English, like the vast majority of languages, is spatially egocentric. We speak of bending over backward, walking forward, turning left and right — whenever we describe space, we do so with relation to ourselves.
Grammatically, we take for granted our own centrality. But not all languages operate this way.
If you were to ask the way to the supermarket in Hopevale, Australia, the Aboriginal residents wouldn’t dream of offering a confusing series of “lefts” and “rights.” In their native tongue, Guugu Yimithirr, you can expect something more like, “Go south until you pass a big eucalyptus, then 100 meters southeast.” Woe to those without a compass.
People in such cultures (Guugu Yimithirr is one of a select few) view the world and describe it not as something that extends outward from them, but as a realm of fixed geographical coordinates beyond the mobile self. In other words, rather than thinking of body-relative space, they embrace an absolute space based on cardinal directions.
