How Can an American Get a Feel for Metric // Ask Me Japan
Question: How can someone born in America gain intuition for metric units?
Not really about Japan per se, but I get this question a lot, especially from newbie Americans who come into Japan. Frankly, I'm always a little baffled by it. I don't mean that as a knock against anyone, just simply that the answer seems obvious to me.
How do you get good at anything? By doing it. Same here. How do you get good at metric? By using it.
When I moved to Japan over a dozen years ago, I knew the basics of metric, but I had no sense of any of the units. So I figured out some rough estimates for conversion and started using metric for everything. Complete immersion, more or less.
My temperature setting on my clock (this was before smartphone apps) was switched to Celsius. I kept in mind that 10 is on the chilly side and 30 is about equal to 90, but otherwise I just read that clock everyday and then felt what it felt like when I went outside and slowly built up a feel for the measurement.
A few conversions I kept in mind: A meter is about a yard, 30 centimeters is a foot, 2.5 centimeters is basically an inch. Kilograms are roughly half of a pound. And I had a half dozen more. So on so forth.
Nothing exact, just rough conversions. But here is the key: I only used these rough conversions in the beginning and after that only when I had to. Otherwise I tried to stick to metric as much as possible.
I couldn't say how long it took—a month or so maybe—but eventually I started to get a feel for things. These days I can use metric as easily as USCS† and either system is fine as far as I'm concerned.
So no secret. Just use them. You'll get the hang for it before you know it.
Footnotes
†: US Customary System units, which are similar but not the same as Imperial System units.
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I still didn't give up the metric system and always have to translate to it living in the US haha.
Isn't it the other way around?
Nope. 1 lb = .45 kg, making a kilo roughly half a pound. haha translation is just too much work. That's why I went again and forced myself to learn metric. More upfront cost, I suppose, but easier in the long run.
I think I get it now, it's the way you worded it made me think you're saying that 1 kilo would be about half a pound (~200 g haha) but I see that you didn't mean that. This is actually how I understand pounds too, but I say 1 pound is half a kilo :D
i'll buy you a beer, so when and where :D
Come to Japan and we will drink together :)
OI have the reverse issue and while I am ok on measurements temperature really gives me issues Farenheit is evil !
Now them's fightin words ;) Fahrenheit is the one measurement that I prefer Imperial/USCS—everything else I am ambivalent about, using whichever and not really caring.
You know, I find the old line that "there are two types of countries: those that use metric and those that have walked on the moon" very amusing, but we got to the moon using the metric system! It just makes a lot more sense, and although daily life has been done in the US with our standards of measurement just fine, I do think it would make sense to convert. Sharing the same standards as the rest of the world would make things easier. The part I think I would have the most trouble with is Celsius--there's no simple way to understand that, you just have to throw Fahrenheit in the trash and start over like a baby. The only shame would be that Fahrenheit 451 sounds a lot cooler than Celsius 232.778.
haha yeah I like that joke, and have used it before in good fun. The public in the US will never change. Hell, look at the UK. They officially went metric 50 years ago, but the public still clings to Imperial for a great many things: stone for weight, feet and inches for height, pints for liquid, etc. The only way to force that change is to... well, force it. Forbid the old system—make people use the new one. And the US gov isn't going to do that. But I agree with you, changing would make things easier. Celsius is ok. Easy enough to get used to. Doesn't make a lick of sense, tho. We are humans, not water. Not to mention limiting us to (basically) 0-30 feels less informative than having 32-100 to work with. Fahrenheit is by far the better system for humans.