CLIX: Cross-Lingual Explanations of Idiomatic Expressions

Aaron Gluck, Katharina Von Der Wense, Maria Leonor Pacheco


Abstract
Automated definition generation systems have been proposed to support vocabulary expansion for language learners. The main barrier to the success of these systems is that learners often struggle to understand definitions due to the presence of potentially unfamiliar words and grammar, particularly when non-standard language is involved. To address these challenges, we propose CLIX, the task of Cross-Lingual explanations of Idiomatic eXpressions. We explore the capabilities of current NLP models for this task, and observe that while it remains challenging, large language models show promise. Finally, we perform a detailed error analysis to highlight the key challenges that need to be addressed before we can reliably incorporate these systems into educational tools.
Anthology ID:
2025.findings-acl.233
Volume:
Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2025
Month:
July
Year:
2025
Address:
Vienna, Austria
Editors:
Wanxiang Che, Joyce Nabende, Ekaterina Shutova, Mohammad Taher Pilehvar
Venue:
Findings
SIG:
Publisher:
Association for Computational Linguistics
Note:
Pages:
4515–4529
Language:
URL:
https://preview.aclanthology.org/display_plenaries/2025.findings-acl.233/
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Aaron Gluck, Katharina Von Der Wense, and Maria Leonor Pacheco. 2025. CLIX: Cross-Lingual Explanations of Idiomatic Expressions. In Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2025, pages 4515–4529, Vienna, Austria. Association for Computational Linguistics.
Cite (Informal):
CLIX: Cross-Lingual Explanations of Idiomatic Expressions (Gluck et al., Findings 2025)
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PDF:
https://preview.aclanthology.org/display_plenaries/2025.findings-acl.233.pdf