Active listening

Active listening

Active listening means that you listen attentively to a speaker, understand what is being said and respond and reflect on what's being said.

1 How often do you not understand something in a conversation?

2 How do you feel when that happens?

3 What do you say when that happens?

If you are not sure you understood correctly, you should let the speaker know. Otherwise, it might cause more problems.

I'm sorry, I don't quite understand.

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean.

Sorry but I don't quite follow you.

I'm afraid I didn't quite catch what you mean/said.

The most obvious way to clarify any misunderstanding is by asking questions:

Do you mean ...?

What do you mean?

Could you tell me more about ...?

When you said ... what did you mean?

Could you repeat ...?

Could you say it in another way?

Could you rephrase that for me?

Could you be more specific/give an example/elaborate on that?

You can paraphrase what you have just heard just to make sure you've understood correctly.

If I understood correctly, you ...

Let me see if I understood correctly ...

So, what you are saying is ...

In other words, ....