I am afraid

[anhnha]

Hello,
I am a little bit confused on the place of "I am afraid" in the sentence.
I don't understand your question, I am afraid.
Here, we use "I am afraid" at the end of the sentence.
Please help me clarify something about the use of it in the sentence?
1. Can I use "I am afraid" at the beginning of the sentence like this?
I am afraid, I don't understand your question.
2. Is there any difference in meaning between them?
In my language, "I am afraid" almost used at the beginning of the sentence, therefore I feel it is easier to understand if it appear at the beginning of the sentence.
Thank a lot!

[emsr2d2]

You can put it at the beginning but you need to remove the comma.

I'm afraid I don't understand your question = I'm afraid [that] I don't understand your question.

I'm afraid, I don't understand your question = I'm afraid (scared) AND I don't understand your question.