Understanding and Being Understood - Part 1

You are speaking with someone and she says something, but you don’t understand part of it.

For example, you hear “Now I feel like xxxxxx.”

You say “Could you please repeat that?” or “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

Then you hear “I said, now I feel like xxxxxx.”

You say “I’m sorry; could you please say that again, slowly?”

You hear “I–s-ai-d, n-ow—I—f-ee-l—l-i-ke—x-x-x-x-x-x.”

You still don’t understand the end of the sentence. What can you do?

If you understand part of a sentence or question, it is not a good idea to ask the person to repeat all of it.

The other person does not know which part you are having trouble with, and will probably say the same thing in the same way, again.

It is better to repeat the part that you understand, and ask a question about the part that you don’t understand:

“I’m sorry; now you feel like what?”

This tells the other person that she should say the part of the sentence after like more slowly and clearly.

You hear “Like I am ready to go.”

You understand now!