LingoflyAsking again and clarifying in Slovenian
A government office window, the visitor didn’t catch half of what was said in Slovenian. 8 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Oprostite, nisem dobro slišal. Kaj ste rekli?» — Excuse me, I didn’t catch that. What did you say?; «Vlogo morate oddati do konca meseca.» — You have to submit the application by the end of the month. Every line can be played right on the page.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: a government office window, the visitor didn’t catch half of what was said. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- Excuse me, I didn’t catch that. What did you say?
- Vlogo morate oddati do konca meseca.You have to submit the application by the end of the month.
- Če prav razumem, do tridesetega?Did I understand correctly, by the thirtieth?
- Kako se temu reče po slovensko?What is it called in Slovenian?
- Prosim, črkujte. Zapisal si bom.Spell it out, please. I’ll write it down.
Lines one by one
| Slovenian | Translation |
|---|---|
| Oprostite, nisem dobro slišal. Kaj ste rekli? | Excuse me, I didn’t catch that. What did you say? |
| Vlogo morate oddati do konca meseca. | You have to submit the application by the end of the month. |
| Če prav razumem, do tridesetega? | Did I understand correctly, by the thirtieth? |
| Tako je. Potrebujete tudi potrdilo o bivanju. | It is so. You also need a proof of residence. |
| Kako se temu reče po slovensko? | What is it called in Slovenian? |
| Potrdilo o stalnem prebivališču. Naj črkujem? | A certificate of permanent residence. Should I spell it out? |
| Prosim, črkujte. Zapisal si bom. | Spell it out, please. I’ll write it down. |
| Počasi, po črkah. Je zdaj jasno? | Slowly, letter by letter. Is it clear now? |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and noticeably so. The link turns up study after study, and together those studies cover almost twenty thousand people.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Slovenian in this situation?
“Oprostite, nisem dobro slišal. Kaj ste rekli?” — Excuse me, I didn’t catch that. What did you say? The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.