What? What? What? What? Have you ever been in a situation where you didn't understand what somebody was saying and all you could think of was, What?
We've been there. We're language learners.
And in today's video, we wanted to give you guys some things other than what.
So before we get started I want you to know that I have a series of books that I've written for beginner, intermediate, and advanced language learners.
They're short stories and dialogues. They're amazing resources that all come with free audio comprehension exercises and more.
So feel free to check them out on my website, www.LearnEnglishWithCamille.com or Amazon.
So... Let's get started. By the end of this video, we want you to have a few other words to use when you're in conversations and you didn't quite hear what somebody else was saying.
Yeah, so the simplest way to ask for clarification starting with the most basic way is to say what. but you need to know who to say it with.
So when we're with each other, or we're with our kids, or we're with close friends, you can say what.
It's totally fine. It's okay. It's not offensive.
It's not rude. Like if I was telling Calvin, I went to that new restaurant yesterday.
What? Yeah, I went to that new restaurant yesterday.
I wouldn't be offended. I would just think he's wondering what I said or he didn't hear or maybe his mind was wandering.
But if you say it with somebody like your teacher, somebody you don't know well, somebody you just met, an older person, Professional situations, work.
It can sound a little rude or abrupt. Before we move on to some polite alternatives, we need to talk about...
Intonation. Yes. What is intonation? What?
It's the way our voice moves when we speak.
So if I'm like... What? What? What? That is intonation.
The pitch of my voice changes. we wanna say it like, what?
You know, like if it rises at the end, it's already sounding more polite.
Yeah, if I was like, what? then obviously it seems like I want to fight Camille.
And I don't ever want to do that. She would win.
Well, thank you. I didn't know he thought that.
Okay, so you could say pardon. That's a nice way if you're talking with somebody.
I went to that restaurant yesterday. Pardon?
Pardon. Yeah, it's quick, easy. Pardon?
And it sounds a lot more polite compared to what?
Yeah, definitely. Pardon? Or you can even say, I beg your pardon.
Yeah, I don't understand. This doesn't necessarily make sense.
I beg your pardon. I guess it's like, I beg your pardon.
I'm asking for pardon. It's like hyper super polite to say I beg your pardon.
Yeah. It's like really nice. Yeah. Another thing you could just say simply is I'm sorry.
Yeah. Like meaning I didn't hear you. So you can give an example sentence of something.
Yeah, you could say something like, I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that is a very, very common way to say that.
Ah, I didn't quite catch that. Can you repeat that?
Yes. And by adding, you can say I didn't catch that.
I didn't quite catch that. It just raises the level of politeness.
And C-level English. Yes, that's so true.
Exactly. So another one you can use is come again.
Come again. Come again. Did you pick up the kids yet?
Come again? Meaning like what? And we don't use come again with each other ever.
This is like definitely a more formal English.
Yes. Most of the time, if you're just with your friends, you're with your family, you can say what.
It's normal. What or sorry? Sorry. Something like that.
Something, you know, short because we're kind of lazy with our English.
Or instead of saying come again, I would be like Wait, can you say that again?
Can you say that again? And if you're learning English, you could even add on Can you say that again a little slower?
Yes, that's so true. It's always okay. to ask people to slow down their speed.
I do that again. I have a lot of language calls in Turkish lately and I'll just be like, oh please say that again but slower.
Slower. The language learner needs slow for a long time and that's normal.
And the reality is most people aren't used to talking with language learners, English language learners.
So they're just gonna go blazing fast with their English.
They're gonna go very fast with their English.
And so you need to remind them, hey, I'm not a native.
Can you please say that a little slower?
I didn't catch that. Another one is could you please repeat that?
Repeat means to say again. Could you please repeat that?
Or, would you mind saying that again? And again, Listen to the intonation of your voice.
Would you mind saying that again? Very polite.
Would you mind repeating that? You could say that.
I didn't quite catch that. These are great alternatives if you're in a business meeting, if you're on the phone, like you're on the phone.
Definitely. You're... you're on the phone with a work call or you're on the phone making an appointment for your child to go to the doctor or the dentist Or if you're in any formal setting, those are some things that you can say.
So those are quite a few different ways that you can say what.
We hope that you learned a lot of these words. repeat them to try and remember them. and hopefully use them right away so that you don't forget them.
What? Just kidding. That was rude. Yeah, you guys don't be afraid to ask people to slow down when you're speaking.
Don't be afraid to ask people to repeat themselves. to say it again, ask for clarity.
You're a language learner and it is totally fine.
So we hope this video was useful. We know it was quick and to the point, but we hope that it gives you some alternatives to use.
Thank you so much for watching. Thanks and don't forget to like this video if you liked it and also subscribe to our channel and hopefully you'll be with us in a lot more videos.
Yes, we'll see you guys soon. Thanks for watching.
See you later. Bye. What? What did you say?
What? I beg your pardon. I didn't get that.
I think I catch that.
