How to find the correct English version of your job title
Job titles vary greatly from culture to culture - not only the national culture but also the company culture. So without knowing what image your company wants to portray in the outside world (do you or your boss need to impress people? with whom will you be working most often? what do you want people to think of you? do you have international subsidiaries, and if so, what kind of titles do they use?) it is very difficult for me to give you a definite answer.
What I usually suggest is to look on the homepages of similar companies to yours in an English-speaking culture (such as the USA, Canada, the UK or Australia), see what titles they use, and copy them.
You will probably find a variety of titles and then you will need to choose the ones you find most suitable. It is also advisable to get a native speaker to confirm that the ones you have selected are satisfactory.
Here are some of the titles you will find on websites.
- Managing Director
- CEO
- Managing Partner
- Director
- President
- Executive Vice President
- Sales Assistant
- PA, Sales
- PA to the Sales Manager
You will find some examples of translated job titles on our website. As a Secretary Today reader you can download them using the current password you’ll find in the latest issue.
