AP's Taxonomy is - currently - US English. What are the challenges of localizing - not just translating - for other languages? What would be the ideal approach?

1. AP Taxonomy
Localization
L0N Requirements and
Challenges
Stuart Myles
April 2018

2. AP Taxonomy Key Facts
4220 Subjects
Breaking news and planned events, topical terms covering common news verticals
2500 Geography
Global locations from continents to small cities, towns and boroughs, bodies of water
2500 Organizations
Political, environmental, cultural, media organizations, sports teams and others
142,000 People
Celebrities, college and prof sports figures, politicians, business leaders, newsmakers
65,000 Publicly-traded companies

3. Tagging and Taxonomy

4. AP’s Taxonomy is English Language Only
Localizing a taxonomy includes
• labels, description, scope notes
Some concepts in AP’s taxonomy don’t
have straightforward equivalents
• Many concepts are culturally-specific, such as
governmental bodies
• AP’s taxonomy is en-US rather than en-GB or en-AU

5. Translation?
• There are plenty of
services which will
translate
documents for you
• Including
automated
systems such as
Bing Translate
• However,
translation is not
sufficient to localize

6. AP’s Ideal Localization Approach
Translate a subset of the AP Taxonomy
• Some concepts may not have an equivalent
• Focus on subjects, geography and a subset of organizations
Translate
Target languages
• French, Arabic, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese
Target
Work with taxonomists for each target language
• Or maybe journalists?
• Please get in touch with us if you’re interested!
Taxonomists