<p>??? Do admissions officers understand?</p>
<p>Probably ask them to write your recs in their first language, then ask someone (a translator, an english professor, …) to translate them.</p>
<p>Absolutely. At schools that receive a lot of international applications they quite understand that a teacher cannot be expected to have a fluent grasp of English. Get them to write their letter in their original language and arrange to have the letter translated.</p>
<p>This is standard guidance from most of the top schools.
From the Harvard Website:“The Admissions Committee appreciates the effort that many applicants make in providing translations of the recommendations submitted on their behalf. Please note: All translations must include the name of the translator, and the a copy of original (untranslated) reports should accompany the translation.”</p>
<p>From the MIT Website “It is your responsibility to provide us with an official English translation of any evaluations not completed in English, in addition to the original untranslated document.”</p>
<p>Yale: “You must provide us with an official English translation of any letters or transcripts not written in English, in addition to the original documents” </p>
<p>Almost all of them work the same way. If you are applying to a school that does not get many foreign applicants, and does not have a policy for this, then I would contact the admissions office, but I would strongly suspect that their decision will be the same as that followed by the top schools.</p>
<p>I can recommend to those teachers who don’t know much in English. Prefer to get a tutorial for them.</p>