This lesson is all about miscommunication and misunderstanding you may encounter as a beginner of Bahasa Indonesia it is completely normal to not understand a native speaker at first and there are some ways you can help bridge the language gap. the most simple way is to explain that you don't speak Bahasa Indonesia by saying :

" Ich spreche kein Indonesien - I don't speak Bahasa Indonesia - Saya tidak bisa berbicara Bahasa Indonesia "

don't you feel defeated if you use this phrase since you're saying it Bahasa Indonesia anyway. But if you wanna give it a go, here are some other ways you can attempt to better understand a native Bahasa Indonesia when they approach you. First you could ask them to repeat themselves by saying :

" Können sie das bitte wiederholen? - Could you repeat that please? - Bisakah andaa mengulanginya? "

if you still don't understand you might ask them to speak slowly by saying :

" Können sie bitte etwas langsamer sprechen? - Can you speak more slowly, please? - Bisakah anda berbicara lebih lambat? "

if you are still completely bamboozled by what the Indonesian is saying, don't panic! you still have a few more tricks up your selves. You could now say :

" Es tut mir leid, ich verstehe nicht! - I'm sorry, I don't understand! - Maaf, saya tidak mengerti! "

followed by :

" Ich Spreche nur ein bisschen Bahasa Indonesia - I only little speak Bahasa Indonesia - Saya hanya bisa berbicara sedikit Bahasa Indonesia "

Now it's their turn! make them as uncomfortable as you probably feel by now by asking :

" Sprechen sie Englisch? - Do you speak English? - Anda Bisa berbicara Bahasa Inggris? "

in Indonesian it is most likely that they say, yes if they haven't already jumped at the chance to practice their Indonesian skills with a native speaker and they'll most likely be thrilled that you've given Indonesian such a good crack! lets practice together now! so let's take a look at the some of the word we learned :

Wiederholen - Repeat - Ulangi
Langsam - Slowly - Lambat
Verstehen - Understand - Mengerti
Sprechen - Speak - Bicara

Ok, in the next lesson Of " Indonesian for Beginner " we talk about Indonesian days, month and holiday.

Danke - Thank you - Terima kasih