When I hear stories about the exploration of the New World, I never hear about how the Europeans and Indians communicated. How did they understand eachother? I get that by 1700 the Iroquois probably knew some English, but how did Spanish conquistadors speak with the Aztec kings? How did the Portugese traders speak to the tribes of the Amazon? Did the Indians in Virginia have an English translator? Did the Roanoke settlers learn the local tongue?