@inproceedings{bagheri-nezhad-etal-2025-beyond,
title = "Beyond Data Quantity: Key Factors Driving Performance in Multilingual Language Models",
author = "Bagheri Nezhad, Sina and
Agrawal, Ameeta and
Pokharel, Rhitabrat",
editor = "Hettiarachchi, Hansi and
Ranasinghe, Tharindu and
Rayson, Paul and
Mitkov, Ruslan and
Gaber, Mohamed and
Premasiri, Damith and
Tan, Fiona Anting and
Uyangodage, Lasitha",
booktitle = "Proceedings of the First Workshop on Language Models for Low-Resource Languages",
month = jan,
year = "2025",
address = "Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates",
publisher = "Association for Computational Linguistics",
url = "https://aclanthology.org/2025.loreslm-1.18/",
pages = "225--239",
abstract = "Multilingual language models (MLLMs) are crucial for handling text across various languages, yet they often show performance disparities due to differences in resource availability and linguistic characteristics. While the impact of pre-train data percentage and model size on performance is well-known, our study reveals additional critical factors that significantly influence MLLM effectiveness. Analyzing a wide range of features, including geographical, linguistic, and resource-related aspects, we focus on the SIB-200 dataset for classification and the Flores-200 dataset for machine translation, using regression models and SHAP values across 204 languages. Our findings identify token similarity and country similarity as pivotal factors, alongside pre-train data and model size, in enhancing model performance. Token similarity facilitates cross-lingual transfer, while country similarity highlights the importance of shared cultural and linguistic contexts. These insights offer valuable guidance for developing more equitable and effective multilingual language models, particularly for underrepresented languages."
}
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<modsCollection xmlns="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
<mods ID="bagheri-nezhad-etal-2025-beyond">
<titleInfo>
<title>Beyond Data Quantity: Key Factors Driving Performance in Multilingual Language Models</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Sina</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Bagheri Nezhad</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Ameeta</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Agrawal</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Rhitabrat</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Pokharel</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<dateIssued>2025-01</dateIssued>
</originInfo>
<typeOfResource>text</typeOfResource>
<relatedItem type="host">
<titleInfo>
<title>Proceedings of the First Workshop on Language Models for Low-Resource Languages</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Hansi</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Hettiarachchi</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Tharindu</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Ranasinghe</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Paul</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Rayson</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Ruslan</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Mitkov</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Mohamed</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Gaber</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Damith</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Premasiri</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Fiona</namePart>
<namePart type="given">Anting</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Tan</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Lasitha</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Uyangodage</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<publisher>Association for Computational Linguistics</publisher>
<place>
<placeTerm type="text">Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates</placeTerm>
</place>
</originInfo>
<genre authority="marcgt">conference publication</genre>
</relatedItem>
<abstract>Multilingual language models (MLLMs) are crucial for handling text across various languages, yet they often show performance disparities due to differences in resource availability and linguistic characteristics. While the impact of pre-train data percentage and model size on performance is well-known, our study reveals additional critical factors that significantly influence MLLM effectiveness. Analyzing a wide range of features, including geographical, linguistic, and resource-related aspects, we focus on the SIB-200 dataset for classification and the Flores-200 dataset for machine translation, using regression models and SHAP values across 204 languages. Our findings identify token similarity and country similarity as pivotal factors, alongside pre-train data and model size, in enhancing model performance. Token similarity facilitates cross-lingual transfer, while country similarity highlights the importance of shared cultural and linguistic contexts. These insights offer valuable guidance for developing more equitable and effective multilingual language models, particularly for underrepresented languages.</abstract>
<identifier type="citekey">bagheri-nezhad-etal-2025-beyond</identifier>
<location>
<url>https://aclanthology.org/2025.loreslm-1.18/</url>
</location>
<part>
<date>2025-01</date>
<extent unit="page">
<start>225</start>
<end>239</end>
</extent>
</part>
</mods>
</modsCollection>
%0 Conference Proceedings
%T Beyond Data Quantity: Key Factors Driving Performance in Multilingual Language Models
%A Bagheri Nezhad, Sina
%A Agrawal, Ameeta
%A Pokharel, Rhitabrat
%Y Hettiarachchi, Hansi
%Y Ranasinghe, Tharindu
%Y Rayson, Paul
%Y Mitkov, Ruslan
%Y Gaber, Mohamed
%Y Premasiri, Damith
%Y Tan, Fiona Anting
%Y Uyangodage, Lasitha
%S Proceedings of the First Workshop on Language Models for Low-Resource Languages
%D 2025
%8 January
%I Association for Computational Linguistics
%C Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
%F bagheri-nezhad-etal-2025-beyond
%X Multilingual language models (MLLMs) are crucial for handling text across various languages, yet they often show performance disparities due to differences in resource availability and linguistic characteristics. While the impact of pre-train data percentage and model size on performance is well-known, our study reveals additional critical factors that significantly influence MLLM effectiveness. Analyzing a wide range of features, including geographical, linguistic, and resource-related aspects, we focus on the SIB-200 dataset for classification and the Flores-200 dataset for machine translation, using regression models and SHAP values across 204 languages. Our findings identify token similarity and country similarity as pivotal factors, alongside pre-train data and model size, in enhancing model performance. Token similarity facilitates cross-lingual transfer, while country similarity highlights the importance of shared cultural and linguistic contexts. These insights offer valuable guidance for developing more equitable and effective multilingual language models, particularly for underrepresented languages.
%U https://aclanthology.org/2025.loreslm-1.18/
%P 225-239
Markdown (Informal)
[Beyond Data Quantity: Key Factors Driving Performance in Multilingual Language Models](https://aclanthology.org/2025.loreslm-1.18/) (Bagheri Nezhad et al., LoResLM 2025)
ACL