How to politely say, "Can you please repeat that?"

[xiexieniii]

Hey guys.

Is it, "qing zai shuo yi bian"?

What if you are speaking to a teacher and want to say, "I didn't hear you clearly, can you please repeat that?"

wo mei ting de qing chu, qing ni zai shuo yi bian?

[Atomik]

I would say:

我没听懂，请再说一边。

(Wǒ měi tīngdǒng, qǐng zài shuō yíbiàn.)

[taylor04]

yea, "qing zai shuo yi bian" is right, and then it would be better to say "wo mei ting qingchu, qing zai shuo yi bian" or you can say a few other things, "wo mei ting dong" I didnt understand, "wo ting bu dong" I don't understand (great for getting out of sticky situations), and "qing shuo man yi dian" please speak a little slower.

[imron]

Note though that "I didn't hear clearly" and "I don't understand" are two completely different things.

[taylor04]

Really? They are two different things? I guess thats why the English sentences have two different meanings too...

[imron]

Yeah, I was referring to both the English and the Chinese The poster was asking how to say "I didn't hear you clearly", so providing a translation for "I don't understand" (see post by Atomik) is not necessarily what the OP is looking for.

[semantic nuance]

try: 我沒有聽清楚, 可以麻煩你 (您 more polite) 再說一遍/次嗎?

Hope it helps!

[abcdefg]

A personal footnote, admittedly more appropriate to the streets than to a classroom: I’ve found over time that a generic “ting bu dong” is much more likely to lead to the Chinese person you are talking with trying to switch to English or just giving up. Keeping it less general and more specific is more likely to lead to a repeat of the communication attempt in simpler, slower, or clearer Chinese.

I try to avoid the kneejerk “ting bu dong” unless I really must throw in the towel.

[imron]

I’ve found over time that a generic “ting bu dong” is much more likely to lead to the Chinese person you are talking with trying to switch to English or just giving up.

I agree with this and have found the same thing.

[XiaoXi]

I would say:

我没听懂，请再说一边。

(Wǒ měi tīngdǒng, qǐng zài shuō yíbiàn.)

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but you seem to have the tone markings wrong there. It should be:

Wǒ méi tīngdǒng, qǐng zài shuō yìbiān

[buanryoh]

Should be 一遍 yi2bian4

[Mingjing]

Never say "再说一便”. it seems a little provocative. yes, it is.

"请再说一便“ is ok.

or "能再说一便吗？”

or“ sorry, 我刚没听清楚。”

or many else...

[XiaoXi]

Never say "再说一便”. it seems a little provocative. yes, it is.

"请再说一便“ is ok.

or "能再说一便吗？”

or“ sorry, 我刚没听清楚。”

or many else...

In my experience Chinese don't use 'please' very often. Certainly not between close friends and family. This is probably best 能再说一遍. Although you've used another 'bian'. Buanryoh is right, its 一遍, not 一边 or 一便.

[Artem]

Instead of saying 请, you could also just soften the tone with 吧