What to say when you don't understand, in nine languages
· Ben Ward
Most phrasebooks start with nouns. The train station, the menu, the pharmacy. Useful, but not what actually breaks a conversation.
What breaks it is the moment you lose the thread and have nothing to say about that. Someone talks a bit too fast, or uses a word you don't have, and instead of asking them to slow down or repeat it, you nod. You guess. You let the conversation drift somewhere you didn't agree to.
Learners skip these phrases on purpose. Saying "I don't understand" feels like admitting you've failed at the one thing you came here to do. So people avoid it and end up doing something worse: pretending.
Here's the part that doesn't match the fear. Fluent-sounding learners say these phrases constantly, because a real conversation, in any language, includes people not catching things and asking again. It's not a failure state. It's just talking.
A conversation you can repair is a conversation you can stay in. That's the case for learning these before you need them, rather than fumbling for them live while your face goes red.
Below are the phrases for nine languages, checked for the register you'd actually want with a stranger, not a textbook. Find yours and start there.
Spanish
| English | Phrase |
|---|---|
| I don't understand. | No entiendo. |
| Can you say that more slowly? | ¿Puede hablar más despacio, por favor? |
| Can you say that again? | ¿Puede repetirlo, por favor? |
| How do you say ... ? | ¿Cómo se dice ... ? |
| What does ... mean? | ¿Qué significa ... ? |
| I'm still learning Spanish. | Todavía estoy aprendiendo español. |
| Do you mean ... ? | ¿Quiere decir ... ? |
With a stranger, stick to the formal usted forms (Puede, Quiere) rather than tú.
Try it: Spanish conversations, or practise describing something you don't know the word for.
French
| English | Phrase |
|---|---|
| I don't understand. | Je ne comprends pas. |
| Can you say that more slowly? | Vous pouvez parler plus lentement, s'il vous plaît ? |
| Can you say that again? | Vous pouvez répéter, s'il vous plaît ? |
| How do you say ... ? | Comment on dit ... ? |
| What does ... mean? | Que veut dire ... ? |
| I'm still learning French. | J'apprends encore le français. |
| Do you mean ... ? | Vous voulez dire ... ? |
Pardon ? on its own stands in for the whole request and is the safe choice with a stranger.
Try it: French conversations, or practise describing something you don't know the word for.
Japanese
| English | Phrase | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| I don't understand. | すみません、わかりません。 | Sumimasen, wakarimasen. |
| Can you say that more slowly? | すみません、もう少しゆっくりお願いします。 | Sumimasen, mou sukoshi yukkuri onegaishimasu. |
| Can you say that again? | もう一度お願いします。 | Mou ichido onegaishimasu. |
| How do you say ... ? | ○○は日本語で何と言いますか? | ○○ wa nihongo de nan to iimasu ka? |
| What does ... mean? | ○○はどういう意味ですか? | ○○ wa dou iu imi desu ka? |
| I'm still learning Japanese. | まだ日本語を勉強中です。 | Mada nihongo wo benkyouchuu desu. |
| Do you mean ... ? | それは○○ということですか? | Sore wa ○○ to iu koto desu ka? |
A bare わかりません reads as blunt, so すみません plus a softener like ちょっと is the expected wrapping.
Try it: Japanese conversations, or practise describing something you don't know the word for.
Italian
| English | Phrase |
|---|---|
| I don't understand. | Non capisco. |
| Can you say that more slowly? | Può parlare più lentamente, per favore? |
| Can you say that again? | Può ripetere, per favore? |
| How do you say ... ? | Come si dice ... in italiano? |
| What does ... mean? | Cosa vuol dire ...? |
| I'm still learning Italian. | Sto ancora imparando l'italiano. |
| Do you mean ... ? | Vuole dire ...? |
Italians default to a short Come? or Scusi? before reaching for a full sentence, and it's not considered impolite at all.
Try it: Italian conversations, or practise describing something you don't know the word for.
German
| English | Phrase |
|---|---|
| I don't understand. | Ich verstehe das nicht. |
| Can you say that more slowly? | Könnten Sie das bitte langsamer sagen? |
| Can you say that again? | Können Sie das noch mal sagen? |
| How do you say ... ? | Wie sagt man ... auf Deutsch? |
| What does ... mean? | Was bedeutet ... ? |
| I'm still learning German. | Ich lerne noch Deutsch. |
| Do you mean ... ? | Sie meinen ... ? |
Wie bitte? is the everyday polite filler for not catching something; a bare Was? reads as blunt to a stranger.
Try it: German conversations, or practise describing something you don't know the word for.
Mandarin Chinese
| English | Phrase | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| I don't understand. | 我听不懂。 | wǒ tīng bù dǒng |
| Can you say that more slowly? | 你可以说慢一点吗？ | nǐ kěyǐ shuō màn yìdiǎn ma |
| Can you say that again? | 你可以再说一次吗？ | nǐ kěyǐ zài shuō yí cì ma |
| How do you say ... ? | 这个中文怎么说？ | zhège zhōngwén zěnme shuō |
| What does ... mean? | 这个是什么意思？ | zhège shì shénme yìsi |
| I'm still learning Chinese. | 我还在学中文。 | wǒ hái zài xué zhōngwén |
| Do you mean ... ? | 你是说...吗？ | nǐ shì shuō...ma |
啊? or 嗯? with a rising tone works fine with people you already know, but toward a stranger it can land as curt rather than curious, so lead with 不好意思 or 抱歉 first.
Try it: Mandarin Chinese conversations, or practise describing something you don't know the word for.
Portuguese (Brazil)
| English | Phrase |
|---|---|
| I don't understand. | Não entendi. |
| Can you say that more slowly? | Pode falar mais devagar, por favor? |
| Can you say that again? | Pode repetir, por favor? |
| How do you say ... ? | Como se diz ... ? |
| What does ... mean? | O que significa ... ? |
| I'm still learning Portuguese. | Ainda estou aprendendo português. |
| Do you mean ... ? | Você quer dizer ... ? |
Brazilians tack desculpa onto almost any of these, so Desculpa, pode repetir? is more natural than the bare request.
Try it: Portuguese conversations, or practise describing something you don't know the word for.
Korean
| English | Phrase | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| I don't understand. | 잘 못 알아들었어요. | jal mot aradeureosseoyo |
| Can you say that more slowly? | 좀 천천히 말해 주세요. | jom cheoncheonhi malhae juseyo |
| Can you say that again? | 다시 한번 말씀해 주시겠어요? | dasi hanbeon malsseumhae jusigesseoyo |
| How do you say ... ? | ...을/를 한국어로 어떻게 말해요? | ...eul/reul hangugeoro eotteoke malhaeyo |
| What does ... mean? | ...이/가 무슨 뜻이에요? | ...i/ga museun tteusieyo |
| I'm still learning Korean. | 저 아직 한국어 배우고 있어요. | jeo ajik hangugeo baeugo isseoyo |
| Do you mean ... ? | ...(이)라고요? | ...(i)ragoyo |
Keep the -요 ending on a short reflex question like 뭐요?; dropping it (뭐?) toward a stranger reads as blunt.
Try it: Korean conversations.
English
| English | Phrase |
|---|---|
| I don't understand. | Sorry, I don't understand. |
| Can you say that more slowly? | Could you say that more slowly, please? |
| Can you say that again? | Sorry, could you say that again? |
| How do you say ... ? | How do you say ___ in English? |
| What does ... mean? | What does ___ mean? |
| I'm still learning English. | I'm still learning English. |
| Do you mean ... ? | Do you mean ___? |
Adding "sorry" first keeps that line from sounding blunt to a stranger. When the real problem is speed, saying so directly beats repeating "I don't understand".
Try it: English conversations, or practise describing something you don't know the word for.
Say them before you need them
The one habit worth building is small: say each of these out loud, once, before you're standing in front of someone who's already mid-sentence. Not read silently, said, with your mouth, so the shape of it is already there when the moment actually arrives and you don't have to invent it live.
That's the reason the app exists in this form. You can have this exact conversation right now, with a character who will actually slow down when you ask, actually repeat itself when you don't catch it, and won't mind that you needed it to. That's not a consolation prize. It's the whole point. Somewhere to fail at understanding with no audience watching, until failing at it gets rarer than it is today.
It's free, it takes about a minute to start, and you're allowed to say "I don't understand" badly the first ten times you try.