I had a Japanese CPA from our Tokyo office work with me. She spoke English and Japanese. We all exchanged business cards the first day when we met, which in Japan is quite a process of formally presenting your business cards with both hands and bowing to one another. So I would tell the Japanese CPA the questions I wanted to ask our clients. She would translate the question for them, listen to their answers, and then translate back to me. Often I would ask a question, she would have an extended conversation with the clients and then provide a very brief answer back to me. If you have ever seen the movie "Lost in Translation", the experience was very much like Bill Murray's experience with the director of the commercial he was making.