slightly OT - phone translation services, any recommendations?

[Corporate666]

Figure the guys dealing with China might know something about this...

One problem I am running into on occasion is dealing with Chinese suppliers.  They are often really unreliable for email, and it's difficult to break through the language barrier by email or by phone.

I Googled phone translation services, but there are tons and many of them want to get you into a contract.

I am wondering if there is a company where you call them, give them a credit card and then they call the other party, and they act as a translator... then you just get billed by the minute for each use.  I don't use it enough to want any sort of commitment, just a reasonable pay-as-you-go situation.

I know such services exist (tons of Google hits), but can anyone recommend a simple and easy to use one?

I say this sitting at my office at 10pm trying to navigate a Taiwanese supplier's phone system that says "Press 9 for English" and then launches into Chinese when you press 9... and who hasn't responded to emails and who has a shipment of pretty critical parts I need ASAP to fill an order!

[SeanB]

You need an agent who speaks Mandarin, who is ethical, honest and well spoken.

You might find some here who are willing to do so for a price. If he is interested he will contact you.

[Stonent]

A store that I used to work at had a card (hospitals usually do too) where the person points at the language samples on the card. Then you call a phone number and put them on a phone extension with you and the person on the other end translates.