Polite English: How to ask people to repeat themselves

Hi. This is Gill at www.engvid.com, and today we're going to have a lesson about what to

do if someone says something to you and you can't hear them properly, or it's not very

clear what they say, and you need to ask them to repeat what it was they said. And this

could happen anywhere, anywhere in the world, but especially if you're in maybe a big city

where there are people of many different nationalities; cities like London, Toronto, New York, anywhere

really in the world. So people with different accents, either because they're from other

countries and English is not their first language, or even within one country, like within the

UK, we have many different accents from different parts of the country, from different cities,

from Scotland, Wales, Ireland. There are all different accents. And if someone has a strong

accent, it's more difficult to understand them. So this lesson is about asking people

to say again what they said. I have to do it even if someone says something in English,

which is my first language, I sometimes have to ask people to say something again. So it

happens to everybody.

Okay, so let's have a look at some of the words you can use to deal with this situation.

All right? So, a very useful single word is just to say: "Sorry?" with a sort of rising

in the voice. Question: "Sorry? Sorry?" And also, I've put body language at the bottom

here, but it's quite important. You can sort of go like this, and say: "Sorry?" and lean

towards them a little bit with your hand by your ear. So especially if they also are not

English... If their first language is not English, they will understand from this that

you didn't understand what they said. So a little bit of body language helps as well.

So: "Sorry?" is very useful and polite, because we need it to be polite as well. So, polite.

So: "Sorry?" is a polite way of asking someone to repeat.

At one time, there was also the word: "Pardon?" which is a little bit old fashioned now. So,

to say: "Pardon?" it's a little... It used to be very polite, and children were taught

to say: "Pardon?" but now it's a little bit old fashioned, and people might laugh at you

if you use: "Pardon?" So, see what other people say to you, and then you can follow what they

say, but "Pardon?" is a little bit old now.

Okay, now things not to say which are not polite. You don't just say: "What?" because

that is rather rude. So, don't say: "What? What?" Very rude, especially with a loud voice

and making a funny face. "What?" Not very nice at all, so don't say: "What?" And don't

say things like: "Eh? Eh?" A lot of English people might say: "Eh?" but that's not polite

either. So... Or: "Uh?" that's not polite either, just to say: "Uh? Uh?" No.

Okay, so the polite way, really, as one word is just to say: "Sorry?" and then the person

will probably understand you need them to say it again. But there are longer sentences

you can use as well, in addition to: "Sorry?" just to give you a wider range of options.

And the three main things about what... The way we all speak is clarity: what we say should

be clear. I hope I'm being clear in this lesson. So, that's the adjective "clear", and the

noun is "clarity". Clarity of speech. Okay? So it must be clear. The pace or the speed.

If people speak very quickly, it's difficult to follow what they're saying; to understand

what they're saying. So the pace should be fairly slow and regular. Okay. And the volume,

how loud or quiet somebody is. If someone speaks very quietly... You probably can't

hear me at the moment. So some people are a bit shy, and they don't speak very loud,

loudly. So the volume, how loud people are is important. So sometimes you need to ask

somebody to speak more loudly, so we have different sentences for these.

Okay, so the first thing you can say if someone says something and you missed a few words,

and you're not sure what they're saying, you... Again: "Sorry", is always a useful word to

begin with. Like we had "Sorry?" as the single word. "Sorry" is always useful to begin with.

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch what you said." Now, the "quite" is optional. You can say:

"I didn't catch what you said." or: "I didn't hear what you said.", "I didn't quite hear

what you said." The "quite" just adds a little bit more politeness. I didn't quite hear.

I nearly heard everything that you said, but not quite, and that suggests that there was

just one word that you didn't get. So: "Sorry, I didn't quite catch what you said." To catch

something is to... Like catching a ball or something. "I didn't catch what you said",

or: "I didn't hear what you said", and then the person will repeat, hopefully. All right.

Or, again, to ask them to repeat, you can say: "Sorry, could you say that again, please?"

or: "Sorry, could you repeat that, please?" Okay? To say again or to repeat. So: "Could

you say that again, please?", "Could you repeat that, please?" Okay? So: "Sorry" at the beginning,

"please" at the end is always a good idea to make it polite.

Now, if someone wasn't very loud and you want them to say it again with more volume, turning

up the volume, you can say: "Sorry, could you speak up, please?" To speak up means to

be louder. So, louder. Okay, so: "Sorry, could you speak up, please?" Again, it's a bit...

It's not very polite to say: "Sorry, you were too quiet, I didn't hear you. You were too

quiet." That sounds a bit like a criticism, so to avoid sounding as if you're criticizing

the person... "Oh, your voice is very quiet", it's not a very nice thing to say. So just

to say: "Sorry, could you speak up, please?" And maybe they'll think you can't hear very

well, and they think it's your fault and not theirs. You're being polite. Okay.

If the person uses a word that you don't know, you can just actually say: "Sorry, I don't

know that word", and you can ask them: "What does it mean?" What is the meaning of the

word? Or: "Could you tell me what it means, please?" Okay, so: "could", not "can", "Can

you tell me?" That's less polite. "Could you tell me"-is more polite-"what it means, please?"

Again, "please" at the end. And if you're having a conversation, then it helps to keep

the conversation going if you ask somebody: "Oh, I don't know that word. What does it

mean? Can...? Could you tell me what that word means?" And, you know, it helps you to

get to know the person a little bit better if you're asking them to explain something.

So don't be afraid of asking for the explanation of a word. Okay.

And then if someone speaks very quickly and all the words run together in one single sound,

and you want them to say it again... Again, don't say... It's not very polite to say:

"Sorry, you said that too quickly", because again, it sounds like a criticism. But if

you say: "Sorry, could you speak more slowly, please?" that's less... It sounds less like

a criticism. Okay? So: "Could you speak more slowly, please?" So: "Sorry", "please" at

the end, at the beginning and at the end. Okay? And then as I said before, body language

is always helpful.

So, I hope that's been useful to help you solve the problem of not understanding when

somebody speaks. And if you'd like to test your knowledge, please go to the website:

www.engvid.com where there is a quiz that you can answer.

And I hope to see you again soon. Okay? Thank you. Bye.