Abstract

Ontologies are used in various domains to provide meaningful knowledge from data. The data can be in different natural languages. Ontologies with a lexical layer in different natural languages are needed essential to access the multilingual data by the users. Multilingual ontologies are needed to overcome this defect. Most of the multilingual ontologies are built up in English language and translated into the desired native languages. Many approaches are proposed to develop multilingual ontology applications. The aim of this article is to review the various approaches, methods for developing multilingual ontologies. The principles and guidelines for developing multilingual lexical layer are discussed. The different techniques adopted in the use and developments of multilingual ontologies are enumerated. The multilingual applications are compared using several dimensions.