Editing Encyclopedia:Search engine test (section)

===Foreign languages, non-Latin scripts, and old names===
Often for items of non-English origin, or in non-Latin scripts, a considerably larger number of hits result from searching in the correct script or for various transcriptions—be sure to check "''Languages for Displaying (Search) Results''" in "''Search Settings''".<ref name=search /> An [[Arabic language|Arabic]] name, for instance, needs to be searched for in the original script, which is easily done with Google (provided one knows what to search for), but problems may arise if – for example – English, French and German webpages transcribe the name using different conventions. Even for English-only webpages there may be many variants of the same Arabic or [[Russian language|Russian]] name. Personal names in other languages (Russian, [[Anglo-Saxon]]) may have to be searched for both including and excluding the [[patronymic]], and searches for names and other words in strongly [[inflection|inflected]] languages should take into account that arriving at the total number of hits may require searching for forms with varying [[Declension|case]]-endings or other grammatical variations not obvious for someone who does not know the language. Names from many cultures are traditionally given together with titles that are considered part of the name, but may also be omitted (as in [[Mustafa Kemal Pasha|''Gazi'' Mustafa Kemal ''Pasha'']]).

Even in [[Old English]], the spelling and rendering of older names may allow dozens of variations for the same person. A simplistic search for one particular variant may underrepresent the web presence by an order of magnitude.

A search like this requires a certain linguistic competence which not every individual Wikipedian possesses, but the Wikipedia community as a whole includes many bilingual and multilingual people and it is important for nominators and voters on AfD at least to {{em|be aware of their own limitations}} and not make untoward assumptions when language or transcription bias may be a factor.