Off topic: Order of cardinal directions in your language
Thread poster: Port City
Port City
Port City
New Zealand
Japanese to English
+ ...
Oct 19, 2015

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Hi there,

I'm curious about the order of cardinal directions (ex., North, South, East and West) used in different languages.

In Japanese, it's East, West, South and North, while I've seen East, South, West and North (clockwise starting from East) used in Chinese.

What's the order in your language? Thank you for your input in advance.


 
Zohor Ouamara
Zohor Ouamara
Algeria
Local time: 12:19
English to French
+ ...
Order of cardinal directions in algeria Oct 19, 2015

Hi,

In Algeria the order of cardinal directions is East,West, North and South


 
Francisco Vare
Francisco Vare
Poland
Local time: 12:19
Polish to Spanish
+ ...
In Spanish... Oct 19, 2015

...we have Norte (N), Sur (S), Este (E) and Oeste (W), N-S-E-W for us.

 
oxygen4u
oxygen4u
Portugal
Local time: 11:19
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In Portugal Oct 19, 2015

In Portugal we say North, South, East and West.

I had no idea there was a different way of saying this.


 
Barbara Pozzi
Barbara Pozzi  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 12:19
German to Italian
+ ...
In Italian Oct 19, 2015

... we say North, South, West and East.

 
Port City
Port City
New Zealand
Japanese to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you! Oct 20, 2015

Thank you for your input.

It's quite intriguing to see that different languages use a different word order while we all share the same concept. If you know the order in a language not shown thus far, you are welcome to share with us.

Lastly, thank you again to those who have contributed.


 
Dani Karuniawan
Dani Karuniawan  Identity Verified
Indonesia
Local time: 18:19
English to Indonesian
+ ...
order of direction Oct 20, 2015

In Indonesia (my area), the order is East, South, West, North.
Why?
Because childhood song taught us in our kindergarten: east, southeast, south, southwest, west, northwest, north, northeast.


 
Christina B.
Christina B.  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 12:19
French to German
+ ...
not sure if there is a special order in German Oct 20, 2015

Spontaneously I thought of North, South, West, East,

but when I looked it up on the Internet, I found N,E,S,W quite often (=klockwise), many times NSEW and some times NSWE.





[Edited at 2015-10-20 08:26 GMT]


 


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Order of cardinal directions in your language






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