Yes, You Can Read a Foreign Genealogy Record

Let's be blunt. Are you opposed to learning? Does the idea of expanding what you know make you angry or something?

If you can see the benefit of learning something new, then I don't want to hear it anymore. I don't want to hear anyone say, "I can't read this birth record because I don't know that language. Do it for me."

News flash: You don't have to be fluent in a language to locate the key facts in a genealogy document. Vital records follow a format. It isn't hard to figure out where the person's name will be. Where their age or date of birth will be. And they use certain key words, like father, mother, male, female, husband, wife. You don't need to be able to read every word in the document.

A foreign language should never ever stop a family tree researcher!

If you can read English, you can understand the letters used to write words in:

• Spanish
• Italian
• French
• Portuguese, and many more.

Other languages add a few of their own funky characters to the mix, like:

• German
• Danish
• Polish
• Hungarian, and others.

Unless the documents are in Russian or an Asian language, you've already got the skills you need.

When I began looking at Italian vital records, it was obvious what I needed to learn:

• They wrote out the dates in longhand. I had to learn and remember the words for the months of the year. And I had to get good with the words for numbers.
• I learned the Italian words for husband and wife when my husband and I were planning our honeymoon in Italy. Now I needed to know that:
  • figlio is son and figlia is daughter
  • nonno/nonna or avo/ava mean grandfather/grandmother
  • zio is uncle and zia is aunt, and a few other relationship words.

These facts are a couple of clicks away in the FamilySearch Wiki. You don't have to do a ton of research. And you don't need to be able to speak the language. Consult the wiki's genealogy key words for the language you need. Bookmark the page and go to it whenever you need to. I bookmarked the Latin genealogy key words page because Latin church records used to knock me for a loop. Now I know how the numbers work and which words I need to spot. It's not that hard!

To find a list of links to the FamilySearch Wiki for several languages, see "What Language Barrier?" You'll find a section on most of the pages for Key Words. This will be your best friend. And one day you won't need it anymore.

I want you to "Step Out of Your Genealogy Comfort Zone" and stop letting the idea of another language scare you. It will surprise you how quickly you can become proficient. It's the repetition that's important. Be sure to look over several documents. You will learn the words you need to know. If you look for it, you'll see the format they followed on each type of record. Knowing the format will tell you where to look for each piece of information you need. You'll know which sections are "boilerplate" and don't add any information of interest.

Now get out there and grow your genealogy skills!

Here's some more help:

• Tips & Tools to Help You Translate Foreign Genealogy Records
• You Can Read Foreign-Language Genealogy Records (I've been up on this soapbox before)