In the Americas, prisoners were usually taken, taught Spanish, and used as translators. If native tribes were warring or in conflict with one other, the Spanish could also ally with one tribe to defeat the other and use them as translators.

The conquistadores could also take advantage of communication being difficult. The "Requerimiento" was a document that was meant to be read to natives to inform them that they now lived in Spanish territory and were subject to the laws of the country and the Catholic church. This "resolved" any spiritual complications the Spanish rulers could face after their lives, as the natives had been given a chance to accept Chrisitianity before being slaughtered or enslaved.

In practice, the document did very little. It was written and read in either Castillian or Latin, so there was no chance of natives understanding what was being said. It was supposed to be read to them before battle, but the Spanish would read it from aboard a ship, on the other side of a hill, or in the middle of the forest outside the native settlement the night before attacking.