The Multilingual Curse at the Retrieval Layer: Evidence from Amharic

This work studies retrieval-layer failures in multilingual systems, using Amharic as evidence for how multilingual models can remain limited at the retrieval stage. The paper was accepted to the 1st Workshop on Multilinguality in the Era of Large Language Models at ACL 2026. Yosef Worku Alemneh and Kidist Amde Mekonnen contributed equally.

Recommended citation: Alemneh, Y. W.^*, Mekonnen, K. A.^*, and de Rijke, M. (2026). "The Multilingual Curse at the Retrieval Layer: Evidence from Amharic." The 1st Workshop on Multilinguality in the Era of Large Language Models, ACL 2026. ^*Equal contribution.
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