Document Translation vs. Credential Evaluation

These services solve different problems and are not substitutes for one another.

Translation

A translation expresses the content of a document in another language. A certified translation generally includes a statement about the completeness and accuracy of the translation. Translation does not decide the educational level or U.S. equivalency of a foreign credential.

Credential evaluation

A credential evaluation compares education completed in one system with standards used by another school, employer, licensing board, or organization. Depending on the report, it may address level of study, institutional status, credits, or degree comparability.

A school or employer may request both

An evaluator may need English translations of non-English records. The school, employer, licensing board, or agency using the evaluation may also specify which evaluator or report type it accepts. Those instructions determine whether translation, evaluation, or both are relevant.

There is no single federal evaluator

The U.S. Department of Education uses the term competent authority for the organization that makes a recognition decision, such as a school, employer, or state licensing board. The Department does not endorse individual credential-evaluation services.

Translation changes language; evaluation interprets education

A translation answers “what does this document say in another language?” A credential evaluation answers questions such as how a degree, course of study, credit load, or academic qualification compares within another education system. The evaluator may rely on a translation but produces a different analytical product.

Official starting point

U.S. Department of Education — Recognition of Foreign Qualifications