Application process in Germany (translation request)

Question

Dear all,
I recently applied to BCG in Germany by sending as requested a copy of my diplomas (in French and in English, since I studied in France). However, I received today an email from the BCG German recruiting team, in which I am asked to provide an official German translation of my diplomas. This is rather schoking to me that documents in English do not suffice for an international company like the BCG. Translating the documents in German would be time-consuming and expensive, and would bring very limited added value in my opinion, since my diplomas are easy to understand in English and even in French ("Finance" in French and English is not very different from "Finanz" in German. Same thing for Philosophy). Have some of you already heard about such practice in Germany? I am already working in Germany, and providing a copy of my diplomas in English had always been enough until now.

What would you recommend to me? To write back to the recruiting team asking wheter this is really mandatory, or to comply right away with this non-practical request?

I thank you very much for your piece of advice.
Best regards,

Vladimir

Answer 1

Hi Vladimir,
as already suggested I'd talk to the people at BCG first. What I suppose is that they are requesting an official approval from a German authority not a translation. They probably want to check whether everything is o.k. with your French diplomas and whether they are equivalent to the German ones. (From my point of view it is strange anyway. But probably related to some akward HR process.)

Answer 2

Hi Vladimir,

just call them and ask what specifically they are looking for. It can not be about English language, since even many/most German universities nowadays give out English transcripts. French is another story - here it is understandable that you need to provide an explanation of both the content and the grading system.

Cheers, Sidi

Answer 3

I have seen the same type of request at some German universities and it appeared to be related to some legal issues and several friends of mine got their documents "officially" translated. I do not know any further specifics though.

Answer 4

Hi,

It's not about the translation (BCG has a great translation team) but rather about the grading systems. You can ask your university to provide a translation or invest some time and money in the official transcript translation process. It's insignificant compared to your salary with BCG

Best