system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Trek] In First Contact how could Cochrane understand the Vulcan captain saying "Live long and prosper."?

When the Vulcans touch down on Earth after the first warp flight the captain salutes Zefram Cochrane and wishes him "live Long and prosper", Cochrain fails the return the salute, says "thanks." and shakes the captains hand.

The problem here is that Universal translators hadn't been invented yet. Were the translators in the Enterprise-E crew's combadges kicking in for him, or were the Vulcans speaking English?
gpt
The Vulcans had studied Earth significantly as far back as the Terran 19th century. English is a primitive language by comparison to the Vulcan dialects. Any Vulcan captain worth his salt would be certain to learn the primary native languages of the star systems his survey craft were passing through. It is only logical to ensure that one can communicate with the locals in the event of an emergency landing, or first contact situation.