Communicating in China

My parents returned from a two week trip to the Orient and reported the trip was grand and tiring. They brought back maps, tickets, papers and documents for us. One thing caught my eye: a card printed with English and Chinese phrases. I ask Mom about it.
She said that taxi drivers don’t speak or understand English. They also don’t understand poorly spoken Chinese (a person fluent in English who tries to say Chinese phrases with an American accent). I respected that because the taxi drivers are, after all, in China. Why should they be expected to know English to do their jobs? Whether or not schools in China require students to learn English is not relevant here.
So my parents’ received the card so they can point to the English / Chinese phrase pairing to show the taxi driver. One thing that frightens me about traveling to other countries is the communication difficulties especially since my English speech isn’t perfect (as a deaf person) that it’s harder for those where English isn’t their first language to understand me.
I loved learning foreign language and took two different languages in high school. Even if I were to immerse myself in a country speaking one of the languages, it would be difficult for me to become fluent because I can’t hear the conversations. Lipreading is another story altogether.
Anyway, my mom said that the hotels’ concierges understood English and advised them how to communicate and get around or directly told the taxi drivers where to go. My parents worried that the drivers would take the long way to get to places to rack up the fare, but taxis were so cheap that an average ride in the large and spread out city of Beijing was the equivalent of USD $2.
The longest ride cost 18 yuan ($1 US = 7/.8 yuan). The drivers charge for time and distance, so traffic tie ups cost more. However, drivers don’t expect tips and are reticent about taking them if offered.