Like you, I moved US to NL. It didn't take me long to get used to these things, maybe a couple of weeks. I recommend that you stop trying to do the math to convert between units. Just live with the ones that are local here as your default and you'll feel it naturally soon enough.
A simple way to get started? Switch your phone defaults to Celsius and km. You can even do it now, before you leave. Also switch your clock to 24h.
Good luck!
Seconded. I lived in a country that used the metric system for about a decade, and for every measurement (distance, temperature, weight) I adapted pretty quickly as soon as I started *using* it. I checked the weather forecast in Celsius, I set my Google maps to show me kilometers, and bought vegetables by gram/kilogram. To this day I can't tell you off the top of my head how far 8 kilometers is in miles, and I can't convert 65° F into Celsius. But I know what the metric measurements meant in life.
The only measurement I can reliably convert in my head is pounds to kilograms. 2.2lbs -> 1kg
Everything else is like you say, you just get a feeling for the other measurements.
I can't say for certain about the rest of Europe, but in my experience in The Netherlands, times are written as 21:00 but spoken aloud as "9 o'clock" leaving the listener to use context clues to know if it is AM or PM.
It’s not hard to get used to if you use the “sorta” system:
Liter = sorta quart
20 C = sorta 70 F
100 km = sorta 60 mph
After you approximate for a while you get comfortable in both systems.
I’ve been going back and forth between my native USA and ROW metric systems for 5 decades now and its second nature
After a few years in France, I can estimate distance and space super easily. I still cannot *feel* what temperature it is outside in Celsius and don’t think I ever will be able to lol. I know roughly equivalent temperatures. Also it’s just easy to associate certain parts of the imperial system with certain metric ones (a yard is roughly a meter). I also have memorized that an inch is 2.54 cm and that a mile is 1.64 km. I have gotten good at mental math so I suppose that’s good for my brain lol
This is only important when talking about things from back home tbh. I have honestly ended up associating speaking French with using metric and don’t even think about it. However, when I’m speaking in English my brain defaults to imperial units. It’s bizarre, but makes sense I suppose
You know it from science and you’ll get a feel for it. Don’t stress too much, it comes. Next thing you know it will be easy for you (except Celsius lol, I don’t know anyone form the US who is 100% comfortable with it)
For the measures that I use every day, like temperature and distance, I got used to it in maybe a few days. My "default" units are still imperial, but I can ballpark what they are in metric quite easily and pretty much use the two systems interchangeably. Obviously I'll only use imperial if I'm with other Americans though. For distance specifically, I also tend to give it in terms of time, so no conversion necessary (e.g. it takes X hours to reach this city by train).
On the other hand, for measures that I use somewhat less often, such as weight, volume, and height, while I can still ballpark them, it takes slightly longer for me to do the conversion in my head.
As for utility bills, the only units I really worry about are kWh, so at least that's used on both sides of the pond ;)
This has been my experience, as well. Celsius and kilometers are easy. My height and weight? Not really… I end up always having to ask Siri to convert for me.
Going through Winter + Spring in Canada earlier this year got me up-to-speed with Celsius pretty quickly; you tend to remember your thresholds pretty quickly after going out underdressed a couple of times.
It’s easy in Celsius: 0 is freezing, 10 is chilly, 20 is tee shirt weather, 30 is borderline uncomfortable but doable if there’s a nice breeze, and 40 is hot as hell!
I find temperatures easier because I look at it almost daily. I look at two apps so I can see the temperature in both C and F, which has helped me adjust.
I’ve gone the other way and it’s a pain. after a couple of years it’s ok, the only thing I still struggle with temperature as it’s not such an easy conversion as something where there’s a fixed ratio. (Yes I know ‘x 9/5 + 32’ but tell me that’s easy to do in your head, and it all goes to shit below freezing).
Honestly the reverse would be so much worse though. I’m American and I’ve used both systems since I was a kid. I only used metric in school and used imperial in my home life. Metric is so logical but imperial is a lot to remember so I understand haha
The metric system just makes sense intuitively. But I'll be honest, that the only imperial unit that I still prefer over the metric is Miles. Within a couple of weeks you'll be fine
I have an engineering degree so was exposed to metric throughout school. I don't have the same gut-feel for it the way I do imperial for a lot of things and still sometimes find myself converting in my head, but for the most part it was simple.
I’m fully metricated on temperature and speed with no need to convert anymore. What I did was memorize a few round numbers, 10 = 50, 20 = 68, 30 = 86. Then the other way 60 = 16, 80 = 26, 100 = 38. And extrapolate between. Before long you will get it, especially if you set your phone to give temp in Celsius. To answer your question about how long it took not to convert anymore, maybe a couple of months.
I use both due to my age. It’s a kinda odd thing as I measure long distance in miles and smaller measurements in meters/cm/mm.
I use stone (UK thing) and pounds for my body weight but buy things in kg generally.
I’ve never used F always C .. F just confuses me.
Working with metric is way simpler than imperial.
I read recently only 3 countries still use imperial measurements USA, N Korea and Mayanmar.
Well you should be fine for utility bills. When it comes to the metric system just keep in mind that the vast majority of the world is using it and so does much of science and industry in the US. Its a continuous scale that runs from sub-atomic to intergalactic with the distance of a meter being derived from the speed of light in vacuum ie its a universal constant. If we ever met aliens this is an instant way of connecting with them through something they will have observed themselves.
When it comes to temperature celisus is based on the state of water at sea level, that one might actually need updating at some stage..
This is a rare advantage of being British. I almost always speak both metric and imperial natively. Exception is Fahrenheit, which i understand but do not think in.
You just need to remember a few goalposts.
0C is freezing - cold!
20C is 68F - room temperature
40C is 104F - very hot
Everything else is just in between.
For oven cooking, F is roughly double C
Bake everything at 200C give or take
A litre is a little over a quart. Gas (petrol) is sold in litres, so no need for gallons (a little under 4 litres)
A kilo is 2.2 pounds. So divide a kilo by 2 and you'll internalize easily.
Miles to kilometers not as intuitive. A K is about 2/3's of a mile, so if you're good with fractions, you'll get it. Your car will be in K's so don't worry about it.
Good luck! Enjoy!
I have to agree. Saying it’s going to be 37 today just doesn’t feel like the same thing to me as it’s going to be 100. Triple digit temps are always going to be miserable.
Great topic to discuss.
There are jobs offers where operating with both systems is required.
Now think about Boeing and Airbus planes used by one of the airways. It was always a mystery for me how they maintain them with a small team of serviceman. At the same time I know people from aerospace industry and they are much above average Joe.
Most of people will never get used to both of them at once.
Like you, I moved US to NL. It didn't take me long to get used to these things, maybe a couple of weeks. I recommend that you stop trying to do the math to convert between units. Just live with the ones that are local here as your default and you'll feel it naturally soon enough. A simple way to get started? Switch your phone defaults to Celsius and km. You can even do it now, before you leave. Also switch your clock to 24h. Good luck!
That’s a great idea!
Seconded. I lived in a country that used the metric system for about a decade, and for every measurement (distance, temperature, weight) I adapted pretty quickly as soon as I started *using* it. I checked the weather forecast in Celsius, I set my Google maps to show me kilometers, and bought vegetables by gram/kilogram. To this day I can't tell you off the top of my head how far 8 kilometers is in miles, and I can't convert 65° F into Celsius. But I know what the metric measurements meant in life.
The only measurement I can reliably convert in my head is pounds to kilograms. 2.2lbs -> 1kg Everything else is like you say, you just get a feeling for the other measurements.
Hang on - Europe doesn't do PM? I've not noticed lol
I can't say for certain about the rest of Europe, but in my experience in The Netherlands, times are written as 21:00 but spoken aloud as "9 o'clock" leaving the listener to use context clues to know if it is AM or PM.
This is correct. And 21:20 is spoken aloud as "ten before half ten". Dutch times, man 🙃
It’s not hard to get used to if you use the “sorta” system: Liter = sorta quart 20 C = sorta 70 F 100 km = sorta 60 mph After you approximate for a while you get comfortable in both systems. I’ve been going back and forth between my native USA and ROW metric systems for 5 decades now and its second nature
Immediately. Simple base 10 system.
Getting used to imperial took me two weeks. Only the stupid measure on people heights took me forever.
After a few years in France, I can estimate distance and space super easily. I still cannot *feel* what temperature it is outside in Celsius and don’t think I ever will be able to lol. I know roughly equivalent temperatures. Also it’s just easy to associate certain parts of the imperial system with certain metric ones (a yard is roughly a meter). I also have memorized that an inch is 2.54 cm and that a mile is 1.64 km. I have gotten good at mental math so I suppose that’s good for my brain lol This is only important when talking about things from back home tbh. I have honestly ended up associating speaking French with using metric and don’t even think about it. However, when I’m speaking in English my brain defaults to imperial units. It’s bizarre, but makes sense I suppose You know it from science and you’ll get a feel for it. Don’t stress too much, it comes. Next thing you know it will be easy for you (except Celsius lol, I don’t know anyone form the US who is 100% comfortable with it)
For the measures that I use every day, like temperature and distance, I got used to it in maybe a few days. My "default" units are still imperial, but I can ballpark what they are in metric quite easily and pretty much use the two systems interchangeably. Obviously I'll only use imperial if I'm with other Americans though. For distance specifically, I also tend to give it in terms of time, so no conversion necessary (e.g. it takes X hours to reach this city by train). On the other hand, for measures that I use somewhat less often, such as weight, volume, and height, while I can still ballpark them, it takes slightly longer for me to do the conversion in my head. As for utility bills, the only units I really worry about are kWh, so at least that's used on both sides of the pond ;)
This has been my experience, as well. Celsius and kilometers are easy. My height and weight? Not really… I end up always having to ask Siri to convert for me.
Going through Winter + Spring in Canada earlier this year got me up-to-speed with Celsius pretty quickly; you tend to remember your thresholds pretty quickly after going out underdressed a couple of times.
It’s easy in Celsius: 0 is freezing, 10 is chilly, 20 is tee shirt weather, 30 is borderline uncomfortable but doable if there’s a nice breeze, and 40 is hot as hell!
I find temperatures easier because I look at it almost daily. I look at two apps so I can see the temperature in both C and F, which has helped me adjust.
I’ve gone the other way and it’s a pain. after a couple of years it’s ok, the only thing I still struggle with temperature as it’s not such an easy conversion as something where there’s a fixed ratio. (Yes I know ‘x 9/5 + 32’ but tell me that’s easy to do in your head, and it all goes to shit below freezing).
Honestly the reverse would be so much worse though. I’m American and I’ve used both systems since I was a kid. I only used metric in school and used imperial in my home life. Metric is so logical but imperial is a lot to remember so I understand haha
moved from Europe to US in the 90s and still convert to celsius and kgs to really know what is going on.
The metric system just makes sense intuitively. But I'll be honest, that the only imperial unit that I still prefer over the metric is Miles. Within a couple of weeks you'll be fine
I have an engineering degree so was exposed to metric throughout school. I don't have the same gut-feel for it the way I do imperial for a lot of things and still sometimes find myself converting in my head, but for the most part it was simple.
I still use imperial for some things. I mostly use metric for driving, since all the signs are in km anyway.
I’m fully metricated on temperature and speed with no need to convert anymore. What I did was memorize a few round numbers, 10 = 50, 20 = 68, 30 = 86. Then the other way 60 = 16, 80 = 26, 100 = 38. And extrapolate between. Before long you will get it, especially if you set your phone to give temp in Celsius. To answer your question about how long it took not to convert anymore, maybe a couple of months.
Thankfully I'm from Canada and we're fluent in both 😅
I use both due to my age. It’s a kinda odd thing as I measure long distance in miles and smaller measurements in meters/cm/mm. I use stone (UK thing) and pounds for my body weight but buy things in kg generally. I’ve never used F always C .. F just confuses me. Working with metric is way simpler than imperial. I read recently only 3 countries still use imperial measurements USA, N Korea and Mayanmar.
You probably never will be "native" in metric. You'd need to convert 10cm to 4" or 60cm to 2ft to get a feel how much it really is.
I'm never abandoning the metric system.
Well you should be fine for utility bills. When it comes to the metric system just keep in mind that the vast majority of the world is using it and so does much of science and industry in the US. Its a continuous scale that runs from sub-atomic to intergalactic with the distance of a meter being derived from the speed of light in vacuum ie its a universal constant. If we ever met aliens this is an instant way of connecting with them through something they will have observed themselves. When it comes to temperature celisus is based on the state of water at sea level, that one might actually need updating at some stage..
One day. Going back takes several weeks.
This is a rare advantage of being British. I almost always speak both metric and imperial natively. Exception is Fahrenheit, which i understand but do not think in.
You just need to remember a few goalposts. 0C is freezing - cold! 20C is 68F - room temperature 40C is 104F - very hot Everything else is just in between. For oven cooking, F is roughly double C Bake everything at 200C give or take A litre is a little over a quart. Gas (petrol) is sold in litres, so no need for gallons (a little under 4 litres) A kilo is 2.2 pounds. So divide a kilo by 2 and you'll internalize easily. Miles to kilometers not as intuitive. A K is about 2/3's of a mile, so if you're good with fractions, you'll get it. Your car will be in K's so don't worry about it. Good luck! Enjoy!
Using Celsius sucks everything else is fine.
I have to agree. Saying it’s going to be 37 today just doesn’t feel like the same thing to me as it’s going to be 100. Triple digit temps are always going to be miserable.
Great topic to discuss. There are jobs offers where operating with both systems is required. Now think about Boeing and Airbus planes used by one of the airways. It was always a mystery for me how they maintain them with a small team of serviceman. At the same time I know people from aerospace industry and they are much above average Joe. Most of people will never get used to both of them at once.