How did people who speak different languages ​​communicate in the past if language barrier is a thing even now?

Question

How did people who speak different languages ​​communicate in the past if language barrier is a thing even now?

In: 107

Answer 1

You know why that spiky trees are called “spruce”? Because English people were buying them from Poles, and Poles were saying “z Prus” which sounds exactly like English “spruce” but actually has a meaning, “from Prussia”. In other words, they sometimes just didn’t.