As Ketaro noted, ooc duration is unimportant - you can use it as many times as you want, so you just walk around summoning an elemental every time you come across a corner/door/chest/corpse/etc that looks suspicious. I wouldn't bother summoning it in combat, though. Enjoy the flanking opportunities it provides for a few rounds, but don't rely on it.
As for talking to it: knowing the various elemental languages (terran, aquan, ignan, auran) is usually a good idea anyway. They come up fairly frequently in the mid-high levels, although less so than draconic, celestial, or infernal. Honestly, though, just knowing whether it still exists (ie whether or not something has attacked/killed it) is usually enough to spoil an ambush, and most DMs will let you know that as a basic part of the spell/feat.
