system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How do civilizations first learn a new language

How did the Spanish figure out how to communicate with the Aztecs or how did the Portuguese first start communicating with the Japanese when they'd never interacted with such a language before?
gpt
It's not ask that hard, just more symbol based at first until you catch on. Friend went to Spain for an internship (his company was English based). In the heart of a Spanish speaking country. He would point to a beer he wants, bartends says cerveza? Quántos? And hold up one finger. Uno?  Friend shakes his head. Dos? Friend nods. 

From that small interaction he learned how to say beer, how to ask a quantity, and how to count a few numbers.