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I try to translate a page into Russian and there is a menu item saying: FAQ. How would you translate it? It must be short, because there is not enough room in the menu. I know the typical translation is ЧАСТО ЗАДАВАЕМЫЕ ВОПРОСЫ, but it is far too long.

Kromster
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Skalár Wag
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3 Answers3

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Conventional abbreviation of Часто задаваемые вопросы in Russian Internet lingo is ЧаВо which is clever because it also reminds of the pronunciation of colloquial interrogative word чего? meaning что?

But it seems to have fallen out of use or in fact has never really caught on and very rarely, if at all, appears on websites these days.

Баян Купи-ка
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    Please, don't. It reeks illiteracy. It was never widely accepted ewuivalent (but, yes, it was somewhat popular), and, as as you mention, its usage died out. – n0rd Oct 28 '18 at 18:02
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    https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Википедия:ЧАВО It is not page about FAQ, It is Wikipedia FAQ ... so you can use ЧаВо or ЧАВО freely – yalov Oct 28 '18 at 19:54
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    Just seeing the term ЧаВо inexplicably reminds me of Web 1.0, dial-up modems and nerds in thick glasses drinking beer with their Fidonet peers. I'll be hard pressed to find a commercial website that abbreviates "Часто задаваемые вопросы" this way. (Although it is no doubt the most straightforward translation!) – undercat Oct 28 '18 at 23:56
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    Well, the problem is that "ЧаВо" is very informal. It's good for personal blog, but not for corporate web-site – Crantisz Oct 30 '18 at 20:31
  • The problem is that it doesn't sound like the abbreviated "частые вопросы", it rather sounds like the impolite form чего? (with a strange and even more impolite distortion) instead of "что?" – Alex_ander Nov 05 '18 at 01:01
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I use "Вопрос-Ответ" in site menu. This page have a good organic search results, what depends on context mainly. Build site for humans, not search bots.

"FAQ" is also understandable without translation, if your site is for technical people.

Most of the cases you would safely use "FAQ". It is only eldery people who cannot understand it.

Sasha MaximAL
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LeonidMew
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There is one more possibility. You can leave "Q&A" or "FAQ". Lot of people familiar with this acronyms, especially young people. It depend on you target auditory will it be appropriate or not.

talex
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