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

[Josh Wilson]

Not at all universal, no. Common across cultures, but not at all universally
accepted, used, or even really comprehensible.  

Here's another couple interesting tidbits: 

When at home (in rural Idaho), I can easily find the North Star. I can
usually point out Venus, Mars, and on a really clear night, the tail of the
Milky Way. However, in Moscow (and New York for that matter), glaring city
lights obliterate most if not nearly all of the stars, and it disorients me.
Plus, with almost-constant cloud cover, stars are very haphazard way of
navigating Moscow in my opinion. I could probably relearn how to tell the
North Star from 3-4 other visible stars, but it's never struck me as worth
my time. 

Another interesting fact - my wife grew up in Ashgabat and Moscow. She can
generally navigate those cities with little effort, as though by instinct.
However, in other cities, and especially cities that are built on a grid
system, she very quickly becomes disoriented. She is amazed at the fact that
I can, however, having been raised in grid-system cities, can always point
to where we need to go... with a grid, I can easily carry the map in my head
and maintain my position within it. In Moscow, I generally navigate by
public transportation and a map in my hand. 


Josh Wilson
Assistant Director
The School of Russian and Asian Studies
Editor in Chief
Vestnik, The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies
SRAS.org 
jwilson at sras.org


-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Svetlana Malykhina
Sent: Friday, September 03, 2010 7:21 AM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Russians seem to avoid using N, S, E, W

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
--- On Fri, 3/9/10, Melissa Smith <mtsmith02 at YSU.EDU> wrote:


From: Melissa Smith <mtsmith02 at YSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Russians seem to avoid using N, S, E, W
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Date: Friday, 3 September, 2010, 0:26


I don't know what knowledge is typical in any culture. I personally 
like studying maps and carry the directions of the compass in my head, 
but I've been astounded when I try to teach points of the compass, and 
my students on a commuter campus don't know which way is home! I think 
it's only going to get worse, since GPS tends to indicate the direction 
you happen to be headed. The route that one needs to take is the most 
relevant information, and directions of the compass involve an extra 
layer of abstraction from one's personal world.

You may not need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is 
blowing, but if you want to communicate this information to someone 
else, you need a shared system of coordinates!

Melissa


On 9/2/10 2:43 PM, Richard Robin wrote:
> The fact that Russians don't use compass directions has always been
> frustrating to me. Whenever I come out of a Moscow metro station that 
I have
> never seen before, my first instinct is to try and figure out where 
north
> is. If I know that, I can find almost anything. But alas, on a cloudy 
day or
> at night, with no sun for guidance, I know that no one I ask will be 
able to
> tell me where north is. Of course, in the northern part of the city, I 
can
> use Ostankino as a marker. But elsewhere it's hopeless. Maybe I should 
carry
> around a compass.
> 
> Perhaps I'm atypical, even for an American. My wife is ready to 
divorce me
> every time I say something like "It's on the southeast corner of 
Wisconsin
> Avenue and Reservoir Road."
> 
> -Rich Robin
> 
> -- 
> Richard M. Robin
> Director Russian Language Program
> The George Washington University
> Washington, DC 20052
> 202-994-7081
> 
> 
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------------------------------------

Melissa T. Smith, Professor
Department of Foreign Languages and 
Literatures  
Youngstown State University
Youngstown, OH 44555
Tel: (330)941-3462

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