<p>How should I get a recommendation letter from a person who would write in a different language? I don't think colleges would accept a letter not in English. Should I have him to officially translate it by an agency? Also, I'm not sure if he would understand everything on the recommendation form. What does the form specifically ask? Like, I know the teacher form has check boxes that indicate the degree or intensity of stuff. Does outside recommender form have the same format?</p>
<p>You need to translate the questions for the recommender, so that, when he gets the invitation, he can check the right things. For the “first words that come to mind” recommendation, a personal translation can work (even online dictionaries can do one word translations, just check the reverse meaning to see if it’s the right word, ie, Fall, do you want the season or the action? in the first case reversing translation would lead to synonyms like autumn and in the second case slip, tumble, decrease… this way you’d know which one to pick!)
He could write his letter ahead of time (a paragraph or two with specific anecdotes and details) and ask a colleague from the English dept translate it for him then type it into the box designed for that purpose on commonapp, or upload it.</p>
<p>I kindly asked my English teacher to translate all the other recommendations. She just wrote her name as the translator at the bottom of the letters.</p>