Arguably the largest obstacle freshmen face in their mathematics courses is their unfamiliarity with the language of mathematics. Addressing this problem right at the start seems like a sensible strategy, as comprehension of mathematical communication helps students in all mathematics courses they will take. In this paper we discuss general strategies that can be used when addressing the competency in understanding and speaking the language of mathematics. In particular we focus on benefits of teaching students to prove statements and difficulties related to such endeavour. We introduce discrete mathematics as a particularly suitable course for such activity. Then we look closer at practical experiences we had when teaching comprehension of mathematical language and proofs in discrete mathematics courses.