换句话说 / 换言之【huàn jù huà shuō / huàn yán zhī】

换句话说 introduces a second way of putting what has just been said: plainer, blunter, or closer to what the speaker really means. It opens the clause that does the restating. Literally it is "change the sentence and say it".

The restatement often spells out what the first sentence only implied.

换句话说 or 也就是说

也就是说 does much the same job and is more common in speech. 换句话说 stresses the change of wording, and suits explaining, teaching and writing. 换言之 is the formal written form.

The calque to avoid

Translating "in other words" word by word gives phrases that don't exist in Chinese.

• × 用别的话说，他不同意 → 换句话说，他不同意
• × 在其他的话里，他不同意 → 换句话说，他不同意