Sparse Embeddings (BM25) and Persian Language Support
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Description
Hello,
I would like to ask about the limitations of sparse embeddings, specifically BM25 when it comes to language support, and in particular Persian (Farsi).
supported_languages = [
"arabic",
"danish",
"dutch",
"english",
"finnish",
"french",
"german",
"greek",
"hungarian",
"italian",
"norwegian",
"portuguese",
"romanian",
"russian",
"spanish",
"swedish",
"tamil",
"turkish",
]
Are the limitations mainly related to stop word handling, tokenization, or other language-specific preprocessing steps?
If the limitation is primarily related to stop words or preprocessing, is there a recommended way to extend or customize BM25 for Persian?
I am eager to contribute and would be happy to provide the necessary data (e.g., stop word lists, etc.) to enable better Persian support.
https://github.com/qdrant/fastembed/blob/main/fastembed/sparse/bm25.py
https://huggingface.co/Qdrant/bm25/tree/main
Thanks for your guidance!
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by reading fastembed/sparse/bm25.py and the linked Qdrant/bm25 model repository to understand the current language list, tokenization, and stop-word handling. Check how Persian support would fit those existing paths and what data is required; done would be an agreed implementation or documented recommendation for Persian support.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- machine-learning, search
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 38/100