The only contact with the foreign Trailmen is through trade conducted once a year in silence and by sign language, since the isolated tribes are thought to have no common language.

NPR: From New York State: Science, Fiction and Bar Yarns

While the first minister was on a mission to China to promote trade and cultural links, that country's consul general highlighted the importance of foreign language assistants in acting as a "bridge of cultural exchanges".

BBC: Consuls in school foreign languages plea