How common is it for students to ask someone to repeat what they said?

[InquilineKea]

I'm just wondering if this is too unusual, since I usually have to do this once or twice in each conversation.

[Eigen]

Are we talking the one-to-one meetings with, say a boss or committee member? Where you're so overwhelmed with information that you can't take notes fast enough?

Or normal conversations with peers, etc?

I think everyone has to ask someone to repeat themselves occasionally, but I wouldn't say it's hugely common.

[aginath]

This question depends entirely on the context. I have a few classmates who are fairly proficient with English, but they sometimes struggle with casual conversations (accents and speed, specifically). It's not uncommon for them to ask me to repeat myself.

If this is something not related to English being a second language, then perhaps there's something else at play here such as a hearing impairment. In this case, getting a routine test run wouldn't be a bad idea.

[communications13]

I can't speak for everyone, but I don't think it's a big deal. Asking someone to repeat themselves show that you are interested in what the other person is saying and want to make sure you are understanding what the other person is saying or that you are overloaded with information and need clairification. Maybe I'm crazy, but when people ask me to repeat myself I take it as a sign they are fully interested in the conversation.

[jaxzwolf]

I don't hear very well, and I have trouble isolating voices from background noise, so this is always an issue for me. I know there are times when it really bugs the crap out of my friends, so I try to do my best to catch the important parts of every conversation. Sometimes there's a delay between me not understanding what someone said and my brain using the gist of the sounds to work it out. Not fun at all. I hate when this happens in interviews-- one of the reasons I hate phone interviews more than anything. Sometimes it's nearly impossible to hear someone over the phone, especially on conference calls or when one party is using speaker. I much prefer one-on-one interviews in a controlled setting like an office. That way, I have a much better shot at hearing everything said clearly, instead of having to ask, "come again?" every two minutes. Blegh.

[hello! :)]

I'm with jaxzwolf. I actually started speaking a little later than my peers at 3.5 years of age-ish, but that's still within the accepted norm (before 4). I think that the slight delay is reflected in my ability to perceive spoken language. I don't have a general problem with comprehension, but hearing the different consonants is sometimes difficult... Especially over the phone (no visual cues) and in noisy rooms. Speaker-phone sucks.

[InquilineKea]

Ah, thanks for the responses so far! I was mostly thinking about students asking their advisors to repeat themselves from time to time. Not just academic material, but other material as well.

[rising_star]

Ah, thanks for the responses so far! I was mostly thinking about students asking their advisors to repeat themselves from time to time. Not just academic material, but other material as well.

I ask my advisor to repeat things but, he's usually already forgotten what he said.

[Eigen]

Ah, thanks for the responses so far! I was mostly thinking about students asking their advisors to repeat themselves from time to time. Not just academic material, but other material as well.

I ask my advisor to repeat himself all the time- he rattles off long lists of names, dates, articles, etc- often faster than I can take notes on them.

[lolopixie]

I ask my advisor to repeat himself all the time- he rattles off long lists of names, dates, articles, etc- often faster than I can take notes on them.

I'm pretty good at short-handing my notes when with my advisor, but she is great about sending me a follow up email with everything we went over...probably best advisor I could have ever gotten because she is just so on top of things! Otherwise, I would probably be asking to repeat or emailing later to verify information.

[Eigen]

I also do a lot of dropping by later to clear stuff up, after I've had a chance to do some research on my own.

[InquilineKea]

I also do a lot of dropping by later to clear stuff up, after I've had a chance to do some research on my own.

Oh huh, that's a good idea.

I've *always* tried to find some sort of balance between speed/efficiency and independence - I'm not sure where the line lies, and it differs from person to person. Sometimes, it's faster when you ALWAYS ask for help whenever you get stuck for more than 30 minutes. But at the same time, that may get annoying, and make the professor less responsive to the questions that truly deserve attention.

[Eigen]

To me, grad school is about developing your research skills. And I always learn more if I look it up/figure it out myself than if I ask.

If something is really time sensitive, I'll ask... Otherwise, it's better to take what notes I can, supplement them with a few hours (few days) of research, then go talk about it again.

[kaz]

I don't think there's anything wrong with asking, although if I didn't get it the first time, its unlikely I'll get it the second time...