That is an easy confusion to make indeed.I get East and West mixed up. As in I can't remember which is left and which is right.For me the problem is that there is no inherent connection with button position for the elements so if we're told to press the AIR button in game then concious thought / learning has to take place to press the left button, also being told to press the Fire button could lead to a bit of confusion with us oldies who are used to joystick buttons in general being called the fire button.I think the idea got shot down by people originally, but maybe the button graphics just weren't right.
Using the elements as button labels also strikes me as Uber Nerdy / likely to appeal to 14 year old D&D players and people like me, of course (a 45 year old ex D&D playing hippy).
Still waiting for someone who would not be easily able to press the correct button if we used the cardinal points of the compass (+ NW & SW for the extra 2 buttons).
In English, it is "West" and "East".
In French, it is "Ouest" and "Est".
In Dutch, it's "West" and "Oost".
So in French, O would be left, while in Dutch, O is right.
"orient" is the east, "occident" is the west, some words are rather confusing.
When talking about the wind, you always give the direction it is coming from (e.g. south-west), which is of course 180° opposite of the direction it is going in.