Stop overusing 'Can you repeat?' or 'I don't understand' - ask for repetition in this BETTER way!

(upbeat music) - Hello, everyone, and welcome back to English With Lucy.

When you are learning English, there is one sentence that you have to say a lot, or you feel you have to say a lot.

It is, can you repeat that, can you repeat that please, or please could you repeat that.

When you talk to natives and especially when you are listening to natives speak, it is highly likely that you won't understand everything that they've said and you will probably want to ask them to repeat something so you can try to understand.

Unfortunately, many students feel embarrassed because they're saying the same sentence over and over again.

Can you repeat that?

Sorry, can you repeat that?

Please, can you repeat that?

A lot of my students tell me that in the end they just give up and stop asking for repetition, which really isn't good for their listening practise.

This video is really going to help you improve your listening skills and indirectly help you with your vocabulary as well and your pronunciation but if you want to improve your vocabulary and your listening skills even further, then I highly recommend the special method of reading books and at the same time, listening to their audiobook version on Audible.

It sounds complicated but it's not so let me explain.

Take a book that you have already read in English or a book that you would like to read in English.

I've got lots of recommendations for you in the description box and I'm also thinking of making a video all about the different books that you should read for different levels.

Let me know down below if you would like that.

And once you've chosen that book, read it whilst listening to the audiobook version on Audible.

I recommend Audible in particular because they've got the most amazing range of books with fantastic native narrators and I really like their subscription model.

It encourages you to do a little bit each month.

Reading alone will not help you with your pronunciation because English isn't a strictly phonetic language.

The way something is written in English might not give you any indication as to how that word is pronounced in English.

It's like the spelling and the pronunciation is nearly separate.

This is why so many students find pronunciation so hard but if you listen to a word as you read it, your brain will start making connections and the next time you see that word written down, you'll know exactly how it's meant to be pronounced and the next time you hear that word, you'll know exactly how it's spelt.

It's such an effective method and the best part is you can get one free audiobook of your choice that's a 30-day free trial at Audible.

All you've got to do is click on the link in the description box and sign up.

Give it a try because it really, really works.

Right, let's get started with the lesson.

So the first alternative way of saying, sorry, can you repeat that, or sorry, I don't understand, is the most natural native way.

It is just one word, it's sorry?

Sorry?

This is what we are most likely to say if we can't hear or can't understand what someone is saying.

Make sure you focus on the intonation, we want to go, sorry?

Down, up, down, up.

Sorry?

That way we are showing the listener that it is a question.

We are showing doubt.

This is also a word that you can add on to lots of the other phrases which are going to follow but it's a really nice quick one and because it's so short, you don't feel like you are repeating yourself as much if you have to say it over and over again.

Next, we have a slightly more formal one.

It is, excuse me?

Excuse me?

Now I don't like this one as much as I like sorry.

This is because sometimes if said with the wrong tone of voice and the wrong intonation, it can make it sound like you're slightly offended.

If somebody says something offensive to me, I would say, excuse me?

Excuse me?

But I definitely show with my body language that I'm offended.

If I can't understand what someone's saying, I would say, excuse me?

Excuse me?

And maybe shake my head to show that I'm having trouble following what they're saying.

Another one which is even more formal and this isn't even the most formal one yet.

The most formal one is coming after this one.

This is, pardon?

Pardon?

And this is quite a posh word.

Not everyone will consider it to be posh but in general I think it is more of a posh word.

I remember being taught this word by my grandmother as a little girl.

Instead of saying, what, I had to say pardon? (chuckles) And then the most posh of all of them, the poshest is, I beg your pardon?

I beg your pardon?

Now you have to be careful with the intonation of this one because again it can be used to show offence.

If somebody says something offensive, I could say, I beg your pardon?

It's often used in a jovial sense, kind of in a sarcastic way, maybe to respond to an accidental innuendo or something like that.

If we want to use it to ask for repetition, you've got to say it like this.

I beg your pardon?

I beg your pardon?

Really showing with your body language and that upward intonation at the end that you are asking a question, a genuine question.

If we're showing offence, we're likely to push our body back.

I beg your pardon?

Now, back to neither informal nor formal, these are just normal phrases you can say.

You could say, what was that?

What was that?

This is much nicer than just, what?

Even better you can follow it with, sorry.

What was that, sorry?

What was that, sorry?

You could also say, what did you say?

What did you say?

Or what did you say, sorry?

What did you say, sorry?

It feels strange to repeat them over and over again but really the intonation makes it so clear.

What did you say, sorry?

Sorry?

Sorry? (chuckles) Now what if we want to be just really, really clear?

We could just put it out there, you could just say, I don't understand, could you say that again, please?

Or, I don't understand, please could you say that again?

It doesn't really matter where you put the please as long as you say please.

I always like to put please first because then the person knows from the very beginning that I've said please.

Please, could you say that again?

In my household growing up, pleases and thank yous were incredibly important, overly important and it scarred me for life.

I just can't not say please, thank you.

Now if you want someone to repeat something that they have only just said very recently and you want to interrupt them, stop them there and say, I want that exact sentence repeated again, then you can use the word just.

For example, sorry what did you just say?

What did you just say?

And note that I'm not saying what did you just say?

I'm saying what did you just say?

Just, just.

What did you just say?

What did you just say?

That's real connected speech there.

What did you just say?

I'm missing out the tuh sound between just and say.

I'm saying jus-say instead of just say.

Just a little pronunciation tip for you there.

Or an alternative version, what did you say just then?

What did you say just then?

Again, I'm not including the tuh after just.

I'm saying jus-then, jus-then.

Now, if you didn't understand everything that someone said but you did understand parts of it then you could say, sorry, I didn't quite catch that?

I didn't quite catch that?

And the quite is implying that you understood some of it, you caught some of it but you didn't catch all of it.

And catch here is used to mean to hear and understand.

It's a slang use of catch.

I didn't catch what you just said.

I didn't understand or hear what you just said.

An alternative for this is, sorry, I didn't quite get that.

I didn't quite get that.

And both of these could imply that it's not because you didn't understand what they said, it could be that you didn't hear what they said.

And if you can't hear what somebody is saying, then you could say something like, would you mind speaking up a bit?

Would you mind speaking up a bit?

This is a nicer way of saying, please could you speak more loudly?

Or please could you speak less quietly?

To speak up is to increase the volume of one's voice.

Now if you want to make it clear that it's not anything to do with volume, it really is that you're just not understanding.

Your understanding little bits but you're not managing to understand complete sentences, you could say, sorry, I'm not following what you're saying.

I'm not following what you're saying.

Or an alternative, wait a second, I'm a bit lost.

Wait a second, I'm a bit lost.

And both of these imply that you would like the person to slow down.

If you're struggling to follow or you're getting lost, it could make the speaker think that they are speaking too quickly and implying that they need to slow down without you having to ask them to slow down.

If you do want to be clear about it or they don't understand you when you're trying to imply that they're going too quickly, you could say, would you mind slowing down a bit, I'm struggling to follow.

I'm struggling to follow.

Now, if there is a specific word or phrase that you don't understand but you understand everything else but you want to ask a specific question about a specific word or phrase, then you could point it out and say something like, I'm not sure I understand what you mean by, word or phrase.

Or you could simplify it and say, I'm not sure what you mean by, word or phrase.

It's a bit of a funny preposition so make sure you learn it properly to mean by.

I'm not sure what you mean by pigeon.

Here we are, I've mentioned pigeon again. (laughs) Just squeeze it into every video.

Now, one annoying thing about asking for repetition is that you constantly feel that you're interrupting someone.

But I think it's okay to interrupt as long as you apologise for interrupting.

And you can say something as simple as, I'm sorry to interrupt but would you mind repeating blah, blah, blah.

Another alternative if you're with friends, you can use a slang phrasal verb, which is to butt in, to butt in.

I'm sorry to butt in but...

I'm sorry to butt in again.

I'm sorry to interrupt again.

Those two are really, really useful if you feel that you're constantly stopping someone to ask them what they mean.

Now let's have a look at four idioms or slang phrases that we can use to say that we don't understand someone or to ask them to repeat something or make themselves more clear.

A really fun one is, this is all Greek to me.

This is all Greek to me.

This is all a foreign language to me.

That would be a really funny one to use if you are actually Greek. (laughs) This basically means this is all impossible for me to understand.

Another one is, that was as clear as mud.

That was as clear as mud.

Now this, be careful with it.

Just use it with friends and people that you like to have a joke with because you're basically saying that what they have just said was very unclear.

And obviously a teacher or a professor or someone you don't know that well is not going to appreciate such a sarcastic remark.

So if someone has been trying to explain something but they've been doing a very bad job of it, then you can say, well, that was as clear as mud.

If you want to say that something was far too complicated for you, you can say, that went right over my head.

That went right over my head.

It didn't go into my head, it went over like this.

I didn't understand or process any of it.

And the last one, I think this is fairly British but if there are any Americans watching, please do let me know.

It is, what are you on about?

What are you on about?

And this means what are you talking about.

But the phrase to go on about something implies that somebody is talking too much.

To go on about something is to talk excessively about something.

So when you say, what are you on about?

It means what you're talking about?

You've been talking for ages.

Again, another one to use just with friends, people you have mutual trust with and maybe share a sense of humour with, not professors, not teachers, not your boss.

Right, that's it for today's lesson.

I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you learned something, and most importantly, I hope you feel more comfortable when asking for repetition because you absolutely should ask for repetition.

And any good person, any good native speaker should not be offended or should not get bored by you asking for repetition constantly.

I've said it in previous videos.

A really good way to get people to accept that you're going to constantly ask them for repetition is to flatter them and to say, look, I really like the way you speak English, I'm trying to improve, would you mind if I ask you a couple of questions, or ask you to repeat some things?

And then you can just use one word repetition questions like sorry, sorry, or just gesture to them so it's less embarrassing and awkward for both of you.

Don't forget to check out Audible.

You can claim your free audiobook, the link is in the description box.

And don't forget to follow me on all of my social media.

I've got my Facebook, my Instagram, and my Twitter, and I've got my new vlogging channel as well.

It was just a personal channel at first but now I do all of my vlogs, documenting my daily life on an English farm in the British countryside.

I've really been enjoying making them and they've had a really lovely response and they're all completely subtitled so that you can pick up some new vocabulary and practise your listening.

Right, I will see you soon for another lesson.

Mwah!

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