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In preparing my application to PhD programs I have the following question:

I have presented papers in two distinct large-scale local conferences. However, I am not sure how to list these on my CV in a verifiable way, since the conferences' websites and programs are not in English.

For journal papers I can simply provide the corresponding links, while for conference papers I have not come up with something helpful.

The difficulty thus lies in: How to convince the reader of my vita that these papers are conference papers?

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    That they aren't in English should be largely irrelevant. If in a Western script, they are still readable. If in a non-Western script, some of us can still read them. And there's always Google Translate.
    – virmaior
    Sep 2, 2014 at 2:25
  • Just thought about something: One of the conference I attended has the program post embedded in their website. So how may it be translated?
    – Yes
    Sep 2, 2014 at 2:33
  • Did you try the url in google translate and see what happens?
    – virmaior
    Sep 2, 2014 at 3:27

2 Answers 2

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Not everything on your CV needs to be verifiable via an Internet link.

I have many items on my CV that would require some interaction with a human to verify: degrees I've earned, summer research students I've mentored, seminar talks I've given, classes I've taught, etc.

As long as you can, on demand, provide contact information for someone who can confirm your presentation (e.g. conference organizer), I don't see why this is a concern.

If you want to provide a link to the non-English conference program, go ahead; someone who is sufficiently motivated can surely get it translated.

(I'm sure this goes without saying, but since I've seen a shocking number of CVs that say "Presented at Conference X" without further information I'll say it anyways: you must include the full details of each presentation, including its title, co-authors if there were any, full name of conference, date, and city.)

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    Co-authors might be redundant. I don't list them for my conference talks in my CV as, in my field, all conference talks are accompanied by a paper, so my co-authors are listed in that part of my CV.
    – David Richerby
    Sep 2, 2014 at 7:47
  • Yeah, that part seems to be highly field-dependent, and even depends on the conference: sometimes they strictly list only the speaker (mostly on very small meetings).
    – yo'
    Sep 2, 2014 at 9:47
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This is a non-issue. Apart from anything else, almost none of the conference talks I've ever given is verifiable by following an internet link. The conference programmes invariably give the full author list of each paper and I don't recall any that has indicated which of them gave the talk.

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    "I don't recall any that has indicated which of them gave the talk." That sentence is probably field dependent. As an example, see the full program of the upcoming EHPRG meeting. In the PDF document the presenting author's name is underlined.
    – Willie Wong
    Sep 2, 2014 at 8:13
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    @WillieWong Yes, I'm obviously talking about the conferences I've presented at. But my point is that there are plenty enough cases where you can't verify who gave the talk by looking on the web, so the asker shouldn't worry about their particular case in which you can't verify who gave the conference talk by looking on the web.
    – David Richerby
    Sep 2, 2014 at 9:05
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    I think the OP is not so much worried about who gave the talk, but that a talk was given. It would be a bit hard for me to navigate a conference website in, say, Portuguese or Hindi, to find even a list of the talks presented. And even after that there is not guarantee that I can parse the list to see if the talk described by the OP is in the list. I think that is the main concern.
    – Willie Wong
    Sep 2, 2014 at 10:16
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    Conversely, in mathematics, conference programs often list only the speaker and not any coauthors who may have been involved in the work. (However, it is usual to acknowledge coauthors in the abstract, if an abstract is printed.) Note that in math, conference talks are less formal, are not considered to represent "publications," and may not correspond directly to published papers.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Sep 2, 2014 at 14:54
  • @WillieWong At least in my field, it's a rare department that doesn't include at least one professor who can read Hindi. And Google can translate Portuguese well enough.
    – JeffE
    Sep 2, 2014 at 14:58

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