They Speak English Here Right?

I've discovered that one cultural myth about foreign countries is true, every one does speak English, however the part they don't talk about is none of them understand English... The airport in Japan had a very nice lady holding a sign that said United Bangkok and kept saying "Bangkok, Singapore" and pointing to a line. But when you asked her if this was the line we were supposed to be in she would repeat the speech say "ANA" and nod emphatically. I guess it worked I ended up in Thailand not Singapore.