Orientation

Jennifer Lindsay*

Over the past couple of months I have been translating a book that frequently refers to compass points. The words for the four cardinal points I do not have to think about (utara, north; selatan, south; timur, east; barat, west), nor tenggara for southeast because it is so familiar from Asia Tenggara for Southeast Asia, but the words barat daya, barat laut and timur laut for southwest, northwest and northeast, stump me every time. After all these years, they just don't stick.