Comment by samuellevy

Yep, the "chinese room" is the classic thought experiment, but I feel like it fails to get the point across because the characters still represent language, so you could conceivably "learn" the language. I prefer the idea of symbols that aren't inherently language, as it really nails in the idea that it doesn't matter how long you spend, there's not something that you can ever learn to "speak" fluently.