No, you can't use the literal translation; the ways to render "understand" are several, and you can make use of the literal translation of "understand" if is somewhat modified; here below are a few means of doing that.
Specifically your translation
It is not explicit anymore that what you know is due to the fact that people are talking about it; it might be the product of your thinking as well.
- Je crois comprendre qu'il y a un autre moyen de faire cela ; c'est vrai ?
- Il semblerait (être le cas) (d'après ce que je comprends) que …
- Si je comprends bien, il y a autre moyen de faire cela.
- Je crois savoir que …