Hi. This is Gill at www.engvid.com, and todaywe're going to have a lesson about what to do if someone says something to you and youcan't hear them properly, or it's not very clear what they say, and you need to ask themto 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 differentaccents, 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 differentparts of the country, from different cities, from Scotland, Wales, Ireland. There are alldifferent accents. And if someone has a strong .

Accent, it's more difficult to understandthem. So this lesson is about asking people to say again what they said. I have to do iteven if someone says something in English, which is my first language, I sometimes haveto ask people to say something again. So it happens to everybody. Okay, so let's have a look at some of the wordsyou can use to deal with this situation. All right? So, a very useful single word isjust to say: “Sorry?” with a sort of rising in the voice. Question: “Sorry? Sorry?” Andalso, I've put body language at the bottom here, but it's quite important. You can sortof go like this, and say: “Sorry?” and lean towards them a little bit with your hand byyour ear. So especially if they also are not .

English… If their first language is notEnglish, they will understand from this that you didn't understand what they said. So alittle bit of body language helps as well. So: “Sorry?” is very useful and polite, becausewe need it to be polite as well. So, polite. So: “Sorry?” is a polite wayof 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 usedto be very polite, and children were taught to say: “Pardon?” but now it's a little bitold fashioned, and people might laugh at you if you use: “Pardon?” So, see what other peoplesay to you, and then you can follow what they say, but “Pardon?” isa little bit old now. .

Okay, now things not to say which are notpolite. 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 verynice at all, so don't say: “What?” And don't say things like: “Eh? Eh?” A lot of Englishpeople might say: “Eh?” but that's not polite either. So… Or: “Uh?” that's not politeeither, just to say: “Uh? Uh?” No. Okay, so the polite way, really, as one wordis just to say: “Sorry?” and then the person will probably understand you need them to sayit 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 waywe 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 difficultto follow what they're saying; to understand what they're saying. So the pace should befairly slow and regular. Okay. And the volume, how loud or quiet somebody is. If someonespeaks very quietly… You probably can't hear me at the moment. So some people are abit shy, and they don't speak very loud, loudly. So the volume, how loud people areis important. So sometimes you need to ask somebody to speak more loudly, so wehave different sentences for these. Okay, so the first thing you can say if someonesays 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 singleword. “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'thear what you said.”, “I didn't quite hear what you said.” The “quite” just adds a littlebit more politeness. I didn't quite hear. I nearly heard everything that you said, butnot 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 orsomething. “I didn't catch what you said”, or: “I didn't hear what you said”, and thenthe 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 repeatthat, please?” Okay? So: “Sorry” at the beginning, “please” at the end is always agood idea to make it polite. Now, if someone wasn't very loud and you wantthem to say it again with more volume, turning up the volume, you can say: “Sorry, couldyou speak up, please?” To speak up means to be louder. So, louder. Okay, so: “Sorry, couldyou speak up, please?” Again, it's a bit… It's not very polite to say: “Sorry, you weretoo 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 andnot 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: “Whatdoes 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 youtell me”-is more polite-“what it means, please?” Again, “please” at the end. And if you'rehaving 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 thatword means?” And, you know, it helps you to get to know the person a little bit betterif you're asking them to explain something. So don't be afraid of asking forthe explanation of a word. Okay. And then if someone speaks very quickly and allthe 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”, becauseagain, 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 moreslowly, 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 yousolve the problem of not understanding when somebody speaks. And if you'd like to testyour knowledge, please go to the website: www.engvid.com where there isa quiz that you can answer. And I hope to see you again soon.Okay? Thank you. Bye.
————————————————
http://www.engvid.com/ Do you often not understand people or fail to hear what they are saying? Native English speakers often speak unclearly or too fast, making it difficult to understand their words. In this lesson, I will teach you some polite ways of asking people to repeat what they said. You wil
l learn expressions such as,”pardon”, “I didn’t quite hear you”, “Could you speak more slowly, please?” and more. Never miss a word again and become an even better English speaker with this useful lesson. And if you need me to repeat anything, just replay the video! http://www.engvid.com/polite-english-how-to-ask-people-to-repeat-themselves/ TRANSCRIPT 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.