[curun1r]

FWIW, when I had to get in touch with EDD several years ago and had absolutely no luck calling the main number, I eventually got through with the foreign language numbers. They’re generally staffed higher in proportion to the number of callers they get. IIRC, Vietnamese was the one with the best ratio, though that may have changed in the years since I looked into it.

It can be tricky to make it through the automated menus if you don’t speak the language (though I’m sure you’ve memorized the sequence by now), but once you get to a human, they’re bilingual and completely fluent in English.

[taneq]

Huh, nice trick! Likewise some companies make it difficult (deliberately? surely not!) to get through to their tech support and warranty lines, but their sales number is always answered instantly and sometimes their sales staff can transfer you directly to the right person. Another handy hint for automated phone menus is to just spam # nonstop, usually after about 10-20 presses the menu software will give up and patch you through to a human.

[Apocryphon]

Best hack I’ve read on this site in quite a while!

[dghughes]

Google's Translate app on a phone may help but not all languages accept audio input.

[gscott]

Usually, the foreign language number staff speak English as well.