Talk:R21 highway (Russia)

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Title of this article[edit]

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]