Bridging the Understanding Gap: Helping Readers Engage Directly with Foreign-Language Sources More Easily

Digital libraries should organize background materials on any foreign
text, and customize it for different users (e.g., expert vs. novice
vs. language learner). Editors have written such background materials,
called “commentaries”, for millenia. We review types of
information currently in commentaries, and also how print publication
traditions shape gathering and presentation of information.
We then review how digital libraries can make these commentaries
more accessible with more thorough coverage and flexible