Diploma & Transcript Translation Services

Whether you’re applying to a university, submitting your credentials for evaluation, or providing academic records to an employer, your diploma and transcript need a certified translation the receiving institution will accept.

Taika Translations translates academic records for USCIS, NACES-member credential evaluation services, and university admissions offices — order a diploma translation online from $26 per page, or bundle your full academic document set into a single request instead of ordering each record separately.

By document language

The documents themselves, and the traps in them, differ by the language they were issued in — which certificates a country issues separately, whether the transcript is a loose insert, and which side of the page the registration details are printed on.

• Chinese diploma & transcript translation
• Russian diploma & transcript translation
• Portuguese diploma & transcript translation
• Spanish diploma & transcript translation

Diploma translation services: what a complete order covers

When someone searches for diploma translation services or transcript translation services, they usually need the whole set accepted the first time. A complete certified order covers:

• The diploma or degree certificate, with the degree title, institution, dates, seals and signatures all rendered.
• The transcript or academic record, every course, grade, credit or hour, and any remarks.
• The grading-scale key and any supplement or annex, if the issuing institution prints one.
• Both sides of each page whenever there is printing, stamps or registration data on the back.
• A signed certification of accuracy attached to the translation and matched to the source documents.

Diplomas and transcripts differ in ways that change the work. A diploma is short, so a single wrong date or misspelled name is the whole document’s risk. A transcript is long and tabular, so consistency matters: the same course title translated the same way on every page, and grades left exactly as issued.

Mistakes that get diploma and transcript translations rejected

• Translating a student copy or a photocopy that differs from the official record.
• Leaving out the back of the page, the supplement or the grading-scale key.
• “Converting” grades or renaming degrees, such as turning a Licenciatura into a bachelor’s degree. Translation reproduces; the evaluator interprets.
• Name spelling that does not match your passport or other identity documents. Tell us the spelling to use before translation starts.
• Ordering a translation the evaluator did not ask for, or skipping one it did. Check the required-documents list first.
• Having the applicant, a relative or a friend translate it. Many evaluators and registrars state they do not accept this.

Which route fits your situation

• University or graduate admissions: ask the admissions office whether it wants a certified translation, an evaluator’s report, or both, and by what deadline.
• Credential evaluation (WES and other NACES members): read the evaluator’s checklist; a translation is often required only for some documents.
• USCIS and immigration filings: an English translation with a signed certification, matching the documents submitted. See immigration document translation.
• Foreign use of a U.S. credential: some countries require an apostille on top of the translation. See apostille services.
• Employment or licensing: the licensing board or employer sets the format; tell us which and we will match it.

Translation and credential evaluation are two different services

People often confuse them, and applicants lose weeks ordering the wrong one first.

• A certified translation puts your diploma or transcript into English, word for word, with a signed statement that it is complete and accurate. It converts nothing. A grade of 9/10 stays 9/10, and a Licenciatura is not renamed a bachelor’s degree.
• A credential evaluation is a report that compares your foreign education to the U.S. system: degree level, U.S. equivalency, and often a U.S.-scale GPA or credit hours. Independent evaluation services issue these reports. Many belong to NACES, the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services, a trade association of U.S.-based, independent, nongovernmental evaluation organizations.

NACES membership applies to evaluators, not translators. No translation company is “NACES-approved,” and any translator who claims to be is misdescribing the association. Taika translates. It does not issue evaluations.

The usual order: the evaluator needs to read your records, so you get the certified translation first, then submit it with your documents for evaluation. A university admission, a licensing board file, or an employment-based immigration petition that depends on degree equivalency often needs both, and they come from two different organizations.

What evaluators ask of a translation

Every evaluator sets its own rules, so read your evaluator’s required-documents list before ordering anything. WES publishes its rules, and they show how specific these can be.

• Translation is often not needed at all. WES says that in most cases translation is not necessary for a WES evaluation, and it lists what you actually need in your account. Check before paying for a translation you may not need.
• Where WES does need one, it requires translations that are exact and word-for-word, clear and legible, and completed by a professional translator.
• WES states it cannot accept handwritten translations, translations of photocopies, translations completed by applicants, or incomplete translations.
• WES does not translate documents itself, and it will not accept an English-language version issued by your school in place of a translation of the original.
• Your translator should work from the official document. Student copies may not match the official record exactly. WES suggests asking your institution for two sets: one sent to WES, one sent to your translator.

Other evaluators, universities and licensing boards set their own rules, and they differ on things like sealed envelopes, direct-from-institution delivery, and whether they accept a translator’s certification alone. Their written requirements take priority over any general guidance, including this page’s.