Agreed, I have spent 4-5 days there in total and certainly getting around as a tourist is absolutely fine, everything has English translations and most people you meet can speak serviceable English.

In the markets however bartering often involved them typing a price on a calculator and you typing one back, and repeating until somebody folds. edit: I did eat at a rice-type takeaway in the shopping centre attached to the hotel (virtually no westerners there) and the lady didn't speak English, but the girl in front translated for me, and then chatted to me a bit to practice her English!

I stayed at the Royal Plaza in Kowloon and it was very nice, I forget how much I paid now but it was substantially cheaper than Hong Kong Island and still fine for getting around (it is a 10 min walk to the MTR). I got a cab from the Kowloon Airport Express station.