Artificial Intelligence By Example

Lexical field theory

Lexical fields describe word fields. A word only acquires its full meanings in a context. This context often goes beyond a few other words or even a sentence.

Chercher des poux translated as such means look for lice. But in French, it can mean looking for trouble or literally looking for lice. The result Google Translate comes up with contains three basic problems.

source='chercher des poux'>>result: look for lice

Problem 1, the lexical field: There is no way of knowing whether this means really looking for lice or looking for trouble without a context.

Problem 2, metaphors or idiomatic expressions: Suppose you have to translate this is giving you a headache. There is no way of knowing whether it is a physical problem ...