A computer implemented question answering (QA) system and method is provided that automatically finds one or more accurate and concise answers for a natural language question. An automated training routine is provided that includes learning a proper mapping from the natural language question to one or more structured queries by discovering and summarizing parallel semantics between a knowledge base and pairs of a natural language question and its answer. The system and method generate as output concise texts answering the natural language question intended by a user.