Do you actually need a human interpreter?

English at the booth is close to the default at the fair itself, which reduces how much you actually need an interpreter here compared with some of the open wholesale markets covered elsewhere in this guide — but translation apps and human interpreters still both have a real place.

Where a translation app covers you well

For straightforward, factual exchanges — confirming a quantity, a price, a specification detail — a translation app handles the job reasonably reliably, and having one ready removes friction at the rare booth where English isn’t strong. Point-and-translate features for reading a spec sheet or a business card are also genuinely useful in the moment.

Where a human interpreter still earns their cost

Nuanced negotiation, a technical discussion with real room for misunderstanding, or any conversation where getting a subtlety wrong would be expensive are situations where a translation app’s literalness becomes a liability rather than a convenience. For a large order or a category where the specifics really matter, a human interpreter is a reasonable cost to reduce that risk.

Where this matters more: outside the fair itself

Several of the specialised wholesale markets covered elsewhere in this guide are meaningfully less English-friendly than the fair — this is where an interpreter or heavier reliance on translation tools becomes more valuable, not primarily at the fair’s own booths.

What’s next

Make sure your connectivity is sorted before you rely on any translation app, and review the questions worth asking at a booth so you know exactly what you need translated in the first place.