Talk:R21 highway (Russia)

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Title of this article

This article refers to an M18 "highway". From the Russian wikipedia entry, the word used is автомагистраль, which Google translates as "Motorway". So why don't we say "M18 Motorway (Russia)"? --Red King (talk) 12:21, 30 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, That is only one of the translation options. Google also shows an order:

Dictionary
  noun
  1. highway
  2. high road
  3. motorway
  4. throughway
  5. thruway

Thus 'Highway' would, indeed, appear to be the appropriate translation. --AlisonW (talk) 12:57, 30 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I think you are bing a bit economical with the truth. 'Motorway' is shown as the primary translation

Translation: Russian » English 
  автомагистраль                Motorway

with the others shown as alternative meanings (clue: 'Dictionary', which I've reinserted above for you). For example, in material for American readers, I might use 'highway', but for European readers I'd expect to use Motorway/Autoroute/Autopista/Autostrada/Autobahn, all of which emphasise the motor/auto aspect. As a large chunk of Russia (notably this motorway) is in Europe, the European notation should take precedence - and this is the opinion of google before you get me on OR. --Red King (talk) 14:40, 2 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It would be a bad call to rely on just Google's results alone in this respect. Jeni ^(talk) 15:05, 2 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have checked a few different translators (the first few that cropped up on a google search for "russian translation" and these are the results:

Highway [1]
Highway [2]
n. highway, motorway [3]
ж motorway (BRIT) , expressway (US) [4]
Highway [5]
The highway [6]

The results seem to favour highway over motorway easily. Jeni ^(talk) 14:58, 2 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The article Russian federal highways includes the following statement "The federal highways are classified in Russia into two categories: "motorways" (Russian: магистральная автомобильная дорога, автомагистраль, not the same as the English term motorway) and "other"." This would seem to suggest that translating "автомагистраль" as "motorway" would be a misrepresentation. Perhaps most tellingly, as search of the English site of the Federal Highway Agency of Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation (Федеральное Дорожное Агентво Министерства Транспорта Российской Федерции) [7] returns about 104 hits for "highway" [8] but 0 results for "motorway" [9]. 17:01, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

And also, we should use Highway (which means a main road in English) and not Motorway, which in English means a road with divided directions and reserved for faster vehicles only. Motorway is same as Autoroute/Autostrada/Autobahn, and these Russian roads, especially the M18, is no Autoroute/Autostrada/Autobahn. --BIL (talk) 17:57, 6 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]