I say things along the lines of “Sorry, can you please repeat [that/the last sentence/the last 20 seconds/what you said after (description)]” very often. It feels very natural.
I realized that as a non-native English speaker, sometimes I ask someone to repeat things because I didn’t recognize the word or something, and so maybe in some situations an uncertainty over the reason for asking to repeat things (my hearing vs. zoning out vs. not understanding the point on the first try) helps make it easier to ask, though often I say that I missed what they were saying. I guess, when I sincerely want to understand the person I’m talking to, asking seems respectful and avoiding wasting their time or skipping a point they make.
Occasionally, I’m not too interested in the conversation, and so I’m fine with just continuing to listen even if I missed some points and don’t ask. I think there are also situations when I talk to non-rationalists in settings where I don’t want to show conventional disrespect/impact the person’s status-feelings, and so if I miss a point that doesn’t seem too important, I sometimes end up not asking for conventional social reasons, but it’s very rare and seems hard to fix without shifting the equilibrium in the non-rationalist world.
Interesting! Have you noticed that people repeat more or less than the past 20 seconds when you request that they repeat the past 20 seconds? I feel like I would find that more difficult to accurately measure 20 seconds of conversation than if someone told me to repeat everything I said after <particular talking point>. I don’t think the difficult gap is huge, though, and I’m not sure if this is the case for most people.
I say things along the lines of “Sorry, can you please repeat [that/the last sentence/the last 20 seconds/what you said after (description)]” very often. It feels very natural.
I realized that as a non-native English speaker, sometimes I ask someone to repeat things because I didn’t recognize the word or something, and so maybe in some situations an uncertainty over the reason for asking to repeat things (my hearing vs. zoning out vs. not understanding the point on the first try) helps make it easier to ask, though often I say that I missed what they were saying. I guess, when I sincerely want to understand the person I’m talking to, asking seems respectful and avoiding wasting their time or skipping a point they make.
Occasionally, I’m not too interested in the conversation, and so I’m fine with just continuing to listen even if I missed some points and don’t ask. I think there are also situations when I talk to non-rationalists in settings where I don’t want to show conventional disrespect/impact the person’s status-feelings, and so if I miss a point that doesn’t seem too important, I sometimes end up not asking for conventional social reasons, but it’s very rare and seems hard to fix without shifting the equilibrium in the non-rationalist world.
Interesting! Have you noticed that people repeat more or less than the past 20 seconds when you request that they repeat the past 20 seconds? I feel like I would find that more difficult to accurately measure 20 seconds of conversation than if someone told me to repeat everything I said after <particular talking point>. I don’t think the difficult gap is huge, though, and I’m not sure if this is the case for most people.