A rather amusing primer here.
I’ve always thought a good Alien-English Dictionary would come in handy. 
I suspect that, if and when it does happen, first contact will be remembered by humans in much the same way that the equivalent event is presently remembered by dodos.
Seems likely, Colophon. But as the manual states, “It won’t be ‘lasers vs. machine guns’, it’ll be more like ‘nuclear weapons vs. sponges’. The fact that you’re still alive will mean they are going to allow us to exist.” More likely, we won’t be alive and none of this will matter. (Independence Day was a crock of shit. Yeah, we’ll be able to defeat an invading force that much more technologically advanced than us with a stolen shuttle, one nuclear bomb, and a fucking Powerbook. You betcha.) But on the off-chance that they’re enlightened enough to actually try to communicate with such a backward species, I sure wouldn’t want to be the dumbass who convinced them to hit the ‘sterilize planet’ button.
I think one important point that’s missing is ‘learn the ability to do a few cute tricks.’ If we are going to survive, it’ll be as house pets for a few generations.
And to think all my friends told me I was wasting my time learning to lick my own elbow.
I will not go quietly into the night.
I will cry like a little girl.