Grades are transferred, not converted
A translator reproduces your marks exactly as the transcript shows them, together with the scale printed on it. Converting a Turkish average into a Canadian one is the evaluating body's decision, not the translator's, and a converted transcript is a common reason for a file to be sent back.
Checked on 8 September 2026 Last updated 8 September 2026
In brief
- Certification level
- Certified translator (Québec)
- Estimated time
- A replacement transcript from the university is usually the slow step
- Destination country
- Québec
Accepted under conditions
This is one of the few rules on this site with no exceptions and no local variation. A translated transcript shows the grades that are printed on the Turkish transcript, in the scale in which they were awarded. It does not show what those grades would be in a Canadian system, because deciding that is somebody else's job.
What the translator actually does with a mark
The translator transfers. If the transcript says a course was passed with a letter grade and a numerical coefficient, the translation says the same, with the same letter and the same number. If the cumulative average is stated out of four, the translation states it out of four. Course titles are translated; the values attached to them are carried across untouched.
The same applies to credits and to any weekly hours or workload figures. Those are data points on the document, not statements to be interpreted.
Why conversion is not the translator's function
Equivalence between two education systems is a methodological judgement. It depends on the length of the programme, the number of contact hours, admission requirements and the position of the qualification within its own national framework. The bodies that make this judgement — a provincial comparative evaluation, a credential assessment organisation, a professional order, a university admissions office — each have their own method, and they do not accept a third party's arithmetic in place of it.
A translator who converts a grade has therefore made a decision they were not asked to make and are not accountable for. The reviewing officer cannot tell where the number came from, and the safest reading available to them is that the document has been altered. What the comparative evaluation is, and what it is not, is on the comparative evaluation page.
The grading legend is the document that does the work
Turkish transcripts normally carry an explanation of the grading scale — the letter grades, their numerical values, the pass threshold, and sometimes a conversion between a hundred-point and a four-point scale used by that university. It is frequently printed on the reverse of the sheet, in small type, and it is exactly what the evaluating body needs in order to do its own conversion.
Two things follow. The legend has to be scanned along with everything else, and it has to be translated. A transcript sent without its reverse side removes the very information the assessment depends on. This is the seals rule in another form — see the page on seals and certification marks.
What happens when a grade is converted anyway
The officer compares the translation with the scan of the original and finds numbers in one that are not in the other. That produces a request for further documents at best, and in a file where the credential is the basis of a claim it can put the whole document in question. The correction is a fresh translation, which means the cost of the conversion was the conversion plus a second translation. The rejected translation page describes the rest of the sequence.
Neighbouring mistakes on the same document
- Adding a Canadian credit value beside the Turkish credit.
- Translating a class rank into a percentile.
- Rewriting a degree title as its assumed Canadian counterpart instead of describing it.
- Omitting failed or repeated courses because they look untidy — the transcript is a record, and gaps in it are noticed.
- Summarising several semesters into a single table.
Getting a usable transcript from Türkiye
Ask the university for a complete transcript covering every semester, with the grading legend, the institution's seal and an authorised signature — and, where the receiving body requires it, sent directly by the university rather than handed to you. The wording to use is on the sealed transcript page, and the rule about sending documents directly is on how Turkish universities must send documents.
What we do
We correspond with the university under your power of attorney, request the complete sealed set including the reverse-side legend, arrange an apostille where the receiving body requires one, and courier the package with a full colour scan. If a document arrives without its grading legend or missing a semester, we go back to the registrar rather than passing the gap along.
Frequently asked questions
No. If the average appears on the transcript, the translation reproduces it; if it does not, the university can issue a document stating it. A figure calculated by a translator has no source the body can check and is treated as an alteration.
You may attach a document issued by the university explaining its scale, which is genuinely useful. A table you have compiled yourself is not evidence and is better left out; the assessment body applies its own method regardless.
Yes, provided the legend explaining the scale and the pass threshold is included and translated. The problem is never the scale itself; it is a scale sent without the explanation that goes with it.
Never. The translation reproduces the transcript in full, including repeated and failed courses. Missing entries make the document inconsistent with any copy the body obtains directly from the university.