

Russia4,4%

Spain4,0%

Netherlands3,3%

Italy3,1%

Switzerland3,0% Austria

2,8%

MLi & eCommerce (B2C)

• Language is a key feature in trade and commerce

• Current players are “monolingual”(per country), very often

some basic “English”

• Internationalization / Localization of eCommerce

platforms is very expensive

• EU is a constellation of small/tiny local markets

• French are not Germans that speak French as their

mother tongue

e-Commerce EU Market

11 MLi Project -LT-Innovate

2014

In Europe +715K webs,

cross border about 8% of

EU e-sales &

+4 billion parcels

Asos

Zalando

Privalia

Carrefour

Metro group

Puma

Luxury brands: Gucci,

Bottega Veneta, Saint

Laurent, Balenciaga

2020

Cross border about 18% of

EU e-salesCross border e-commerce expects high growth

Perceived barriers

Source: INSEE, ICT survey 2013.

Obstacles that have limited or prevented

the sale web

Companies that have not sold via a

websiteCompanies that sold via a website

Goods or services unsuitable for sale

via a website 55 16

Logistic problems related to web sales 27 14

Problems related to the payment on the

web 20 18

Problems with security or data

protection on the web 19 11

Problems related to the legal framework 21 9

Cost of installation excessively high

compared to profits 30 18

Language as such not mentioned … it is everywhere ? Nowhere?

No one expects it to be a major cross-border barrier !!

How MLi is contributing

• Major Language-related blocks of eCommerce

– Localization of Interfaces (static data, Assisted Translation & Post-edition)

– Product Descriptions (often high quality required)

– Forum, Chat, User generated content (MT)

– Analysis of users comments (& reputation)

– Correspondences with customers, CRM (High Quality ?)

– Dispute resolutions, legal issues (AT)

– Call centers (Speech2Speech)

What about LT?

14 MLi Project -LT-Innovate

• Language needed for communication

• Multichannel retailers have a physical store

before selling online

• Localization and translation performed:

local websites by most of multichannel

retailers

• CRM is core: E-mail and personalization

offering � Cross channel loyalty

integration

• Need of rich content for mobile versions

Alibaba (15 languages) & uses

machine translation for chatting� Privalia 52,2% mobile

sales, personalized

emails in all language

where establishedZalando

What about LT?

15 MLi Project -LT-Innovate

CONTENT OF THE STUDY

• The European B2C e-commerce market landscape

– European e-commerce in figures: demand size, growth

– Economic relevance: number of retailers, employment, turnover/GNP

contribution

– e-commerce in the EU: specific traits, opportunities and challenges

– Market segmentation: geography of demand and retailers; main

products categories

– The European cross-border e-commerce: current situation, barriers to

growth

• E-commerce as a Business opportunity for LT products/services

– The B2C e-commerce value chain

– Business models and workflows for cross-border e-commerce

– E-commerce players segmentation criteria and segmentation maps

– How e-commerce industry addresses multilinguality: current situation,

solutions purchasing/acquisition patterns/practices/behaviours

CONTENT OF THE STUDY

• Translating cross-border e-commerce business

needs into LT challenges

– E-Commerce workflows: Providing and managing

global static and dynamic content, search, SEO/SEM

(Product/Service Discoverability), Order Fulfillment,

Logistics / Supply Chain Management, Moderation of

Customer Generated Feedback, Social Media

Analytics, global Customer Support

– Current approaches: Gaps to be filled

– Exemplary use cases

– Basic needs and challenges: specific goals and technical

requirements

– Opportunities for LT in next 3-5 years

CONTENT OF THE STUDY• Mapping and building-up LT offerings for the e-commerce

industry

– Frameworks and reference architectures

– Tools/components and associated/required Language resources

– Services

– Service delivery platforms

– Scalable/sustainable LT solutions for e-commerce: Bundling the commercial offerings, interaction and integration of resources, components and integration of technical solutions and underlying information infrastructure

– Features/functionalities of LT solutions for e-commerce

– Advantages of usage, Benefits to e-commerce business results

– The LT offering Value Proposition: the Business case for the e-commerce industry

– Sustainable business models for LT offering and potential Go-to-market strategies

Thank you