Enemy Mine

Intergalactic war brings devastation as bellicose covetous cultures clash, the freeform colonization of space demanding macroscopic invention. 

They're both after the same fertile regions and generally ill-suited to interplanetary diplomacy, consistently engaging in heated space battles to indelicately bridge the chaotic gap.

A spirited soldier from Earth is passionately incensed after his friend is obliterated, and skilfully tracks the offending aggressor into the atmosphere of a barren planet.

A sudden wayward miscalculation and both pilots soon find themselves lost and stranded, still at disputatious odds but willing to work together to facilitate survival. 

Thus, as happens so often, when the grandiose flare for jingoism fades, the courageous troops who do most of the fighting habitually find they have lots in common.

Without the speeches and the advertising and the rhetoric the manufactured hatred gives way to reason, and rival soldiers find common ground from which to build a working conzensus.

Communication remains difficult as the brave warriors seek stable shelter and food, both languages sharing no logical links they're starting from scratch with sounds and visuals.

They aren't that gifted linguistically but they quickly make up for it with determined gusto, and since they have a lot of time on their hands they're able to learn to efficiently speak.

Learning a new language in the beginning can be disheartening because there are so many new words, not a hundred or five-hundred or a thousand but several thousand to be effectively mastered.

Many of these words often have different forms so learning one is like learning two or three, and one word often has more than one meaning so you have to learn different definitions for different contexts.

Remain calm.

Don't let it get to you.

Be patient and kind.

People will help you.

And take note of your surroundings, you may encounter many people who don't read Dickens, but they can still speak solid working English and reasonably discuss multiple subjects.

Remember, if they can do so in English eventually you should be able to do the same in their language.

Rome wasn't built in a day.

Acquire new vocabulary.

Use it in conversation.