Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that automatically identifies compounds, such as bigrams or n-grams. During operation, the system obtains selections of search results which were selected by one or more users, wherein the search results were previously generated by a search engine in response to queries containing search terms. Next, the system forms a set of candidate compounds from the queries, wherein each candidate compound comprises n consecutive terms from a query. Then, for each candidate compound in the set, the system analyzes the selections of search results to calculate a likelihood that the candidate compound is a compound.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, in which a cross-language search can be performed. A search query is received in a first language. A translated search query of the search query is obtained and evaluated to determine whether it is a candidate for cross-language searching. Upon identifying a candidate, a search can be performed using the translated search query to generate search results relevant to the translated search query.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, in which a cross-language search can be performed. A search query can be examined to determine whether it is a candidate for cross-language searching. Upon identifying a candidate, the search can be performed using a translated search query associated with the search query. The results of the translated search query can be served to the client device submitting the search query.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for cross-language information retrieval. A source query in a source language is received. The source query is translated into a target query in a target language. One or more target-language resources that satisfy the target query are identified. The identified resources are translated into the source language. Search results corresponding to the translated resources are presented.