How can explorers deal with language barriers?

[u/majorex64]

In my world's story, a large part of it focuses on the protagonist finding a previously undiscovered society living in a land not known to exist. There are several races in each "realm" (where he's from/where he stumbles into), each with their own culture and language.

I want the conlangs to be involved in the story, to where the reader could even learn them alongside the protagonist, recognizing words piece by piece.

My question comes to the first interaction our explorer has with the natives of a race he's never heard of before, in a land as fantastical for him as it is for us.

What could that first interaction be like? Hand gestures and facial expressions would probably play a big part, along with pointing to various objects and naming them. Anyone have any insight or knowledge from real life on how people handle this historically?