How to find / understand research in other languages when you don't know that language? I'm starting to do some research in Asia, however, I don't know the local language. I do have some contacts, all of whom speak English, but I'm worried about finding earlier research which was published in the local language. For example, if I don't speak Thai and I am doing research in Thailand, how can I find existing research which was published in Thai (with the intent of contacting the researcher or finding a translator to translate it into English)?

This might be a futile exercise, and I might need to remove the question but in case anyone out there has a creative idea, I would love to hear it.
I would ask a colleague which does speak Thai, and ask him if there are any relevant Thai publications you need to be aware of. Ofcourse this colleague needs to be in the same field you are interested in. If he or she does not know of any relevant literature, this might indicate that you are not missing any relevant research.

In addition, when you are looking for papers yourself, I would Google translate the titles of the papers, and if they seem interesting I would ask a native speaking colleague to translate the abstract. If it still is interesting then you ask your colleague to read the paper together with you.