If a Japanese diploma prints my Latin name on one page and only katakana on the others, which spelling should the English translation use?
TL;DRA three-page Japanese graduation set from a Tokyo specialized school printed the foreign student's Latin name only on the diploma — the award and transcript carried katakana. A phonetic transliteration of the katakana would not match the holder's passport. We used the institution-printed Latin form as the canonical spelling and propagated it across the katakana-only pages, with a Translator's Note naming the source page. The set was delivered for the client's WES credential evaluation.
Case Specifications
- Document
- Diploma, Academic Transcript, and Award Certificate (graduation set)
- Foreign Name
- 卒業証書, 成績表, 表彰状
- Country
- Japan
- Languages
- Japanese → English
- Submitted To
- WES credential evaluation (with USCIS follow-on)
What We Received
A client submitted a three-page graduation set from a Tokyo specialized training college (専門学校 / senmon gakkō): an Award of Honors (表彰状, conferring the 優等賞 / Honor Award), an Academic Transcript (成績表) covering four semesters with 130 credits earned against 108 required, and a Diploma of Graduation (卒業証書) granting the title of 専門士 (Professional Diploma) in the Specialized Course in Culture and Education. The certified [Japanese to English translation](/languages/japanese) was needed for a WES credential evaluation, with the evaluated package then forwarded into a USCIS work-visa filing.
The holder is a foreign student whose family and given name appear on every page in Japanese katakana — the syllabary used to spell foreign names. The diploma page also prints the name in Latin script on a second line directly beneath the katakana; that is the institution's own rendering of the name, set in the same body font as the rest of the diploma. The award certificate and the academic transcript carry only the katakana. Throughout this case the canonical placeholder IVANOVA ANASTASIA / イワノワ アナスタシア stands in for the real holder; no actual personal name is disclosed.
Why This Required Special Handling
WES and USCIS both check translated names against the applicant's other identity documents — principally the passport. WES evaluators treat the package as a whole: if the diploma, transcript, and award certificate spell the holder's name three different ways, the package returns with a hold for clarification. The translator's task is to deliver a set on which every page reads the same Latin name as the holder's passport.
A phonetic transliteration of the katakana, taken on its own, will not match the passport. Japanese has no /v/ phoneme — Cyrillic /v/ on a Russian-origin surname is rendered with the ボ/バ row or the modern ヴ digraph, and a Modified Hepburn round-trip yields /b/ or /w/ rather than /v/. Japanese has no /l/. Cyrillic feminine surnames ending in -a often drop the final /a/ in katakana when the preceding syllable is closed. The katakana on the page is a faithful Japanese phonetic record of the name; it is not intended to be back-translated as a Latin spelling.
The institution itself solved the problem on the diploma by printing the holder's passport spelling beneath the katakana. The award certificate and transcript templates do not include a Latin-name line. A naïve translation would render the katakana phonetically on pages 1 and 2 and copy the printed Latin form on page 3, producing three pages with two different Latin spellings of the same name — the exact pattern WES and [USCIS](/accepted-by/uscis) reviewers do not accept.
How We Handled It
We used the institution-printed Latin form from the diploma as the canonical Latin spelling for the entire set, and propagated it verbatim — letter for letter, including capitalization and the family-name-first order printed by the school — to the award certificate and the academic transcript. The translation does not add a Latin-name line that does not exist in the original; it simply uses the diploma's spelling whenever a Latin form is needed on the English version of each page.
The cross-document identifiers were kept verbatim too: the diploma's registration number (第 XXXXXXX 号) matches the transcript's 学籍番号 (Student ID), and that match is preserved on the English pages so a WES evaluator can chain the documents together at a glance.
The certification page carries a Translator's Note that names the propagation rule explicitly:
"Translator's Note (name spelling): The holder's name is recorded in Japanese katakana on every page of this set. The Latin-script form of the name is printed by the issuing institution on the Diploma of Graduation (page 3) directly beneath the katakana — this is the institution's own Latin spelling of the holder's name. The Award of Honors (page 1) and the Academic Transcript (page 2) carry the name only in katakana; no Latin-script form appears on those pages in the original. The Latin spelling used throughout this English translation, including on the pages where the original prints only katakana, is the institution-printed Latin form from page 3, used verbatim. This preserves a consistent name across the three-document set and aligns it with the holder's passport."
Three further Translator's Notes accompanied the certification page. One documents the calendar conversion from the Japanese year-month-day format (YYYY年M月D日) to Month DD, YYYY. One explains the transcript's Year 2 Fall legend: seven course rows are marked with the symbol "■" in both the Grade and Credits columns, which per the original's printed legend means "Substituted by internship or production work" — the credits flow through the 26-credit Internship row (Y1 66 + Y2 64 = 130 total, against 108 required for graduation). One explains the rendering of the conferred title — 専門士 (文化教養専門課程) → "Professional Diploma (Specialized Course in Culture and Education)" — the statutory title for graduates of an accredited 専門学校 conferred by ministerial notification under Japan's MEXT.
Stamps, seals, and signatures were rendered in English brackets throughout — the school's red oblong official seal, the diploma-registration seal at the top-right of the diploma page, and the principal's handwritten cursive signature. The three pages were delivered as a single bound certified set with header and footer consistent across pages, and a Page X of Y counter in the footer so a WES evaluator opening the file sees the set's pagination at a glance.
The Outcome
The certified three-page set was delivered to the client for inclusion in the WES credential-evaluation package. The Translator's Note that names the propagation rule and identifies page 3 as the source of the institution-printed Latin spelling lets a WES evaluator confirm at the first read that the same Latin name across the three pages is anchored to the original — not invented by the translator. The package then flowed into the USCIS work-visa filing under [USCIS translation requirements](/guides/uscis-translation-requirements) with one consistent name across the credential record and the petition.
This is the recurring pattern for foreign students who graduate from Japanese specialized training colleges (専門学校). The diploma page is the only page in the standard graduation set on which most schools print the Latin form of a foreign holder's name; the award and transcript templates rarely carry a Latin-name line. We have applied the same propagation rule on every Japanese specialized-school graduation set we have handled for foreign holders to date, and all have been delivered with the same Translator's Note.
Thank you so much, the package looks perfect — every page has the same spelling of my name. Sending it to WES today.
What This Means for You
A Japanese diploma set that prints a foreign holder's Latin name on the diploma page only — with katakana on the award and transcript pages — does not require the translator to invent a Latin spelling for the katakana-only pages. A certified translation that uses the institution-printed Latin form as the canonical spelling, propagates it across the katakana-only pages, and adds a Translator's Note identifying the source page gives WES and USCIS reviewers one consistent name across the package, aligned with the holder's passport.
Have a similar situation?
We handle Japanese specialized-school (専門学校) graduation sets for WES credential evaluation and USCIS filings regularly.
Related Cases & Resources
Sources & References
- Required Documents — Japan·World Education Services (WES)·Verified 2026-05-12
- Meet Translation Requirements·USCIS·Verified 2026-05-12
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All identifying information has been removed from the document image. In the case text, the canonical placeholder name IVANOVA ANASTASIA (Latin / passport form) and イワノワ アナスタシア (katakana form) stand in for the real holder throughout, so no real personal name, date of birth, student ID, diploma registration number, or order number is disclosed. Case details are shared with client permission. No personal data is stored or displayed on this page.