Imagine you’re having a conversation in a foreign language and simply can’t understand what somebody just said to you. What do you do then? At least I often find myself blurting out something slightly rude like “What?” or “Huh?” instead of a nicer, more sensible reaction. In very informal speech, such as with close friends, it may be alright to use expressions like “Huh?” or “What?” in English, German or Spanish when you couldn’t hear or understand somebody, but in…
