3 ms·
German here. Up and down are not related to north and south for me. Maybe it's because streets are not neatly arranged like that?
by hibbelig 9y ago
German here. Up and down are not related to north and south for me. Maybe it's because streets are not neatly arranged like that?
- weinzierl 9y agoSouthern German here and up and down are related to elevation where I live. We drive up to Garmisch (700 m) but down to Munich (500 m) for example. Garmisch is south of Munich. In dialect we also have different words depending on the the location of the speaker. "I drive up to Garmisch" vs "I drive up from Munich" would be different words for "up".
- MandieD 9y agoI noticed the same thing as a native Texan living in northern Bavaria. It's caused me to seriously mix up east and west in Austria and Switzerland - in my mental map, Salzburg is to the left of Innsbruck, which is to the left of Switzerland. However, my mental map of northern Bavaria, along with the rest of Germany, is aligned east=right, west=left, north=up. Result? Pretty much anywhere is somewhere I'm going "up" to, be it Salzburg or Hannover.