How did the Conquistadors learn the local laguage(s)

by [deleted]

Hello,

I have been curious about this for a while. Firstly, multiple different languages were spoken across North and South America at that time. Such as in Caribbean, or in the Inca Empire. So how did the Spanish, and Portuguese learn these local languages considering nobody from their side spoke the new languages. Did they just point to random objects and make noises? Since there were no merchants/interpreters how did they negotiate?

jelvinjs7

More can be said, but the FAQ has a section about how people learned to cross-cultural communication. Particularly, this post by /u/anthropology_nerd about how conquistadors communicated with Native Americans.