Baccalaureat de l'enseignement du second degré

English translation: High School

15:27 Mar 22, 2009
French to English translations [PRO]
Education / Pedagogy / High school transcript
French term or phrase: Baccalaureat de l'enseignement du second degré
High school graduation certificate, Côte d'Ivoire. It is the " second degré" that stumps me: Is it "level 2" or "second cycle", or something else?
Marco Solinas
Local time: 17:31
English translation:High School
Explanation:
The Baccalaureat is the French system high school diploma. In this context it refers to the general literary, economics or sciences streams (L. ES, S) in high school (2e, 1e and Te), not one of the technical ones. The Cote d'Ivoire has French-system high schools, as well as high schools working under the supervision of the French Ministry of Education.

So, this is referring to a High School general arts and sciences stream diploma.
Selected response from:

Mollie Milesi
Israel
Local time: 03:31
Grading comment
Thank you Mollie. Very informative and clear.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +4Baccalaureat de l'enseignement du second degré [secondary education diploma]
Yolanda Broad
5High School
Mollie Milesi
4 +1High school diploma
jmleger
3High school
Myriam Dupouy


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
High school


Explanation:
...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 mins (2009-03-22 15:35:29 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Académie de la Guadeloupe, pédagogie, Second degré, Collèges et Lycées
Le Second degré (Collège, lycée). Informations · Le privé · Calendrier scolaire · Sites web du second degré · Cliquez ici pour accéder à l'application i- ...
www.ac-guadeloupe.fr/secondaire_sites.htm - 21k - En cache - Pages similaires

Myriam Dupouy
France
Local time: 02:31
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: French
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

12 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
High School


Explanation:
The Baccalaureat is the French system high school diploma. In this context it refers to the general literary, economics or sciences streams (L. ES, S) in high school (2e, 1e and Te), not one of the technical ones. The Cote d'Ivoire has French-system high schools, as well as high schools working under the supervision of the French Ministry of Education.

So, this is referring to a High School general arts and sciences stream diploma.

Mollie Milesi
Israel
Local time: 03:31
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12
Grading comment
Thank you Mollie. Very informative and clear.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

13 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
High school diploma


Explanation:
Il n'y a pas vraiment d'équivalent eu Anglais US, car la fin des études secondaires ne donne pas lieu à un examen général.

jmleger
Local time: 19:31
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 8
Notes to answerer
Asker: Mrci Emma: très util


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Emma Paulay: http://www.immihelp.com/immigration/high-school-diploma-equi... Or "secondary education".
47 mins
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +4
Baccalaureat de l'enseignement du second degré [secondary education diploma]


Explanation:
Do not translate.

Here is my standard explanation for why you can't just "translate" a degree:

The short explanation is: translators are not in a position to determine degree equivalencies, a complex task that can only be performed by qualified officials at degree-awarding institutions. I speak from experience not only as a translator but as a retired academic: I sat for years on a university committee that developed the standards for admission, transfer and graduation from that institution. Once those standards are developed and approved by the institutional community and its officials, they become part of the tools with which a university registrar, for example, can work. Registrars are the *only* officials at an institution of higher learning who can evaluate degree equivalencies. And they can only do so in terms of their own institution's standards. Not even they are in a position to "re-award" a degree earned elsewhere!

*Awarding* a degree or a diploma means holding a ceremony and issuing a document, to bestow a status on the recipient. In this, degrees and diplomas are similar to *names* (of institutions, brands, companies). If the entity has names in more than one language, then it becomes possible to select the already existing name in the target language, in place of the one used in the source language. If the name only exists in the target language, it does not fall to the translator to re-baptize the entity in a new language.

In like manner, we can only substitute the *name* of a degree when it already exists in the target language. Canadian degrees, for instance, have names in both French and English (or English and French...) Such is not the case for any degrees from institutions in France or the Côte d'Ivoire, for instance, where their awarding is only done in French. The same applies to degrees "awarded in Spanish": in fact, they are being awarded under national standards, not “in languages” [in the case of diplomas from Colombia, for instance, these standards are governed by government decrees, as they are in many other countries!] The best that we humble translators can do is to cite the *name* of the degree, and include a parenthetical explanation, which is how I have phrased my answer, above.

As an example of the lack of equivalence between names and content, here is an explanation taken from an article on another French-language-based educational system, this one in Lebanon, where they appear to have retained a model similar to the old French one (note the mention of the one degree–also awarded in Lebanon, at the American University–that *is* a Ph.D):

"This stage involves writing a dissertation leading to the doctoral degree. The Doctorat de Troisième Cycle is awarded after two years of study beyond the Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies. The Doctorat d'État (in medicine and pharmacology) is awarded after a further two years of study. Finally, the Ph.D. degree is only offered at American-style universities." http://www.wes.org/ewenr/00jan/practical.htm.

N.B. FWIW, institutions usually have their catalogs on-line, so if the name of the school is available, one can check on the meaning of a degree that way. That would make a parenthetical explanation more meaningful, wouldn't it?

Yolanda Broad
United States
Local time: 20:31
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 28

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Myriam Dupouy: Fully agree with you. I just thought the asker needed to understand what it was...Haaaaa...Unfair Sundays...
35 mins
  -> Thank you.

agree  B D Finch: And after all that, he chose "high school"! Junior HS? Senior HS? Scottish or Canadian ?
2 hrs
  -> High school without any qualifier means sr. high. But, of course, the institution in question is neither a jr. or sr. high.

agree  whither has fle: I was very pleased to see this question of translating degrees etc, explained so clearly. Very much what I always thought but didnt realise how official it was. Thank you.
1 day 56 mins
  -> Thank you.

agree  swisstell
327 days
  -> Thanks. It's a hobbyhorse of mine!
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

KudoZ™ translation help

The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.


See also:
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search