I used to buy a brand of tea that put little messages on their teabags, not quite like fortune cookies but a similar idea. I would interpret that message differently depending on the context: do all the teabags have that same message on them, or is it one of several? If there are various messages, do they all have the same slightly off-key English? I would take the answer to that as my cue.
For instance, if they’re all different and all a little, let’s say, uncertain in their command of English, then I would guess that “the word” should have been “a word,” which changes the meaning. In that case I would just say it means something like “From the first word you utter, you earn—or show?—respect.”
As written, though, it doesn’t mean very much at all.