USA - About the United States
Countries have different standards, so when moving abroad it becomes imperative to have a basic knowledge of the standards used locally. Paguro has already done the research for you.
Government: The United States of America is a federal republic, with its capital in Washington, DC.
Language: The United States does not have an official language, but de facto American English (in the US called simply English) is the legal language used for official pronouncements (it won by one vote over German at the time the decison was taken!). Many individual states have adopted English as their official language.
States and territories that are officially bilingual are Louisiana (English and French), New Mexico (English and Spanish), Hawaii (Hawaiian, English and Hawaiian), Puerto Rico (Spanish and English), Guam (Chamorro and English), American Samoa (Samoan and English).
The only state officially trilingual is Northern Mariana Islands, with English, Chamorro and Carolinian as languages represented.
Religion: According to recent statistics, the distribution for major religions in the United States, is that more than half of the population is Protestant, roughly one quarter of the population is Roman Catholic, two per cent of the population is Mormon, one percent is Jewish, one percent is Muslim, and Buddhist, Hindu and Unitarian Universalist have less than one percent each. The largest single religious denomination in the United States is the Roman Catholic Church, followed by the Southern Baptist Convention and the Mormons. Southern States are known to be strongly religious.
Currency: The United States currency is the american dollar (code USD), divided into one hundred cents. The coins and banknotes come in the following denominations:
- coins 25 cents or a "quarter", 10 cents or a "dime", 5 cents or a "nickel", 1 cent or a "penny". There are coins of 50 cents and 1 dollar, but they are seldomly seen. When you need to write a number in decimal form, use a period instead of a comma: $ 2.50.
- bills of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 dollars.
To see the most current rates, you can use one of the many available currency conversion tools available on the Internet. Find two useful links below.
website: www.oanda.com/convert/classic
website: www.xe.com/ucc
Time zone: The United States territory covers eight time zones. The four time zones of the 48 contiguous United States and the time zones of Alaska, Hawaii, Samoa and Puerto Rico time zone.
From east to west they are:
- Atlantic Standard Time (AST) is equivalent to GMT -4. In this zone there is: Puerto Rico*. When it is 11 am in London, in Puerto Rico it is 6 a.m.
- Eastern Standard Time (EST) is equivalent to GMT-5. When Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) is on, it is GMT -4. States with this zone are: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Indiana (East)*, Kentucky (East), Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee (East), Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia.
- Central Standard Time (CST) is equivalent to GMT -6. When Central Daylight Time is on, it is GMT - 5. Part of this time zone are: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida (West), Illinois, Indiana (SW/NW), Iowa, Kansas, Michigan (West), Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota (East), Oklahoma, Kentucky (W), Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee (West), Wisconsin.
- Mountain Standard Time (MST) equivalent to GMT-7. When Mountain Daylight Time is on, it is GMT-6. To this time zone belong: Arizona*, Arizona (Navajo), Colorado, Idaho (S), Kansas (W), Montana, Nebraska (West), New Mexico, North Dakota (W), Oregon (E), South Dakota (West), Texas (West), Utah, Wyoming.
- Pacific Standard Time (PST), States with Pacific Standard Time (GMT-8) - Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) GMT-7. Fall under this time zone: California, Idaho (N), Nevada, Oregon, Washington.
- Alaskan Standard Time (AST) GMT-9, during daylight saving period it is GMT-8. Zone for AK Alaska.
- Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time (HST) GMT-10. In this zone there are: AK Alaska (Aleutian)*, Hawaii*.
- Samoa standard time (UTC-11).
Daylight Saving Time, observed in most States, starts at 2:00 a.m. local time on the first Sunday in April and ends on the last Sunday in October at 2:00 a.m., when areas on Daylight Saving Time return to Standard Time.
The names in each time zone change together with Daylight Saving Time, for example, Atlantic Standard Time (AST) becomes Atlantic Daylight Time (ADT) etc. Navajo Nation observes the Daylight Saving Time policy, due to its large size and location, in three states.
(*) Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Eastern Time Zone portion of the State of Indiana, and the state of Arizona (not the Navajo Indian Reservation, which does observe) do NOT observe Daylight Saving Time. In March 2007 a new federal law will extend Daylight Saving Time by four weeks. Indiana will observe Daylight Saving time, starting April 02, 2006.
Electricity: In the United States the voltage is 110 volts (100-127V), 60 hertz. It is important to pay attention to the voltage system. Even though you've bought a plug adaptor, the different voltage may cause your expensive electrical appliances to stop working with a bang in a smelly cloud of blue smoke. If in doubt, check light bulbs at home or in a supermarket and read the information on it.
Electrical plugs: Type A, an ungrounded plug with two flat parallel prongs which is found in most of North and Central America. Plugs for appliances consist of twin flat parallel bars, but in the US plugs, one bar is slightly wider than the other one.
Phone jacks: The phone jack is the RJ11. The phone lines are digital.
Mobile phone: UMTS, GSM, TDMA, CDMA. In North America, IS-2000 commonly refers to CDMA, and IS-136 is known as TDMA. However, CDMA and TDMA are generic terms that can refer to several different technologies. United States mobile phone system is characterized by more than one technology. More commonly phone operators rely either a single technology or they have more than one. Some of the more common operators are: Cingular, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile, Alltel, US Cellular, TracFone, Dobson Communications, MetroPCS, Cricket Communications.
TV system: NTSC.
DVD zone: DVDs are Region 1.
Measure system: Imperial, unite measure of weight is pounds.
Metric to U.S. Conversion
For measuring lenght, the conversion of the basic units are as follows:
One inch is equal to 2.54 centimeters
One foot is equal to 30.48 centimeters
One meter is equal to 39.37 inches
One yard is roughly equivalent to one meter.
Phone code: The country code for US is 1
International phone calls
- Calling the USA: IDD of the country you are calling from + 1 + area/city code + phone number
- Calling from USA: dial 011 before the country code+area/city code+phone number.
Paper : United States, as well as Mexico and Canada, are today the only industrialized nations in which the ISO standard paper sizes are not yet widely used. The paper formats used are:
"Letter" 279.4 cm x 215.9 cm (11 in x 8.5 in)
"Legal" 355.6 cm x 215.9 cm (14 in x 8.5 in)
“Executive” 1.90 cm × 2.54 cm
“Ledger/Tabloid” 2.79 cm × 4.32 cm
Mattresses and bed sizes: this is a subject that can span many pages, in fact, mattresses and beds come in such a wide range of choices that can accomodate any person's size on earth. Unfortunately all these options not necessarily include the standard sizes seen in other countries. If you are planning to ship bed and mattresses, store up the bed linens as well, as it might be difficult to find fitting ones for your mattresses.
Twin Mattress Size 39" wide x 75" long (99 cm wide x 190.5 cm long)
Twin Extra Long Mattress Size 39" wide x 80" long (99 cm wide x 203 cm long)
Full Mattress Size 54" wide x 75" (137 cm wide x 190.5 cm long)
Full Extra Long Mattress 54" wide x 80" long (137 cm wide x 203 cm long)
Queen Mattress Size 60" wide x 80" long (137 cm wide x 203 cm long)
Queen Split Mattress 60" wide x 80" long made of Two mattresses 30" x 80" each (76 cm wide x 203 cm long)
King Mattress Size 76" wide x 80" long (193 cm wide x 203 cm long) also known as Eastern King
King - 78" x 80"(can also be known as Eastern King)
King Split Mattress 78" wide x 80" long - (198 cm wide x 203 cm long) Two Twin Extra Long beds together
California/Western King Mattress 72" wide x 84" long (182 cm long x 213 cm long)
Below you can find a list of other mattress sizes that could still be considered conventional, but not as common as the sizes above.
Super Single Waterbed 48" X 84"
Queen Waterbed 60" X 84"
King Waterbed 72" X 84"
Cot - 31" x 74"
Hospital Twin - 30" x 80"
Hospital XXLTwin - 30" x 84"
XX-Long Twin - 39" x 84"
Three Quarter - 48" x 75"
Rice & Antique Bed - 48" x 75"
Full Sofa Bed - 54" x 72"
XX-Long Full - 54" x 84"
Queen Sofa Bed - 60" x 74"
Olympic Queen - 66" x 80"
X-Long Queen - 60" x 84"
Western King - 72" x 84"
7 Foot Round - 84"
8 Foot Round - 96"
Clothing sizes:
Women's dresses
U.K. size is 2 more than U.S.
European size is 28-30 more than U.S.
Japanese size is one less than U.S.
Example: UK 8 = US 6 = Euro 36 = Japan 5
Women's suits (formal)
US uses for women's suits the same size as for women's dresses
UK size is 22-24 more than US
European size is 28 more than US
Japanese use Dress size
Example: UK 28 = US 6 = Europe 34 = Japan 5
Men's suits and coats
UK sizes are the same as US
European sizes are 10 more than US
Japanese sizes are in letters
Example: UK 36 = US 36 = Europe 46
US/Japan = 34/S 38/M 40/L 44/LL
Children clothing
US UK Europe Japan
2 16/18 40/55 90 cm
4 20/22 50/55 100 cm
6 24/26 60/65 110 cm
8 28/30 70/75 120 cm
10 32/34 80/85 130 cm
12 38/38 90/95 140 cm
At least for shoes there is a beginning of standardization. Not yet for clothes.
Imagine (dream about...) a lady of a "model" size would ask for size 12 or 14 in the USA, the same in New-Zealand, Ireland, and Great Britain - but there the mark could be 8 or 38; she would need 32 in Canada, 34 in the Netherlands, 38 in Iran, 40 in Germany, Denmark, Israel, Switzerland and Yugoslavia; but C 40 in Sweden and NC 40 in Finland; 81 in Bulgaria; 92/99 in Japan; and 164/80/94 in Hungary...
Shoe sizes - You are now in a new country and have no idea what size shoes you or your children are. Here are some useful conversions between different systems
Women's Shoes
US UK Europe Japan
4 2 1/2 35 21.5
5 3 1/2 37 22.5
6 4 1/2 38 23.5
7 5 1/2 39 24.5
8 6 1/2 40 (rare)
9 7 1/2 41 (rare)
10 8 1/2 42
Men's Shoes
US UK Europe Japan
7 5 1/2 39 24.5
8 6 1/2 41 25.5
9 7 1/2 42 26.5
10 8 1/2 43 27.5
11 9 1/2 45 (rare)
12 10 1/2 46 (rare)
13 11 1/2 47 (rare)
