So as I understand it, the larger nations and cultures rarely had any reason to interact or to meet very distinct cultures back when there wasn’t much imperialism. One place where I can think of a meeting of a distant culture and language, with western culture, was when the mongol empire got to Europe. I recently read that letters were sent to Venice or the Vatican (can’t remember which one), from the Kahn. In an instance where culture was very different, but royal letters or that of two commanding generals with no understanding of the other generals culture, how long would it take for the receiving part to be able to respond such a letter?