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Speaker 1: Have you ever been in a conversation in English and

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suddenly thought, wait, I didn't catch that. Maybe someone was

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speaking too fast, Maybe they used a word you didn't know.

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Maybe you understood the words but not the meaning, And

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at that moment you freeze. You don't want to say

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the wrong thing, you don't want to look confused, you

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don't want to interrupt. Well, here's the good news. Checking

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understanding and getting clarification is a natural part of a

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conversation in any language, even English. And today I'm going

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to show you how you can do that.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from

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New York City, and here's your English teacher, Michael.

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Speaker 1: Alrighty, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael here

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from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode one thousand and two,

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How to Check Understanding. And before we jump in, I

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want to talk a moment about the phrase can you

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repeat that? We've all said that at one point in time, right,

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And while can you repeat that is not wrong, it's

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not very helpful. Why Well, because if you ask someone

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to repeat something, most likely they will do that for you,

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and they will say the exact same sentence at the

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exact same speed a second time. And that's not what

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you want, because if you didn't catch it the first time,

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you probably won't catch it the second time either. So

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instead of just asking for a repetition, it's often better

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to ask for clarification. And here are a few phrases

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you can use to do just that. Let's start with

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could you run that by me again? This is a

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commonly used phrase in both daily conversation and in a

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business situation. Could you run that by me again doesn't

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just mean please repeat that. It means explain that again

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so I can understand better. Like a friend is explaining

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how to get to their house and they say, oh,

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take the second left after the gas station, but not

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the first gas station, the one after the bridge. You

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could say, could you run that by me again? It's

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friendly and natural. Or at work, if you're in a

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meeting and your manager says, oh, we need to leverage

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cross functional alignment to optimize performance, you might say, sorry,

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can you run that by me again? That's signals you

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need a clearer explanation. Sometimes it's helpful to repeat the

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information you heard in order to check your understanding, and

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you can do that with this next phrase, which is

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just to make sure I understand. This one is powerful.

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It shows you're engaged and trying to confirm the meaning

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of what you just heard. Like when you're making plans

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with friends to go out for dinner, you can say

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something like, Okay, just to make sure I understand we're

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meeting at six not seven. Right. By repeating something you heard,

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you're showing that you're listening and just want to confirm.

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Here's another example, like at work, if your boss says

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something like I need this report finalized by Thursday afternoon,

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but I want a draft by Wednesday, you could say, okay,

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just to make sure I understand you'd like the draft

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on Wednesday and the final version thursday. Is that right?

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So this phrase just to make sure I understand doesn't

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signal confusion, It signals responsibility. That's a big difference. A

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more basic way to check your understanding is by simply

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repeating a few words that you did catch in the conversation.

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And you can do that with the phrase did you say,

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followed by the words you heard? So again, like when

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you're making dinner plans, you can say, wait, did you

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say seven o'clock? This does two things. First, it shows

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that you were listening, which native speakers do all the time. Second,

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and most important, repeating what you heard like this will

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cause the other person to rephrase what they said, and

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when they do, you'll have a better understanding of the conversation.

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Another way to do this is to use the phrase

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so what you're saying is followed by the words you heard.

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This is what we call paraphrasing. You repeat the idea

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in your own words to confirm it. Like if your

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roommate or your partner says we can save money by

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cutting unnecessary subscriptions, you can reply with, so what you're

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saying is like we should cancel some of the TV

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services we're using. Right. That checks you're understanding. Or if

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a friend says I'm not upset, I'm just disappointed, you

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might respond with, so what you're saying is you expected

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something different? Right? That keeps the conversation clear. And did

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you notice in those last two examples I threw in

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the tag question right. Native speakers use that one little

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word all the time as a quick and easy way

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to show that we're paying attention and to check our understanding.

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So when you're having a conversation about making dinner plans

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and you want to confirm the time time, All you

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need to do is say something like we're meeting at

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seven right, or even just seven right. Using right like

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this keeps the flow of the conversation going while confirming understanding.

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Let's recap for a bit. Instead of just saying can

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you repeat that? Try doing one of these things. First,

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ask for a clearer explanation with could you run that

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by me again? Next, you can confirm understanding with just

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to make sure I understand or so what you're saying is.

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You can also repeat a few words you did here

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with did you say, and even follow those words with right.

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These phrases don't make you sound weak. They make you

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sound like you're in the conversation. You're engaged, and keep

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something in mind. Even native speakers use these phrases all

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the time. Clarifying doesn't mean there's a problem with your English.

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It just means you care about understanding correctly. So here's

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your challenge. The next time you don't understand something in English,

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don't panic, don't stay silent. Use one of these phrases.

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That's how you build confident, real world fluency and keep

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in mind. The best way to remember English phrases like

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this and any other word or phrase in English, is

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to take that word or phrase, write it in a

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sentence that's true for you or true in your world,

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and then memorize your sentences. Hey, thanks for listening, and

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remember learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible,

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and I'm here to help you on your journey.

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Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please

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visit Myhappy english dot com. Show your support for Happy

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English by leading us a review. Get English, Get Happy,

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Happy English