Comments on: Grading systems http://translationpost.com/index.php/grading-systems/ Ruminations on language and translation Thu, 13 Oct 2011 04:58:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Jasmin http://translationpost.com/index.php/grading-systems/comment-page-1/#comment-1862 Jasmin Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:42:13 +0000 http://translationpost.com/?p=25#comment-1862 Excellent post, thank you very much for the valuable help while translating my CV! Excellent post, thank you very much for the valuable help while translating my CV!

]]> By: Laura http://translationpost.com/index.php/grading-systems/comment-page-1/#comment-422 Laura Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:29:28 +0000 http://translationpost.com/?p=25#comment-422 We've moved to California from the Frankfurt, Germany area, and I was shocked by the translation of my son's what-are-considered-in-Germany to be very good grades at a humanistic German "Gymnasium" into a 2.86 by his American school. As an American who has gone through the American system, when I see that GPA, I think, very poor, when in fact, my child is considered a very good student in Germany. I tried to explain to the guidance counselors here California that a "1" in Germany is VERY RARE--in my experience as a parent and as a teacher in Germany, zero to two students out of 30 end up getting 1's in a class. So for me, a "1" is the equivalent to an American A+. Because the German system has six number grades and the American system has only five, if you line up the grades beginning with 1=A+, 2=A, 3=B, 4=C, 5=D, 6=F, the translation of the achievement is more accurate. German students are discriminated against in terms of GPA translations because the schools do not take SIX number grades into account, nor the qualitative difference between a "1" and an "A." On a side note, another child of mine who has received many "4's" in the German system, despite very hard work and lots of learning, is basically a straight-A student here. Obviously, the two systems have different evaluation criteria, which must be taken into consideration when assigning the five American letter grades to the six German ones. Anything else discriminates against students who have gone through the very rigorous German Gymnasium system rather than the feel-good American one. Neither system is better than the other, but the different grading scales need to be taken into account. I like the author's idea of just leaving the German number grades with the 1-excellent, 2-very good, etc., notations, but when schools must transcribe the grades into American GPAs as my son's school insists they had to, they need to watch out about assigning the child the five lowest letter grades to the six number grades used in Germany. My son's high school is not budging with their translation and inclusion of his German grades as a cumulative 2.86 GPA on his transcript, even though, he is obviously also an excellent student with seven A's and A+'s this first trimester in an American school. By assigning a "1" as an "A+" and down the line, the translation of his German grades would be 3.86 and certainly more accurate than a 2.86. Does anyone know any sites which might have additional information about accurately transcribing German grades to fit the American system? We’ve moved to California from the Frankfurt, Germany area, and I was shocked by the translation of my son’s what-are-considered-in-Germany to be very good grades at a humanistic German “Gymnasium” into a 2.86 by his American school. As an American who has gone through the American system, when I see that GPA, I think, very poor, when in fact, my child is considered a very good student in Germany.

I tried to explain to the guidance counselors here California that a “1″ in Germany is VERY RARE–in my experience as a parent and as a teacher in Germany, zero to two students out of 30 end up getting 1′s in a class. So for me, a “1″ is the equivalent to an American A+.

Because the German system has six number grades and the American system has only five, if you line up the grades beginning with 1=A+, 2=A, 3=B, 4=C, 5=D, 6=F, the translation of the achievement is more accurate. German students are discriminated against in terms of GPA translations because the schools do not take SIX number grades into account, nor the qualitative difference between a “1″ and an “A.”

On a side note, another child of mine who has received many “4′s” in the German system, despite very hard work and lots of learning, is basically a straight-A student here. Obviously, the two systems have different evaluation criteria, which must be taken into consideration when assigning the five American letter grades to the six German ones. Anything else discriminates against students who have gone through the very rigorous German Gymnasium system rather than the feel-good American one. Neither system is better than the other, but the different grading scales need to be taken into account.

I like the author’s idea of just leaving the German number grades with the 1-excellent, 2-very good, etc., notations, but when schools must transcribe the grades into American GPAs as my son’s school insists they had to, they need to watch out about assigning the child the five lowest letter grades to the six number grades used in Germany.

My son’s high school is not budging with their translation and inclusion of his German grades as a cumulative 2.86 GPA on his transcript, even though, he is obviously also an excellent student with seven A’s and A+’s this first trimester in an American school. By assigning a “1″ as an “A+” and down the line, the translation of his German grades would be 3.86 and certainly more accurate than a 2.86.

Does anyone know any sites which might have additional information about accurately transcribing German grades to fit the American system?

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