And finally the last thing that people really worry about is what if they laugh at me.
What if I say something wrong.
Let me save you the mystery.
They will laugh at you because it's funny sometimes when we say things in a different language we say
the wrong thing and it's really funny or it has a totally different meaning.
Or maybe they're laughing because you said something in a really cute way.
So my tip to you is don't be nervous.
Assume they're laughing because they think it's cute or amusing and then just ask say Oh did I say something
wrong.
So be OK with it.
Expect someone to laugh and know that they're not laughing at you.
They're probably just laughing at something that you said.
And you can clarify and learn from it.
And sometimes those moments where you say something funny become memorable and could be the foundation
of a new friendship.
Ok so those are some of the questions that I get.
The last thing I want to share with you in terms of tips is be prepared for or the unexpected.
For example you know that you're going to lose your train of thought at some point.
You forget what you're saying and you know you're going to not understand someone.
So have some backup phrases ready.
Any time you forget what you're saying just say you know what I lost my train of thought.
What was I saying or I lost my train of thought.
Let's talk about something else.
Another good one is if you're telling a funny story and people don't laugh maybe you didn't express
it properly maybe they didn't think it was funny.
The thing that will save you and make the conversation less awkward is say I guess you had to be there.
I guess you have to be there.
So what that does is the other person relaxes and they're like OK I didn't get the humor.
No problem.
And you just move on.
And of course the typical.
Can you please repeat that.
I will say this.
I highly recommend being specific and saying Can you please repeat that slowly if the problem is they
spoke too fast.
Make sure you say the word slowly.
Otherwise if you say can you please repeat that.
They'll say it again equally as fast.
So you want to be specific with what you need and if you understood part of it.
Repeat the part you understood so that the other person knows to repeat the other part better.
For example oh you said something about the closing time.
Could you please repeat the hour.
So then they know that you missed the number.
So it helps you get the information that you want more effectively.