Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2014 December 8

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December 8 edit

Afrikaans edit

What is 'diaper' in Afrikaans and how do I pronounce it? --Allin Bagsnott (talk) 17:58, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

'Luier', and sounds like 'lawyer', but with an 'e' instead of the 'o' sound. As for your second question, I have no idea how you pronounce it, but this is the way everyone else does. KägeTorä - () (Chin Wag) 18:26, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
The easiest way to translate any single word into another language is to type the phrase "translate XXXX into YYYY" into http://www.google.com , where XXXX is the English word and YYYY is the language you want to know. In this case, it gives the same answer KageTora gave. Google will even put a little "speaker" icon next to the non-English word so you can hear it pronounced. In the future, using such methods will be much faster than waiting to find a random person who happens to know the language in question (or more likely, waiting for some random person here who does what I just describes and then publishes the results for you). That's how you can always do this on your own. --Jayron32 18:57, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
And if you meet any English speakers in South Africa, they'll probably call it a nappy, although thanks to Hollywood, "diaper" is gaining ground in many parts of the English speaking world. Alansplodge (talk) 19:12, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
In that case, the generalized trademarks used in the US might be used there, too, like "Pampers", "Pull-Ups", and, in the case of adult diapers, "Depends". StuRat (talk) 21:44, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I do think we have had this question before, maybe in the last year or so. Still, I shall not comment on whether it's a joke question or not, as it is irrelevant to come here asking for a single, very specific word, as anyone who needs to speak Afrikaans would have access not only to dictionaries, but also to people who.... er, speak Afrikaans, etc., etc. KägeTorä - () (Chin Wag) 21:08, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]