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I am suprised to see when inarrived in thailand that the Lingua Franca is english. I was under the impression it was mandarin in asian countries
@freemo Euh, nah. Not lingua franca. Many of those funky symbols do have Chinese roots, and the meaning sortakinda might be derived the same, but no.. to my understanding definitely not lingua franca style.
Thailand definitely not.
@trinsec you may be using the term wrong. Lingua Franca is a common language used so people who speak different languages can communicate even though its not a primary language.
Here the highway signs are in thai and english, which makes english the lingua franca.
@freemo Yeah, that's what I meant too. Thai doesn't have much in common with China for them to know Chinese in order to communicate via that.
@trinsec oh did we colonize thailand at some point? Figures
@freemo I don't think Thailand had been officially colonized, though it probably was target of the British and the.. French? before. But surrounding countries were, and that'd affect even Thailand.
@trinsec since i have a thai girlfriend i really should start learning more about the countries history.
@freemo Hehe, yeah. ;)
@freemo @trinsec Random tidbit... My friend Chris Pirazzi wrote this book about having a Thai girlfriend.
https://www.amazon.com/Thailand-Fever-English-Chris-Pirazzi/dp/1887521488
@freemo It means that the English colonization has been pretty overwhelmingly powerful back then, heh.