English is spoken in all the big hotels and most of the tourist areas. Almost everyone in Thailand under 40 has had some English Language instruction in school and it's mandatory at the University level. Unfortunately often it's taught by Thai teachers that do not have the speaking and listening skills in the language and pass on their poor pronunciation to their students. Thai teachers do put a lot of emphasis on written English, spelling and grammar.

Often Thai people, outside the tourist industry, will not answer you in English even though they could. This is because they do not want to lose face themselves or cause you to have a loss of face.

My brother in law would not speak English to me until I told him that he could never make as many mistakes as I do in Thai. Since then he talks English with me and does very well.

If you are shopping you can always type the numbers into a calculator to show how much you are willing to pay if you can't understand Thai counting. Remember that Thai's haggle on the price of things, especially in the markets.

You could also try printing the English words on a piece of paper or have the desk clerk write the hotel's address in Thai so if you get lost you can always get home.

One more thing - If you end up walking around the city or parks small kids will come up and say "Hello". Take five minutes and talk to them as they really like to talk to Farang (Foreigners) and they will learn the proper pronunciation of English words.