Letters of Recommendation: Sometimes the Best Translation is Not to Translate

When you’re translating materials into English for a client who wants to apply for a job in the United States, here’s an issue you might want to mention: letters of recommendation sometimes don’t translate well. If you translate non-American ones literally, you might see glowing recommendations like:


Ms. X performed her work adequately.

Sarah was satisfactory.

There were no obvious faults in Mr. Y’s work.


These are real and all-too-typical examples that I and colleagues have come across. The Americans reading I’m sure are cringing; many non-Americans might be wondering what’s so bad about those comments…

In many other countries, letters of recommendation are often issued on a standard basis when someone leaves a company: they are generic (“to whom it may concern”), and they specify the dates of employment, the positions held, and perhaps a comment or two about the quality of the person’s work (though not necessarily). It's also not uncommon for letters of recommendation to be signed by someone who is not personally familiar with the employee or who doesn’t have first-hand knowledge of the employee’s work, and sometimes the social status/prestige of the letter writer matters more than his or her actually familiarity with the employee.

This is not at all what a letter of recommendation is in the United States. If you merely want confirmation of employment, a potential employer will simply call up companies listed on the resume and ask for verification that the person worked there.

American letters of recommendation are thus much more important as candid commentaries on the personal qualities and professional qualifications of the employee; they are written almost always by someone who worked with or who directly managed the employee. They are also personal letters in the sense that they are written to one specific recipient, and they are not supposed to be generic; thus, an American employee needs to ask for a new letter of reference for each job he or she is applying for. This is normal in the United States and does not impose a burden on reference writers, although it is courteous to spread requests for references among different people so that one person doesn’t have to write more than one or two references a year.

When asked to write a letter of recommendation, an American manager might actually refuse if he or she cannot write a positive one, saying “I really think you should ask someone else.” American letters of recommendation are typically positive, as a result, and so potential employers glean information not only from the content of these letters but also from the people the candidate got letters from--and who not. For instance, if you worked for 2 years at ABC, Inc., and 15 years at XYZ, Inc., a potential employer will wonder why you have a letter only from ABC and not from XYZ--that question will come up in your interview for sure.

There are also some important cultural differences in terminology and wording. The example comments I listed above, which are real examples taken from translations from three different languages, were intended as positive comments, but in translation they illustrate some of the key problems:

Ms. X performed her work adequately.
The term “adequate” in English really means “barely sufficient.” It means that the bare minimum expectation may have been met, but absolutely no more. It connotes borderline inadequacy, and is not positive.

Sarah was satisfactory.
The term “satisfactory” suffers from the same problem: it is slightly negative in connotation in English (although perhaps slightly more positive than “adequate.”)

There were no obvious faults in Mr. Y’s work.
In some cultures, one focuses on faults and mistakes. In American culture, you focus on positives. In formulating this comment in this way ("no obvious faults"), an American might understand it to mean that there was nothing more positive to say and then perceive it has an exceedingly negative comment. The wording also implies that the writer fully expects Mr. York’s works to have had faults, but they simply haven’t been found (yet).


When you have clients who have non-American letters of recommendation, it’s often very helpful to school the client in what the purpose and expectations of letters of recommendation are in the United States. In many cases, the client would be better off asking for new, American-style references rather than using translations of their existing ones. There are tons of help guides online for writing letters of reference; find some you like and refer clients that way.