One time I was formulating sentences on a website, to practice my Japanese and
get natives to correct them. I had written 「何が言ってわかりませんけど」 which I now
understand was wrong, but when they corrected my sentence with this
「何を言っているのかわからないかもしれませんけど」 I was shocked.

Most of the sentence I understand, like changing 「が」 to 「を」 but when I got to
「のか」 and 「かもしれません」 I was deeply confused and to be honest, never seen 「のか」
used in a sentence. If it’s not too much trouble, could someone explain the
use of these two parts in the sentence and why they are needed to make this
sentence?

Thank you.

Edit: Because I forgot to put the whole sentence to clarify who the speaker/
topic is, here it is:「私は何を言っているのかわからないかもしれませんけど、今は日本語を練習をしてます。」
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grammar word-choice usage meaning
Reason for 「のか」 and 「かもしれません」 in 「何を言っているのかわからないかもしれませんけど」
It's certainly not surprising that the sentence confuses you, it consists of a
few grammatical parts, so let's break it down a little bit.

> 何【なに】を言【い】っているのか分【わ】からないかもしれませんけど

何【なに】を言【い】っている - looks like you understand this, it roughly translates to "
**What are you saying** ". However, in Japanese when we refer to an action
such as this one, we want to use the **の** particle to conceptualize it. You
can also use **こと** instead of **の** - it will be the same.

Second, the **か** particle after indicates that our "concept" is question-
like. That's how the grammar requires the sentence to be structured. And it
makes sense, because it follows with 分【わ】からない (do not know).

Third, **かもしれません** adds uncertainty to the sentence. It roughly translates to
"may" and the sentence becomes: **"I may not know what you are saying,
but..."** Without it, the sentence would have been: **"I don't know what you
are saying, but..."**

Finally, **けど** at the end means "but" and is most likely followed by another
clause or statement.
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answer
Let's break it down piece by piece:

> 何をいっているか → What are you saying?

However, depending on the context, this can sound a bit to harsh or direct
(Japanese people tend to avoid this). As you may know, adding the `の` makes
this less direct and/or rhetorical.

> 何を言っているのか → What are you saying? (not expecting an answer; not so direct)

Now, add in the `わからない`.

> 何を言っているのかわからない → "What are you saying?" is what I don't understand → I don't
> understand what you're saying.

`かもしれません` is an ending for low probability, i.e., "may" or "might".

> 何を言っているのかわからないかもしれません → I may not understand what you're saying.

The final `けど` I think could mean one of two things in this case. Like the
other answers said, it could be that it means "but" and there will be a
follow-up sentence. However, what seems more likely to me is that it is
another "softener" to bring more indirectness, and take focus off the
listener.

Take these sentences for example:

>   * 言いたいことがあるんだ → "There's something I want to say to you" → Sounds very
> direct, almost confrontational, putting the listener on the defensive
>

>
> vs
>
>   * 言いたいことがあるんだけど → "There's something I want to say to you..." → Sounds
> less confrontational; "softens" the statement; no reason for the listener to
> become defensive
>

Now in that sense, let's look at your sentence with and without `けど`:

>   * 何を言っているのかわからないかもしれません → Direct and curt; Sounds like they're implying "I
> might not understand what you're saying (you nonsense-babbling idiot!)"
>

>
> vs
>
>   * 何を言っているのかわからないかもしれませんけど → Indirect; non-confrontational; almost like
> "(Excuse me but,) I may not understand what you're saying."
>

So adding those two structures makes the translation closer to something like
"Hmm, I'm afraid I may not understand what you're saying..."
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answer
The other answers do a reasonable job of breaking things down, but I wanted to
make a comment on why 「かもしれません」 was added by a native speaker even though the
version without it is perfectly grammatical.

If you look at the final, full, sentence:

> 何を言っているのかわからないかもしれませんけど、今は日本語の練習をしてます。

The subject of 言う is pretty clearly "I" and the subject of わかる is pretty
clearly "you".

If you were to say

> 何を言っているのかわからないけど、今は日本語の練習をしてます。

it would be like saying either "Even though I don't understand what I'm
saying, right now I'm practicing my Japanese." which sounds silly, or "Even
though you don't/won't understand what I'm saying, right now I'm practicing my
Japanese.", which, although you are trying to be humble, just comes off a
little odd even in the English.

> 何を言っているのかわからないかもしれませんけど、今は日本語の練習をしてます。

on the other hand is like "Even though you may not understand what I'm saying,
right now I'm practicing my Japanese.", which

  1. disambiguates the subject of わかる
  2. feels like a standard way to be humble about your abilities because you don't assume anything about the other person
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