I used to laugh at some of my friends when I know that they couldn’t differentiate between left and right. How tough can it be, right? Your right hand is right and your left hand is left. Oh yeah, they couldn’t differentiate.
I have no trouble identifying left, right, kanan and kiri (bahasa Malaysia). However, I have to admit that I used to have difficulty identifying them in Mandarin and Cantonese. Hey, my Chinese language used to suck big time. Anyway, I found a solution to my problem simply by remembering “what right is called”. In this case, they are you or yao in Mandarin and Cantonese. That is how I got control of my left and right in Chinese.
You can try the trick I mentioned above. If that’s not enough, below are a few other ways you can try to differentiate between left and right:
- Your dominant hand (the one you use mainly for tasks such as writing) is your right hand. According to studies, 85-90% of a population is right handed. Therefore, your chances of getting it wrong is only 10-15%
- When you greet someone, you shake their hand with your right hand.
- When a soldier salutes an officer, he salutes with his right hand.
- When you make an oath, you raise your right hand.
Hopefully these few tips can help you differentiate between left and right. Start practicing 
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Erm, isn’t left “kiri” and right “kanan”?
@mooiness
hehe.
LOL. Yes yes, it is. I didn’t get it wrong though. Maybe I should have put kiri before kanan
Hahaha… I used to get mixed up between left and right in Cantonese.
After learning how to drive with one cina-pek uncle, I finally got it right!! This… after walking on this planet for 18years at that time.
*blush*
@Angie Tan
hehe…so the two of us is almost the same lah. I also confused with the Cantonese and Mandarin version.