A new service launched on Monday offers customers the chance never to be lost in translation again. Users will be able to ask Japanese policemen for directions, order a meal in Malaysian, or decode a sign in Swedish by getting in touch with CallUma, manned by a team of translators versed in 140 languages.

Until now, translation methods have been a little awkward. The Talkman software on the Sony PSP allows users to translate audio into six languages. But users have found that loading times can blow any spontaneity out of a conversation, and that, despite Max's 300 pre-recorded phrases, not all bases are covered.

Using online text translation services such as BabelFish can be equally tricky, as a group of Israeli journalists discovered when sending a seemingly innocent email to the Dutch consulate in Tel Aviv last November. Having plugged their email into an online translator, the churned out text included such nonsensical clangers as "The mother your visit in Israel is a sleep to the favour or to the bed".

CallUma aims to iron out such international misunderstandings. If in need, a CallUma operator will order your meal for you if you pass your phone on to a waiter; and may even be your quickest way of getting in touch with local emergency services. Users can even send CallUma a text message, or a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) of a sign and they will fire back a translation.

The service is clearly handy, but may leave your pocket hurting. The basic £19.50 CallUma package includes five minutes of free calls, after which the rate is £1.50 a minute. This does not take into account standard international roaming fees that apply on all UK mobiles. Thus, if you are in need of a little help while in Beijing this summer, using CallUma to help converse with a local about the intricacies of pole-vaulting could cost you £14.75 for a five-minute call on a standard roaming tariff offered by a leading British operator. Talk, it seems, isn't always cheap.