While we could do the same thing in German (as our word for "left" is "links"), I've never encountered it, nor anything similar. Perhaps we assume that people learn to distinguish left from right before they learn their letters, or something of that sort. When I deal with small children who have to remember to use one of the sides, I generally go by where they hold their pencil/crayon when doing pictures.
There is one phrase, which goes something like "Rechts ist da, wo der Daumen links ist" - "The right side is the one where the thumb is to the left" - that is of no use whatsoever, which is intended.
At 70, I still have problems! I do better with north and south, etc. I think some people are just challenged with being sensitive to left and right without thinking. I used to have a scar on my left hand, which helped, but it's faded now.
Oh, I do confuse mine, too (might be hereditary, as my father does it as well, which leads to hilarious situations - both of us in a car, the passenger telling the driver to turn left, at which the driver turns right, which was the intended direction in any case). I don't think that any helpful memory trick helps with that one, really.
My husband gets really irritated when I point instead of naming directions, but I tell him that's the only possible way for me to get us where we're supposed to be going.
Haha, yeah, that's kind of how the question came up. I was with a friend who has to do the left hand L thing when she gets directions to know which way to go, and that made me wonder. I know a good number of people who just don't know. It seems to be more common than you'd think.
Same here, the same could be done for Dutch (because "left" is also "links"), but I've also never encountered a trick like that one. I was taught to go by which hand I'd write/draw with.
I'm Dutch and I completely depend on that trick to be able to tell the difference between left and right. So I think it might depend on a teacher or a parent whether you learn that trick or not!
There is one phrase, which goes something like "Rechts ist da, wo der Daumen links ist" - "The right side is the one where the thumb is to the left" - that is of no use whatsoever, which is intended.
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