This paper illustrates a discursive translation of five van Hiele levels to shed light on the characteristics of geometric discourses at each van Hiele level, using communicational approach to revisit the van Hiele levels on thinking and learning. This approach provides detailed descriptions on how the meanings of mathematical words are made and communicated as students develop their geometric thinking towards a higher van Hiele level. This discursive framework offers a useful analytical tool to investigate learning as changes in discourses.