Job Discussion Forums

[themanymoonsofjupiter]

a former student of mine that i found to be quite good has written me telling me she plans to study abroad. she attached a recommendation letter from a chinese teacher asking me to fix the English in it. while the letter is generally pretty good (and always understandable), there are certainly a few things that really stick out. i have no problem fixing it--it would take about ten minutes and, like i said, she was a good student. my question is, is it professionally unethical to fix the english in this letter without first notifying the teacher (who no longer works at our school and who I never knew)? have you ever found yourself in this situation, and what did you do?

[JamesD]

I just did a few letters like this for a student heading overseas so here's my take.

Correcting the English in a reference letter is not the same as correcting or translating something the student wrote. Proofread and correct grammar and syntax as long as you don't change the meaning or intent of the writer. The Chinese teacher's English level isn't being considered as part of the college application, only his impression of the student and her academic ability. No need to notify the teacher yourself because you're not doing anything that will affect the teacher's situation (although my student did tell his teacher ahead of time that someone would proofread for him).

The US universities I helped my student apply to all required the original letter with signature even if the originals are in Chinese so any mistakes in translation and proofing are covered.