Multilingual Grammatical Error Annotation: Combining Language-Agnostic Framework with Language-Specific Flexibility

TL;DR

This paper presents a modular, multilingual grammatical error annotation framework that combines language-agnostic principles with language-specific adaptations, supporting diverse languages and improving consistency in error annotation and evaluation.

Contribution

It introduces a standardized, flexible framework reimplemented with stanza, enabling scalable and adaptable grammatical error annotation across multiple languages.

Findings

Supports English, German, Czech, Korean, Chinese applications

Enhances multilingual GEC annotation consistency

Provides open-source tools for broader adoption

Abstract

Grammatical Error Correction (GEC) relies on accurate error annotation and evaluation, yet existing frameworks, such as $\texttt{errant}$, face limitations when extended to typologically diverse languages. In this paper, we introduce a standardized, modular framework for multilingual grammatical error annotation. Our approach combines a language-agnostic foundation with structured language-specific extensions, enabling both consistency and flexibility across languages. We reimplement $\texttt{errant}$ using $\texttt{stanza}$ to support broader multilingual coverage, and demonstrate the framework's adaptability through applications to English, German, Czech, Korean, and Chinese, ranging from general-purpose annotation to more customized linguistic refinements. This work supports scalable and interpretable GEC annotation across languages and promotes more consistent evaluation in multilingual settings. The complete codebase and annotation tools can be accessed at https://github.com/open-writing-evaluation/jp_errant_bea.