i've toured in china, thailand, cambodia, vietnam, laos, myanmar, malaysia.
i speak passable chinese (better than some chinese, hahah), and nitnoy thai.
in big cities, can always find someone that speaks english. smaller towns
schoolkids can help, or know a local english teacher....who may (or NOT!)
speak english. monks in wats/temples often can speak some english.
miming, drawing pictures can work with "things" but not directions.
first thing you want to do is get yourself a phrasebook. lonely planet makes a small one
with the essentials for 5 languages:thai, viet, khmer, lao, burmese.
learn the numbers and how to count, helpful with kilometer posts.
learn some useful phrases: how far is....? which road goes to.....? where's the w.c.?
where is a guesthouse/market/bank.....?
write the most important ones on a small paper to carry in your handlebar bag. i keep
the ones i use most on small cards in the mapcase, visible so i don't have to root around
to find them when needed.
of course, you could use cell phone apps. there's one that uses your cell phone camera,
take photo of chinese menu, text recognition software will translate for you. if you
trust the translations.
major highways will usually have english, or at least a recognizable approximation of
where you're headed.
of course out in the countryside, you never know what kind of signage (if any) you'll
come across.
try to find a bilingual map. if not, compare to an english map, know the pronunciation
and characters for your destination and some towns along the way. very useful if you
need to take a bus. to/from cities will be in local characters, any announcements will
be in local language. if in english, be careful.
things to watch out for:
locals have their own names for towns and villages, their local dialect may (will!) be
incomprehensible. town names on maps may not match town names on signs may
not match town names used in the towns.
locals often don't know the area outside a few km or less around their village. heck,
some locals don't know the name of their village. "excuse me, what place is this?"
"town" "okay, what's the name of the town?" "here."
locals mostly cannot read maps. they love maps, and will gladly tear yours out of
your hands to look at it. they can't help you, but they think it's awesome magic.
locals do not know how to measure distance. in china, if you ask how far, the answer
is usually "very far" "not far" or "too far to go on a bicycle" if you ask how many
kilometers, the answer is always "2", whether it's two or twenty or seventy-five.
some languages do not have words for yes/no, or they aren't used. if used, wrong.
as a foreign traveler, never ask "is this the way to....?" or "is this the road to....?"
cause the answer is always yes.
do not think you're clever by asking "where does this road go?" because the answer
will be "where do you want to go?" if you name a destination, that's where the
road goes.
do not get more clever by asking "how do i get to....?" as you'll be told to go to
the bus station, or told you can't get there from here.