Russians seem to avoid using N, S, E, W

[Charles Mills]

My impression is that astronomy and orienteering are not universal skills.
 Think of what relative recent original the coordinate system is, how
culture-specific it is (essentially an artifact of seafaring), how abstract
it is, and how -- as numerous people here have pointed out -- of its dubious
value in the context of a city not laid out on a grid.  I am a sea kayaker
in my free time, so I am fairly well versed in the black art of navigation
by chart and compass.  That said, on dry land living on a curved bay is
enough to drive you to distraction.  Short of carrying a compass or making
reference to the sun or direction of the clouds, it's almost impossible to
keep track of which way is north as you make your way around the bay.  It's
always changing.  The same would apply to a historic city like Moscow that
grew in concentric circles.  So I'm not surprised by that.

My dismay has been rather at Russians' unfamiliarity with the culture of
maps.  I will never forget the day I handed my map to a man on the street as
I asked for directions in Leningrad.  First he turned it one way.  Then
another.  Then another again.  It was almost comical as he tried to get his
bearings.  I got the impression that he had never held a map before, and
that was not untypical.  I came away with the impression that Russians
simply use maps less.  But, like taxi drivers, the typical urban Russian
carries a huge spacial representation of the city in his or her head.  For
example, every Russian in Petersburg knows exactly which car on the subway
to get on -- down to the door -- to get off at such-and-such a station and
transfer to another line with the fewest steps.

C. Mills
Monterey



On Thu, Sep 2, 2010 at 8:21 PM, Svetlana Malykhina <mlsvetka at yahoo.com>wrote:

> I second the opinion that avoidance of using geographic coordinates is
> deeply embedded 'russian way' of describing urban places. From my
> observation, it seems like those who are sailing, hiking and driving around
> the places are more likely to use N S E W while telling the directions to
> places. Likewise those who know something about the starry sky, can locate
> the North Star and read by starlight can easily navigate a city at night.
> Astronomy and geography are sets of universal skills, aren't they?
>
> Svitlana Malykhina

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