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Children all over the world learn language, yet the contexts in which they do so vary substantially. This variation needs to be systematically quantified to build robust and generalizable theories of language acquisition. We compared communicative interactions between parents and their 2-year-old children (N = 99 families) during mealtime across five cultural settings (Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina, Germany, and Japan) and coded the amount of talk and gestures as well as their conversational embedding (interlocutors, function, and themes). We found a comparable pattern of communicative interactions across cultural settings, which were modified in ways that are consistent with local norms and values. These results suggest that children encounter similarly structured communicative environments across diverse cultural contexts and will inform theories of language learning. Public Significance Statement: Cultural norms and beliefs structure social interactions and communication. As a consequence, children learn language under very different circumstances. We studied communicative interactions between parents and their children in five diverse cultural contexts. We found a common, child-centered pattern of communication that was modified in line with local norms and values. This suggests that children can rely on similar information sources and learning processes across cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]