Wednesday Wisdom – How Can I do my Genealogy When I Can’t translate the Document?

Have you ever wondered how can I read a document when I don’t know the language? How can I do my genealogy when I can’t translate this document?

I found this FamilySearchWiki article to be especially helpful when I was beginning to learn Norwegian and I still find it helpful now when trying to decipher handwriting.  Norwegian Genealogical Word List is the most consolidated word list that I’ve seen, besides using a dictionary, to find the word you’re looking for.  It isn’t a complete list, but it does get you one step closer. Family Search has similar articles for Danish, Swedish, and Finnish.

Sometimes I also use Google Translate to help, but what I’ve learned is that I can’t use just one source to translate a document for me.  It’s not that easy.  Trust me, I wish it was! Instead, I’ve got to be creative in using all online and offline sources.  I also have to use my brain to think about how a person would reasonably use that word in a document.  These ministers had one job to do on these documents so over time I’ve been able to take an educated guess on what that word is because of the pattern that the ministers used every time.  In addition, I’ve used Facebook groups and kind hearted souls to help translate documents. 

So from my experience, I’ve learned that I can’t use just one source.  I’ve got to be creative in where I find my translations. I’ve learned using FamilySearch, dictionaries, Facebook groups, local friends, and Google Translate has helped me in tremendous ways.  I hope that there will be an even easier way to translate these documents in the near future.

So what have you found that works for you in translating these foreign documents? 

Good luck!

Tiffany