Question

听不懂老外说的话怎么办？

Answer 1

学外语的人在和老外交流时总是害怕会犯错误而导致误解，害怕听不懂对方而导致交流无法进行。其实听不懂也不必如此担心，下面就为您支几招应对策略。

For those of you still worried about making mistakes, you should just remember countries like Britain, America, Australia and Canada are all very multicultural countries. Multicultural means lots of different cultures. In London alone there are people living here from all over the world. Most of them speak English but there are many different accents. Not everyone speaks perfectly and people do make mistakes.

你们很多人担心犯错，你们应该记住，像英国、美国、澳大利亚和加拿大这样的国家是多文化融合的国家。多文化融合指的是有很多不同的文化。单说伦敦，就有世界各地的人住在那里。大部分人说英语但有很多不同的口音。不是每个人都说标准的英语，而且，人们会犯错。

But as English speakers, we don't worry about it. We are really used to (familiar with) hearing non-native speakers of English speak English. We don't care at all if they make mistakes as long as we can understand them. So as non-native speakers of English, you shouldn't worry about making mistakes. Small mistakes are fine. But even if you make big mistakes and people can't understand you, they will try to understand - or they will tell you if they don't understand. This gives you a chance to say again in different language what you want to say.

不过作为一个说英语的人，我们不需要担心这个问题。我们已经很熟悉非英语母语的人说英语了。只要我们明白他们的意思，我们根本不在乎他们是不是犯了错。所以，作为非英语母语的人，你不需要担心犯错。小错误无伤大雅，即使你翻了比较大的错误别人不懂你的意思，他们也会努力去弄清楚——或者会直接告诉你他们不明白。这给了你一个机会可以用不同语言再次表达你想说的话的机会。

There will be times of course that people maybe won't understand you but you won't know that if you don't try to communicate. Just try your best and really DON'T WORRY. Your English is probably better than you think.

当然人们不懂的时候会有很多次，但是如果你不去交流你就永远不知道。尽你所能的去试吧，别担心。你的英语可能比你想象的要好。

Someone talked about not understanding people when they speak English, so I thought today I would discuss what you can say when you don't understand someone.

一些人说当人们说英语的时候他听不懂，所以我想今天我来说说如果你听不懂别人说话的时候你可以说些什么：

If someone is speaking really quickly, don't be afraid to ask them to speak more slowly.如果对方说话太快，可以大胆的请他们慢点说。

I'm sorry, but can you speak a little slower please?

That was a little bit to fast for me. Could you speak a bit slower please?

And don't be afraid to tell someone you don't understand.

如果你听不懂，就直接说听不懂：

I'm sorry I don't understand.

I'm sorry I didn't catch that. (I didn't understand)

You could just ask them to say the same thing again.

你可以让他们重复一遍：

I'm sorry, could you repeat that please?

Would you mind repeating that sentence again - I didn't get what you said? (I didn't understand).

There is nothing bad about asking someone to repeat or speak slower. It's better to ask than to pretend you understand (make someone think you understand when you don't). It will really help you to communicate with English speakers. Sometimes they don't realise they are speaking so fast or using difficult words, so it's good for you to tell them.

让人们重复或者慢点说没什么不好的，请教比装懂好得多。这对你和说英语的人交流有很大帮助。有时他们意识不到他们说话很快或者用了很难的词，所以你告诉他们是对的。

I do understand the problems a lot of you are talking about. I studied French and German at university (a long time ago!) and I didn't have many French or German people to talk to. I made sure I listened to a lot of native speakers on the TV or radio or on cassettes from my teachers. I spoke to myself. I spoke to my classmates and I read a lot. Reading aloud (reading and speaking the words as you read) is also a good thing to do to practise speaking. Fortunately I did have a chance to visit those countries as they are not so far away as Britain or America is from China - but a lot of the time it was up to me to try to improve as best as I could without being able to speak to French of German people.

对你们说的问题我有很深的体会。我在大学里学过法语和德语（很久以前了！），我没有机会和很多法国人或者德国人聊天。我尽量从电视、广播和老师的磁带中听以我学习的外语为母语的人说话。我和自己说，我和我的同学说，我大量阅读。大声朗读也是练习口语的好方法。幸运的是，这些国家离我并不像英国、美国离中国这么远，我曾有个机会去这些国家——但是很多时候在不能和法国、德国人聊天的时候，是不是尽我所能提高我的外语水平是完全取决于我自己的。

That is what you should all do with your English. I wish you LOTS of luck with your studies and I hope the advice helps.

这就是你们学习英语应该做的事。祝你们学业顺利，希望这些建议能有用处。