7 Things the French calculate differently than Americans

Wow are cultural differences fascinating and there’s no shortage of material when it comes to examining the differences between life in France versus the U.S. I love talking about this stuff in the hope that it’ll help prepare you for your trip to France, or at the very least, give you insight into French culture and the lifestyle in France.

To that end, here are calculations — or differences that relate to numbers and measurements — that are done differently in France and the U.S. Some of them you’d probably expect, but a bunch of these 7 things the French calculate differently than Americans were new to me and were things I only learned about after moving to France.

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Salut! I'm Diane, an American who has lived in France since 2012 and the creator of the blog/YouTube channel Oui In France. My channel's focus is "Everyday French life and beyond." I make videos on French culture topics, France vs. US culture comparisons, food, travel, language, and give you my thoughts about what it's like living in France as an American in the Loire Valley. Thanks for being here and if you enjoy this sort of thing, please share with friends and subscribe!

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[joeldumas]

*Floors in buildings*
- in France street level is numbered ”0” and called ”rez de chaussée” (”0” and ”ground floor” in UK). Right upstair is ”1er étage” (UK: ”1st floor”) and so on.
- in US street level is called ”first floor”, then second, third etc.

I think the difference is the meaning of:
- floor: a surface you walk on
- étage: the raised structure above your head (you can possibly climb and walk on)

[-timothe-]

You could add school marks. No B+, we give you a mark on 20, or sometimes 40 for the big exams.
You could also talk about the clothes sizes, which are absolute chaos in every country.

[deniaridley]

VERY IMPORTANT: They calculate weeks differently (or at least say them differently)! They can say, "see you in 8 days or 15 days" meaning a week or two weeks respectively. You don't want to be a day late; so get them to clarify the actual calendar date: May 15th for example. AND speaking of calendars, if you buy one or an agenda be aware that the first day of the week is Monday NOT Sunday!

[ireneprobst]

6:50 "The French and a lot of other countries" is not enough. The whole world uses the metric system except the USA, Liberia and Myanmar. I cannot imagine to live without a kitchen scale. But I grew up and live in Austria (Autriche), a metric country. Many years ago I lived in Paris for one year as an au-pair girl. I like to watch your interesting videos from France.

[IRACEMABABU]

About fuel efficiency. You have 2 numbers. A, the amount of fuel you used for the trip. B the length of the trip. If you divide A by B, you get the efficiency in X Liters for 100Km (or X Gal per Mile), if you divide B by A, you get the efficiency in X distance(in Km or Mile) for 1 Liter (or Gal). It's that simple.

[tatoute]

French does not count using their fingers the same way as in US: French begin bu the thumb and expose next finger one after the others. US begin by the index and extend the others long fingers, to end up with the thumb.

[solenegicquel]

As a French living in the US since less than a year, I really enjoy your videos !
Kids shoes sizes are... complicated in the US... You hava baby, toddler, bigger... with each time a different scale. So confusing... In France, it' continuos ! So much easier...
The gluten content of the flour is also tricky... No T55 or T110.

[nevillehollisbrown]

Bonjour. For those who wonder why we skip from words to numbers for schools : after petite section maternelle (3 yo)/moyenne section maternelle (4 yo) and grande section maternelle (5 yo), we used to count from 11e (pronounced onzième, today it's CP, cours préparatoire for 6 yo) to 7e (pronounced septième, but don't say the letter p, today it's CM2). So the next step was and still is 6e (11 yo). I don't know if we still use it, I would say no, we say the letters.

[Rondi]

Cooking by weight is just so much easier than cooking by volume, no matter if you use metric (like the Scandinavians) or imperial units (like the Americans). You just put a bowl on a scale and push the tare button between the ingredients to zero the scale. I always wondered how you measure a tbsp of butter using a spoon. It's nearly impossible. Using a scale you just cut pieces of butter and throw it in the bowl until the scale indicates it's enough.

[florencebelcourt]

Great video
Love baking with metric scale.
The clothes sizing takes a minute to figure out, but it's so consistent in sizing I order my clothes from online stores in France and have never had to return a thing.
Difference is would all be boring if it was all the same. 😊
From Montana, I wish you a wonderful day in France.

[yvesd_fr]

I spent two years in the US, and the worst conversion I tried was to figure out the tyre pressure measurements. Converting psi to kg/cm2 (just to get a rough idea on how much air I had to put in a US car tyre) is a nightmare ! The other funny conversions are temperatures, i.e. °C to °F... I worked as a reserach scientist in an hospital at that time, and at the canteen I caught a conversation between two MDs wondering what was a normal human temp. in °C. One said to the other "I do not remember", the other said "a bit below 40°C"... Well, guys, how to say :-) ? I allowed myself to state bodly that I heard their question and that the normal temps is ca. 36.8 °C. They were suprised but looking at my "tag" with my name, and just heaaring my french accent, they understood. It was funny ! This temp. question was a problem in the lab as most my US colleagues had no idea regarding the temp. of the water baths we used to incubated various elements : They had no clue regarding what are 28°C, 30°C, 37°C and 42°C just to name the most common ones used in a lab (where we speak in metric an IS units!). One day, I found a water bath supposedly set at 37°C to be at least at 45°C... The reguilator broke but nobody noticed ! BOn, OK, c'était il y a presque 35 ans and things may have changed !

[amyspeers]

I was just in the hospital and my blood pressure readings were the same as they would be in the states. As a baker, I’ve always used a scale so I love French recipes. However, the spoon measurements crack me up!

[hannahk]

UK answers:
Fuel efficiency - we use miles per gallon too, but our fuel is sold in litres 🤷‍♀️ (I think we must be the most mixed unit country in the world!)

School years (not grades here) - reception or sometimes foundation (ages 4-5) and then years 1-13 (aged 18). This is different in Scotland and Northern Ireland though, but I can't remember exactly how they do it.

In terms of the actual schools, the most common is primary (up to year 6 - aged 11) and secondary school (either up to year 11 (16) or year 13 (18)) - this can also be called high school in some areas. However, sometimes primary school is split into infants (up to year 2 - aged 7) and juniors (years 3-6).
You can also have a 3-tiered system in some areas where they have lower school (up to year 4 - aged 9), middle school (up to year 8 - aged 13) and upper school (typically up to year 13 - aged 18).
Years 12 and 13 are often referred to as 6th form (dating back to an old schooling system that is no longer used) and can either be attached to a secondary/upper school or as a separate college (6th form colleges are generally more academic and other colleges are generally more vocational, but all are aged 16+).

Personally, I went to a play group, two different nurseries, an infants, a juniors, a middle school, an upper school, stayed on to 6th form at said upper school, then went to two different universities. So I just confuse most people (even other Brits) 😆


Blood pressure - I've never had a need to track my blood pressure, but I think we do it the same way as the US. I've got no idea about cholesterol though.

Baking - modern recipes use metric weights, older recipes use imperial weights. Small measurements or certain ingredients may use volume though, e.g. 1 tablespoon of golden syrup or half a level teaspoon of cinnamon, but you can get special standardised measuring spoons for these.

Bed sizes - I'm not sure of the exact dimensions, but our standard bed sizes are single, double, king and super king. I think a UK king is roughly the same size as a US queen. You can also get children's beds (smaller than a single) or rarely 3/4 beds which are halfway between a single and a double.

Ring sizes - I think we use letters (A, B, C, etc...), but I don't wear rings so I'm not 100% sure.

[curtiscraig]

You didn't mention it in this video, but I'm sure the sizes of packaged foods in France are very different as well. In Italy, foods such as sliced meets and cheeses were sold in increments of 100g. The sizes of canned goods also tended to be smaller than in the US. Europeans, in general, often buy in smaller quantities than Americans. It Italy, there was no such thing as a 2 or 2.5 liter bottle of Coke. The largest available was 1.5 liters.

Another interesting difference to note is that decimal amounts in Europe are written using a comma, instead of a period. In the US we write 1.5 liters while in Europe 1, 5 litres.

[keithoneil]

Fuel economy in Canada is measured the same as in France .

[Coldo]

The sizes of sheets of paper are also different !...in France we have A4, A3 etc... that's why when I print a document from an american colleague, it looks weird on the page

[stcyrsworld]

there's also differences the way to calculate, how you put down the division /substraction !!! as an aupair in the us, i strugled a bit about those, i even teach the way we do in france to the kid / assuming he was doing wrong / till the teacher told me about those diiferences!! and nothing to do with differences but while helping, one of the boys, reading ... well, he end up with a french accent .... fast corrected by the teacher's reaction " i assume that's the aupair that helps reading, cause your kid has a french accent while reading !!!! hihihi .... by the way love what you do !

[fabricehaubois]

Thanks, very useful ! Nice to see u this week !!! Keep up the good work

[jeanwhite]

Bonjour Diane from 🇨🇦, We have a mix of measurement systems. When I was a child our country changed its linear measurement system to metric, so we now drive our cars in km and by gas and milk in litres, but it has taken many years for our population to adapt to this because previously we used miles and gallons. Our weather temps are now measured in C degrees, another option that older generations have had trouble adapting to. Recipies are still used in cups, and teaspoons or tablespoons, though we buy all grocery goods like juice, and soft drinks in litres or Mille- litres. Fresh produce by the pound but processed produce like canned carrots, pears or peaches by the ml. Interesting mix. As a lady of mature years, I have begun to cook in grams of ml now after our trip to France when I experienced how precise it was.
Hope you have a great day

[allienixon]

I'm an American living in France with my French husband. A lot of these surprised me when I first moved here, especially when getting a bank account!