I didn't know that western culture also has zodiac count of elements

for example, 1988 is the year of gold dragon in eastern but I heard that it is earth dragon in western :0 !!
Anyway, someone said that this year is the year of water dragon. So, I should say that
2012 is the year of black dragon in eastern nations (china, korea, japan, taiwan, hongkong...etc)

But I also love water dragon xDD!!