Should I Hire a Genealogist or Translator When Dealing With a Language Barrier?

by Miriam Caldwell | More from this Blogger

30 Aug 2009 10:49 AM

When you are completing your genealogy you may come to a point where you are struggling with a language barrier. If you have completed back to where your family immigrated to the United States you will need to begin doing research in a foreign language. This can be difficult to complete. You have a few choices you could hire a translator, hire a genealogist, or attempt to complete the work on your own.

A translator can translate the documents into English for you. This may not be the best approach if you are searching census or Parrish records from another country since these generally contain keywords that you can identify yourself. However if you find old letters or journals from your relatives in a foreign language it may be worth hiring a translator for those documents. Additionally if you make contact with family on that side a translator can help you communicate by translating the records for you.

You may decide to hire a genealogist that specializes in completing genealogy work in that country. This would be a good idea if you have exhausted all of the resources that you know how to use and have run into a dead. An experienced genealogist has additional resources to use, and the skills to find the missing links. When hiring a genealogist be sure that they do have experience in that region. This can save you money because they will be more equipped to handle the research.

You can do the research yourself. Many European records are available online. It is not difficult to learn the words for birth date, death date and location in order to read the records that are on hand. This will allow you to complete the work at no cost to yourself. You may want to subscribe to a database that specializes in the country you are searching. You may also find help and additional resources online.

Learn more about Miriam Caldwell

Miriam is a SAHM mom of three children. She has a daughter who is seven, and two sons, four and two. She loves being a parent and spending time with her children.

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