Diploma Translator
Upload the award itself, the academic record behind it, or the supplement that explains the programme, and get a version an admissions office or a credential evaluator can work from. Degree titles, grading scales and institution names are handled the way evaluators expect.
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Max. file size 1 GB
You probably need three documents, not one
People arrive asking for a diploma and are sent away twice because the receiving office wanted something else alongside it. Sorting out which of these you hold saves the second and third round trip.
The award
One decorated sheet stating that a named person was granted a named qualification on a named date, signed by a rector or a dean and sealed. It carries a serial or register number, and often a hologram or a watermark. It says almost nothing about what was studied, which is why it is rarely accepted on its own.
The academic record
The list of subjects taken, the credit or hour value of each, the mark awarded and the year. This is the document that does the real work in a credential evaluation, because it lets an assessor compare the programme against their own. It is also the longest, so it is what determines the size of the job. Our transcript translator page covers it in detail.
The supplement
Universities across the European Higher Education Area issue a standard supplement describing the qualification, the level, the workload, the grading scheme and the national system it sits in. Where one exists it is frequently bilingual already, so check before paying to translate it. If you have one, it answers most of the questions an assessor would otherwise raise.
A degree title is a name, and naming it something else is a claim
Qualification titles grew out of national systems and they do not line up across borders. A German Diplom, an Italian Laurea magistrale, a Spanish Licenciatura, a French Ingénieur diplômé, a Russian Specialist degree and a British Master of Engineering all sit at broadly similar levels and none of them is the other. Rewriting one as another produces a document that reads smoothly and asserts something the university never said.
Deciding what a foreign qualification is worth is somebody's actual job, and it is not the translator's. Recognition information centres across Europe and independent evaluation bodies in North America exist to make that determination, and they want to see the original title in order to make it. A useful translation therefore keeps the awarded title in its original form and puts a plain description beside it, so the reader can see both what the document says and what it means.
The same restraint applies to the institution. University names are proper names, faculties often have no clean counterpart abroad, and a school's legal status (state, private, accredited by a named ministry) is part of what the assessor is checking. Keep the name as printed and let any official English name the institution itself uses stand beside it.
Marks are meaningless without their scale
A number lifted out of its grading system tells the reader nothing, and sometimes tells them the opposite of the truth. Four examples of why the scale has to travel with the mark.
Low can mean high
German-speaking institutions grade from 1.0 down to 5.0, where 1.0 is the best result and anything at 5.0 has failed. A reader used to a rising scale sees 1.3 and assumes the worst. The remedy is to carry the scale legend from the reverse of the transcript into the output, where it is often printed and just as often overlooked.
Different ceilings
Italian degrees are marked out of 110 with a distinction added at the top. French marking runs from 0 to 20 and a score in the high teens is exceptional rather than merely good. Post-Soviet institutions use a five-point scale where the pass band is narrow. The number alone does not survive the border.
Classifications are words
British degrees are classified rather than scored, and a mention on a continental diploma works the same way. Those phrases carry a defined meaning within their own system, so they are translated with the original phrase kept visible rather than mapped onto a foreign equivalent that sounds similar.
Do not compute a grade average
Converting a set of foreign marks into a four-point average is a conversion, not a translation, and the receiving institution will run its own using its own table. Producing one for them replaces their method with an unstated one and gives a reviewer something to disagree with before they have read anything else.
Where academic paperwork gets sent
- An admissions office assessing entry to a master's or a doctoral programme
- A credential evaluation service producing a formal report on what the qualification compares to locally
- A professional licensing board in medicine, nursing, engineering, architecture, teaching or law, which normally wants the academic record rather than the award alone
- An employer or a background screening firm confirming that a stated qualification exists and was conferred on the stated date
- A points-based immigration route where an education level adds to a score, alongside the rest of the visa file
- A scholarship board or a research funder assessing eligibility
- A ministry of education carrying out formal recognition, often before the foreign ministry will legalise the document at all
Automated output is right for reading the record, preparing an application and checking that nothing is missing. When the evaluator asks for a certified translation, order the professional version, and read how to get an official translation for what has to accompany it. Be aware that many institutions also want the university to send an original directly, which no translation replaces.
Translate document →Budgeting for an academic file
The award is a single sheet. The academic record behind it can run to a dozen dense pages, and a doctoral file further still, so count the whole set before picking a plan.
Choose Your Plan
Start with a 7-day trial for $2, then $14.99/month, or save more with annual billing
7-Day Trial
MOST POPULARthen $14.99/month after trial ends
- 7-day full access trial
- Trial limit: 10 pages or 3,000 words
- $0.005/word AI translation
- 120+ languages
- PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, IDML, TXT, JPG, PNG, CSV, JSON
- Team access & custom glossaries
- Email support
Monthly
POPULARRegular price $29.99, now 50% off
- 100 pages or 30,000 words per month
- $0.005/word AI translation
- 120+ languages
- Unlimited file storage
- PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, IDML, TXT, JPG, PNG, CSV, JSON
- Team access & custom glossaries
- Priority email support
Annual
SAVE 25%~$11.25/month, save 25% vs monthly
- 100 pages or 30,000 words per month
- $0.005/word AI translation
- 120+ languages
- Unlimited file storage
- PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, IDML, TXT, JPG, PNG, CSV, JSON
- Team access & custom glossaries
- Priority email support
Sample awards, source and result
Open a thumbnail to see the pages at full size. Reading across a pair shows:
- Ornamental layout and centred headings hold their shape.
- Seals, embossing and signature blocks stay where they were printed.
- Serial numbers, dates and register references are reproduced exactly.
- Mark tables keep their columns rather than collapsing into prose.
Each result came from one upload of the page beside it.
See all translation examples →Four steps for an academic set
Most of the effort is in gathering the right pages. The processing itself is a few minutes.
Ask the receiving body what it wants before you scan
Award only, award plus academic record, or a formal evaluation report from a named provider. These are three different requests with three different prices, and starting on the wrong one is how people end up translating the same file twice.
Capture the reverse of every sheet
Grading legends, credit definitions and the note explaining the national system are usually printed on the back of a diploma or a transcript, and they are exactly what an assessor reaches for. A one-sided scan throws away the key to the marks on the front.
Upload the set together
Register with an email address, then send the award, the record and any supplement in one go. Processing them together keeps subject names and the wording of the qualification consistent, which matters when the same course title appears on several pages.
Check the name, the date and the title
Compare the graduate name against the passport spelling, the conferral date against the record, and confirm the awarded title still appears in its original form. Then look for the grading legend in the output before you send anything anywhere.
A short walkthrough
The whole cycle, from picking a file to opening the finished one.
What graduates ask
Will my degree title be converted into the local equivalent?
No, and you should be wary of any service that offers to. Declaring that a foreign qualification equals a domestic one is a recognition decision made by an evaluation body or a ministry, on evidence. A translation that asserts it has stepped outside what the university actually issued. The awarded title stays in its original form with a plain description beside it, which is what an assessor wants to see.
Are my marks converted to a four-point average?
They are not. The receiving institution runs its own conversion using its own published table, and a figure calculated by anyone else is either ignored or treated as a discrepancy. What does help is carrying the grading legend across, so include the reverse of the transcript where the scale is usually printed.
Do I need the transcript as well as the diploma?
Almost always, yes. The award names the qualification; the academic record shows the subjects, the credit values and the marks, and that is what an evaluator compares against a local programme. Licensing boards in regulated professions are the strictest here and generally will not open a file without it.
My diploma has a hologram and an embossed seal. How are those handled?
Security features exist to be examined on the original, and they do not reproduce in a scan or in any translation. The right treatment is to note their presence and position rather than pretend to recreate them. Where a body needs to verify authenticity, it goes back to the issuing institution or asks for a sealed original, which is a separate step from translation.
Will a university or a licensing board accept this?
For reading the documents, checking a course list and preparing the application, automated output is immediate and useful. For submission, most admissions offices and every licensing board require a certified translation with a signed accuracy statement, and many also insist the institution sends originals directly to them. Use the professional option for the copy that is filed.
The name on my diploma is spelled differently from my passport. What now?
This is common where the original is in a non-Latin script and the two documents were romanised at different times. The translation reproduces what the diploma says, so resolve the difference on paper instead: many institutions issue a name-change or spelling confirmation letter, and a marriage or deed poll record covers the rest. Submitting the mismatch without explanation is what causes a delay.
What can I upload, and how long can the file be?
PDFs, Word documents, spreadsheets, presentations and images in JPG, JPEG or PNG. On a paid plan one file can reach 1 GB or 5,000 pages, which comfortably covers a full doctoral record with appendices. Image files and photographed pages go through character recognition before translation.
What will an academic set cost?
For $2 you get seven days and an allowance of 10 pages or 3,000 words, which is enough for an award plus a short record. A month costs $14.99 and raises that to 100 pages or 30,000 words; twelve months cost $135. Beyond an allowance, work is priced per word at $0.005.
Send the award and the record together
Upload your degree certificate, the academic record behind it and any supplement in one job, and get a version an admissions office or an evaluator can read without guessing at a grading scale.
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