<p>Building on <a href="https://conlang.stackexchange.com/a/59/85">the answer by thrig</a>: one could say <strong>poka pilin</strong> (<em>side with a heart</em>) for the left side and <strong>poka pilin ala</strong> for the right side.</p>

<p>It should be rather neutral and understandable as it is based on biology facts instead of culture-specific ideas.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-05-02T18:37:34.350Z
poka pilin ala would parse as (poka pilin) ala, or zero/not feeling hand. you would either need a pi particle to regroup it (as in poka pi pilin ala) or you would use a different word. also, pilin as an adjective almost always means means "feeling _" or "emotion of _", not heart. instead you should use the word olin, which in pu can mean either love or it can mean heart.
Zackbuildit777
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-06T23:11:04.890Z
What about those with the [heart on the other side](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situs_inversus)?
Mithical
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-06T23:16:58.073Z
@Mithrandir The article says that people usually don't expect the heart to be on the other side. Good catch, though.
Mateusz Piotrowski
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-06T22:55:08.837Z
2018-02-06T22:55:08.837Z
Mateusz Piotrowski
<p>People have come up with quite a few extra words some of which are used to some extent on discord. 'soto' is left &amp; teje is right. several of the words are just joke words but some like 'linluwi' - netwowrk/internet (len), &amp; lanpan -take/grab (kama jo) are useful.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-05-02T18:38:55.440Z
soto, teje, and linluwi are all pretty rare words, but lanpan is somewhat common.
Zackbuildit777
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-21T05:28:49.603Z
2020-09-21T05:28:49.603Z
jastako
<p>left sinister in latin right dexter so pona</p>
<p>luka and Pali luka for right and ike  Luka</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-04T05:54:10.263Z
2024-09-04T05:54:56.680Z
2024-09-04T05:54:56.680Z
Sajith Somaratna
<p>poka pi lawa musi (The side with the artistic brain) poka pi lawa nanpa (The side with the reasoning brain. Might work.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-02-02T16:08:26.923Z
[If only it were true.](http://scienceoflearning.jhu.edu/science-to-practice/resources/debunking-the-myth-about-left-brain-right-brain-learning-styles#:~:text=What%20is%20the%20left%2Dbrain,be%20more%20creative%20and%20artistic.)
Theodore
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-31T18:09:57.500Z
2023-01-31T18:09:57.500Z
EMPcat1225
<p>One popular proposal that comes up in a lot of discussions on this topic is to base it on the direction of the official writing system (i.e. Latin characters). Thus "poki open" for left, and "poki pini" for right. However, there is still no real consensus on how to say "right" and "left", so these expressions might not be understood by everyone.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-23T03:16:11.317Z
I have to vote for poka open for left, & poka pini for right. They don't cause any more problem than anything else. poka wawa is a bad idea right-handed people would assume that meant right, but that makes it confusing for left-handed people. Because the sun rises (open) in the East & sets (pini) in the West, we could make "poka suno" East & "poka pimeja" West. "poka kon" could be North, & "poka ma" could be South.
ben
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-05-02T18:42:19.720Z
@ben poka suno and poka pimeja would generally not be understood by people to mean left and right. their literal translations are "a lit/sun hand" and "a black hand". as it stands, poka pona for right hand and poka ike for left are two fairly common phrases already in use, based on a lot of romance languages using words similar to bad and good for left and right
Zackbuildit777
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-04T17:32:18.833Z
@Zackbuildit777 That's not what ben is saying. They're saying poka suno/pimeja should be used for east/west, not left/right
No Name
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-07T07:47:36.013Z
2018-02-07T07:47:36.013Z
kristan
<p>As we know, Toki Pona is a quite minimal language and it sometimes not easy to come up with a word we use everyday in English. The problem is that I cannot think of a non-culture-specific and easily understandable way of saying right and left.</p>

<p>How to say right (and left) in Toki Pona as those words are not a part of the official dictionary?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-06T23:03:49.143Z
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is a translation request, which I would like to consider off-scope
Sascha Baer
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-06T23:08:24.093Z
@Adarain Should this question be closed as well then? https://conlang.stackexchange.com/questions/12/what-is-lightness-in-the-black-speech
Mateusz Piotrowski
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-06T23:10:25.140Z
@Adarain Also this: https://conlang.stackexchange.com/questions/29/how-would-you-say-good-morning-or-hello-politely-in-klingon
Mateusz Piotrowski
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-06T23:11:38.440Z
Voting to leave open as this isn't a standard word in the toki pona dictionary.
Mithical
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-06T23:15:21.983Z
@Zyerah It depends on what you mean by general, but I'd say that it is a general question of **how one would say "left/right" side in a Toki Pona conversation so that the meaning is obvious to all the participants**.
Mateusz Piotrowski
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-07T01:20:26.050Z
Relevant meta post: https://conlang.meta.stackexchange.com/q/30/35. **We haven't decided yet that these questions are off-topic**; I don't think that we really have a case for closing this.
HDE 226868
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-07T01:23:22.997Z
If you could provide a reason why this is particularily interesting or difficult translation that would be a fine question, but I don't like it at all as it stands. It would appear that toki-pona runs into similar problems with almost any word.
caconyrn
<toki-pona><phrase-request>
How to say right and left in Toki Pona?
# How to say right and left in Toki Pona?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-02-06)

As we know, Toki Pona is a quite minimal language and it sometimes not easy to come up with a word we use everyday in English. The problem is that I cannot think of a non-culture-specific and easily understandable way of saying right and left.

How to say right (and left) in Toki Pona as those words are not a part of the official dictionary?

**Tags:** toki-pona, phrase-request

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is a translation request, which I would like to consider off-scope  
> **username_0**: @Adarain Should this question be closed as well then? https://conlang.stackexchange.com/questions/12/what-is-lightness-in-the-black-speech  
> **username_0**: @Adarain Also this: https://conlang.stackexchange.com/questions/29/how-would-you-say-good-morning-or-hello-politely-in-klingon  
> **username_2**: Voting to leave open as this isn't a standard word in the toki pona dictionary.  
> **username_0**: @Zyerah It depends on what you mean by general, but I'd say that it is a general question of **how one would say "left/right" side in a Toki Pona conversation so that the meaning is obvious to all the participants**.  
> **username_3**: Relevant meta post: https://conlang.meta.stackexchange.com/q/30/35. **We haven't decided yet that these questions are off-topic**; I don't think that we really have a case for closing this.  
> **username_4**: If you could provide a reason why this is particularily interesting or difficult translation that would be a fine question, but I don't like it at all as it stands. It would appear that toki-pona runs into similar problems with almost any word.  

---

## 5 answers

### Answer by username_10 on 2018-02-07. Score: 9 | Accepted answer

One popular proposal that comes up in a lot of discussions on this topic is to base it on the direction of the official writing system (i.e. Latin characters). Thus "poki open" for left, and "poki pini" for right. However, there is still no real consensus on how to say "right" and "left", so these expressions might not be understood by everyone.

> **Comments:**
> **username_11**: I have to vote for poka open for left, & poka pini for right. They don't cause any more problem than anything else. poka wawa is a bad idea right-handed people would assume that meant right, but that makes it confusing for left-handed people. Because the sun rises (open) in the East & sets (pini) in the West, we could make "poka suno" East & "poka pimeja" West. "poka kon" could be North, & "poka ma" could be South.  
> **username_5**: @username_11 poka suno and poka pimeja would generally not be understood by people to mean left and right. their literal translations are "a lit/sun hand" and "a black hand". as it stands, poka pona for right hand and poka ike for left are two fairly common phrases already in use, based on a lot of romance languages using words similar to bad and good for left and right  
> **username_12**: @username_5 That's not what ben is saying. They're saying poka suno/pimeja should be used for east/west, not left/right  

---

### Answer by username_0 on 2018-02-06. Score: 6

Building on [the answer by thrig](https://conlang.stackexchange.com/a/59/85): one could say **poka pilin** (*side with a heart*) for the left side and **poka pilin ala** for the right side.

It should be rather neutral and understandable as it is based on biology facts instead of culture-specific ideas.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: What about those with the [heart on the other side](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situs_inversus)?  
> **username_0**: @Mithrandir The article says that people usually don't expect the heart to be on the other side. Good catch, though.  
> **username_5**: poka pilin ala would parse as (poka pilin) ala, or zero/not feeling hand. you would either need a pi particle to regroup it (as in poka pi pilin ala) or you would use a different word. also, pilin as an adjective almost always means means "feeling _" or "emotion of _", not heart. instead you should use the word olin, which in pu can mean either love or it can mean heart.  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2020-09-21. Score: 1

People have come up with quite a few extra words some of which are used to some extent on discord. 'soto' is left & teje is right. several of the words are just joke words but some like 'linluwi' - netwowrk/internet (len), & lanpan -take/grab (kama jo) are useful.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: soto, teje, and linluwi are all pretty rare words, but lanpan is somewhat common.  

---

### Answer by username_7 on 2024-09-04. Score: 0

left sinister in latin right dexter so pona

luka and Pali luka for right and ike Luka


---

### Answer by username_8 on 2023-01-31. Score: 0

poka pi lawa musi (The side with the artistic brain) poka pi lawa nanpa (The side with the reasoning brain. Might work.

> **Comments:**
> **username_9**: [If only it were true.](http://scienceoflearning.jhu.edu/science-to-practice/resources/debunking-the-myth-about-left-brain-right-brain-learning-styles#:~:text=What%20is%20the%20left%2Dbrain,be%20more%20creative%20and%20artistic.)  

---

