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As you dig deeper into your eastern European research, it is just a matter of time before you encounter documents in a language other than English. Fear not! It is not necessary to learn one or more foreign languages.

 

While one option is to use social media to look for translation assistance, it is much more rewarding to learn how to do this yourself. Fortunately, there are tools that can help with interpretation.

 

More than likely, the first type of record you'll discover is church metrical records. Entries in the church registers may be recorded in columnar or paragraph form. Columnar records separate information into individual columns with headings for each column. Records made in the latter format have information laid out in a pre-determined order in a lengthy paragraph. In both cases, there is a specific arrangement of the data. 

 

This is where genealogical word lists can help. These tools provide translation of key genealogical words and may also include additional information such as usage, language characteristics, and additional resources. Consider them a jumping off point to get you moving forward with your research. The more you use them, the more comfortable you become interpreting records.

 

An excellent resource for genealogical word lists is the FamilySearch Wiki Genealogical Word Lists page. It contains a compilation of word lists in numerous languages including, but not limited to Croation, Czech, Estonian, German, Hungarian, Latin, Latvian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, and Slovak.

 

Good luck with your research!