You may have started dabbling in genealogy years ago or months ago. Think back to the first documents you found for your family. What was the toughest hurdle for you?
For most people, it's the handwriting—and for some of us, the handwriting in a foreign language.
Do not let that slow you down! Every day I see people requesting document translations in Facebook genealogy groups. And there are always people ready to jump in to help. I'm one of them.
But we don't type out the translation because we're fluent in the other language. Or because we were raised to read and write in an old-fashioned style.
No. We can read and understand these birth, marriage and death records, census forms, ship manifests and more because we swim in them every day.
I've written articles about understanding foreign-language documents before. You'll find them at the bottom of this article. Much like "The Blues Brothers", I'm "on a mission from God." My mission: To throw you into the old-fashioned and foreign handwriting water and show you that you can swim!
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| Ten years ago this document was a ball of confusion. No it's all painfully obvious to me. |
A few days ago I realized the power of the immersion technique. I was hunting through some very old email I'd saved, trying to find the source document for some people in my tree. In a 10-year-old email, I found an 1886 parish marriage document for someone with my maiden name.
My reply to the email surprised me. I asked my friend, "Why are there so many names on this document? What does it all mean? Who are they all?"
As I look at the document now, it's perfectly obvious who they all are. They are the groom and his parents, the bride and her parents, and the witnesses.
Why was I confused by that? The answer is simple. Ten years ago I hadn't seen any 19th-century Italian marriage documents. Now I've viewed and transcribed thousands of them.
Familiarity is the main thing you need. You do not need to know the translation for each word on the page. You need to know the key words for things like:
- born
- died
- son/daughter
- husband/wife/widow
- dates/numbers
Below are 4 articles with links to resources for helping you understand those old documents.
The single best technique for reading old genealogy documents is to expose yourself to lots and lots of them. Looking for your 2nd great grandmother's birth record? Look at the other documents before and after hers. Use them to help you figure out that one word or letter you cannot decipher.
You'll also see for yourself which names are common in the town. After you see it written 10 times, that difficult last name becomes so easy to pick out.
The obstacle of foreign languages and old-fashioned handwriting will disappear.
Use the tools available to you. Spend time looking closely at similar documents. Familiarity is your best teacher. You can do this!
And speaking of foreign-language documents:
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