Translating Old Genealogy Records: 20 Top Tools

One of the biggest challenges genealogists face is translating foreign-language records, especially if the handwriting is hard to read.

Fortunately, many online tools can help you decipher even cryptic texts. Whether you need to decipher a letter written in Norwegian, a German church record written in Gothic script or a newspaper article published in Spanish, use this guide to find the right tools for the job.

Word Lists, Handwriting Guides, and Dictionaries

These resources, like their low-tech predecessors, collect foreign-language genealogical terms, their English equivalents, and (sometimes) definitions.

The FamilySearch Research Wiki (see below) has more than 100,000 expertly written articles with genealogy advice from around the world. Among the articles are language and handwriting guides, including word lists. A search for German letter turns up a German letter-writing guide.

Though not created specifically for genealogists, general language guides have valuable resources, too. WordReference.com, for example, has free bilingual dictionaries. Lexilogos has dictionaries in more than 175 languages, including Irish Gaelic, Welsh and Yoruba.

Message Boards and Online Groups

Like online dictionaries, message boards represent an older (but still useful) technology. Volunteers in these groups can transcribe and translate old records.

The FamilySearch Wiki maintains a database of Genealogy Research Groups. Some are FamilySearch Communities, collections of users with similar interests. Others are Facebook groups; more on these shortly.

Ancestry.com’s Message Boards (below) have long been a center of genealogical conversation, containing more than 25 million posts. Under Categories > Topics Categories, find Research Resources > Translation. Users have created dedicated boards for specific languages, plus for translators. Note that you don’t have to be a paying Ancestry.com member to use the boards.

Finally, Facebook groups offer access to other genealogists. Two of special interest include Genealogical Translations and German Genealogy Translations.

Online Translators and Translation Websites

Other resources attempt to translate text automatically. Just type, paste in text or drag and drop a document.

Google Translate (below) interprets text, images, documents and websites between nearly 250 languages. Translate PDFs (less than 300 pages), Word documents, PowerPoint files and Excel spreadsheets up to 10MB from your browser tab, or ask Google Translate to convert whole websites by pasting a URL or using a plug-in. The tool can even recognize handwriting in scanned documents, and (through the mobile app) you can simply point your camera to translate text.

Likewise, DeepL does translations in 30 languages, plus a few dialects. DeepL is known for producing accurate, natural-sounding translations, especially for European languages. Type in text or drag and drop words or PDF, Word or PowerPoint files. Use the mobile app on your phone’s camera to scan and translate text.

Below at left is the original text of my great-great-grand-uncle’s 1893 marriage announcement in La República newspaper in Bogotá, Colombia, along with three translations. As you’ll see, DeepL’s translation is generally better. But there are other cases in which Google Translate has a more-accurate or -nuanced translation.

Original text (Spanish)	Google Translate	DeepL	Human Translator
MATRIMONIO. – Lo han contraído en esta ciudad el 17 del presente el señor J. H. Pennington, ciudadano norte-americano, y la señorita Beatriz Otero Frasser, una de las bellezas bogotanas más admiradas por su elegante apostura y los apreciables dones de su alma espiritual. Que sea colmado de constante dicha este hogar simpático y apreciable!	MARRIAGE. – This marriage was married in this city on the 17th of this month by Mr. J. H. Pennington, a North American citizen, and Miss Beatriz Otero Frasser, one of the most admired beauties of Bogotá for her elegant appearance and the appreciable gifts of her spiritual soul. May this pleasant and esteemed home be filled with constant happiness!	MARRIAGE – Mr. J. H. Pennington, an American citizen, and Miss Beatriz Otero Frasser, one of the most admired beauties of Bogota for her elegant appearance and the appreciable gifts of her spiritual soul, were married in this city on the 17th of this month. May this pleasant and appreciated home be filled with constant happiness!	MARRIAGE: Contracted in this city on the 17th of this month, Mr. J. H. Pennington, American [United States] citizen, and Miss Beatriz Otero Frasser, one of the most-admired beauties of Bogotá for her elegant appearance and the precious gifts of her spiritual soul. May there be constant happiness in their kind and esteemed home.

Transcription Aids

Translating text is one hurdle—understanding the handwriting is another. In addition to using unfamiliar alphabets, handwritten documents may also use arcane scripts that are difficult to decipher. Poor handwriting and spelling make matters even worse!

Fortunately, some websites can help you transcribe handwritten documents, the possible first step to translating. Brigham Young University sponsors a Script Tutorial, which has interactive modules that help you read old English handwriting as well as text in nine other languages.

Alte Deutsche Handscrhiften and Archion each address German handwriting. The former’s Schrift-Generator (Script Generator) shows how a term might appear in various forms of Old German text. And Archion has an alphabet table and reading exercises using German scripts of different eras (see above)—perfect for deciphering the site’s many church records.

The FamilySearch Wiki also has an article on German handwriting. Find articles on other languages here.

For a more-automated touch, try Transkribus, which specializes in transcribing historical handwriting (including various types of old German handwriting) in 15 languages. In my limited tests, however, I got better results with AI chatbots.

Professional Translators

An expert familiar with the language, handwriting, and record type might produce a better transcription and translation than you’d get with any of the aforementioned tools. To find a qualified translator, you could contact a genealogical society in the area where the record was created. Also, try a Google search like this: genealogist translator german to english.

The Germanic Genealogy Society lists professional researchers who can decipher and translate handwritten documents from German. The International German Genealogy Partnership also has a list of researchers.

I hired someone in Germany to transcribe and translate two burial records. After a quick email exchange in which I sent the documents to get a price quote and then paid the 10-euro fee (about $10.75) by PayPal, I received the transcriptions with translations by email in less than 20 minutes.

AI Chatbots

Chatbots use artificial intelligence to simulate human conversation. Among the many tasks they can perform are translation and document-transcription.

When preparing to transcribe and translate a document with an AI chatbot, take these steps to get the best handwriting recognition or OCR (optical character recognition) for printed text:

1. Create a high-quality scan, properly aligned and at least 300 dpi. Documents that have faded ink, poor handwriting or unclear text may result in inaccuracies.
2. Break a large, complex document into smaller parts. You could transcribe each page or even each column separately.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the most popular chatbot as of this writing, provides good translations in many modern languages. Other popular AI chatbots include Bing’s Copilot, Google’s Gemini, Meta AI, Perplexity and Anthropic’s Claude.

You can do a lot with the free versions of chatbots, but the enhanced features that come with paid plans could include more-accurate translations.

When composing your prompt (i.e., request) for a chatbot, put the document in historical and cultural context to get the best transcription and translation. Include this information:

• Document type: Government documents (such as wills and deeds) may use legal terms, while personal letters and diaries may include colloquial expressions.
• Date: Note if the text uses archaic terms or spelling.
• Language and place: Note any language nuances.
• Proper names: Identify any proper names you recognize, such as names of people and places.

If the chatbot’s response is wrong or insufficient, ask follow-up questions to clarify and correct.

Once a chatbot creates a transcription, verify that it is accurate. If the AI can’t read something, it might “hallucinate,” making up facts and material that are not in the original document, but that seem to fit in.

ChatGPT

My aunt, Doris Lee, received a postcard from Norway. I cropped the message, rotated the image and gave ChatGPT this prompt: “This postcard was written in Norwegian, perhaps in 1948. Please transcribe it and translate it into English.”

ChatGPT did a pretty good job, though it misread Lee as “See” and completely left out the phrase, “Ha det bra” (“Take care”).

ChatGPT Transcription	ChatGPT Translation
Kjære fru See! Bare en liten hilsen fra mig, med ønske om en god jul for Dem og Deres familie. Håper de har fengre mitt brev! Her er de legen jeg bor i. Hjertelig hilsen Bjørndal 6, Marta Rotvene Bergen	Dear Mrs. See! Just a little greeting from me, with wishes for a Merry Christmas to you and your family. I hope you have received my letter! Here is the area where I live. Kind regards, Bjørndal 6, Marta Rotvene Bergen

Google Gemini

The 1735 marriage of my immigrant ancestor Johann Caspar Reussner is recorded in the Lutheran parish registers of Schwäbisch Hall, Württemberg, Germany on Ancestry.com. I asked the free versions of several chatbots to transcribe and translate the record, with this prompt:

This is a record of the marriage of Johann Caspar Reussner in 1735 in the Lutheran church in Schwäbisch Hall, Württemberg, in present-day Germany. Please transcribe this record and translate it into English.

Gemini’s response appeared to be by far the best. In order to verify its transcription and translation, I posted them, along with the original record, on the German Research Group in the FamilySearch Community. A volunteer replied: “Is this really the correct image of the record? The transcription is completely different and has added a lot of text that does not appear in the original record.”

Below is a comparison of the transcriptions and translations from Gemini and the volunteer on FamilySearch.

	Gemini	FamilySearch Community
Transcription	So Hann Caspar Reußner, Burgers und Schneider allhier Wittwer ehel. Sohns weil. Joh. Georg Reußners geweßenen burgers Zu Gaildorf mit Jungfr. Susanna Maria, Caspar Welchen, burgers von hier ehel. Tochter. Denen Wohlermeldten ist nach dreymaliger ordentl. Außruffung und darauff erfolgten gewöhnl. Eynsegnungs gebet in gegenwart derer Gezeugen d. 26th Aprilis ehelich copulirt worden.	Johann Caspar Reußner, Bürger u. Schneider allhier Wittwer ist mit Dorothea Susanna Maria, Caspar Welcken, Comberg. Innwohners zu Reinsperg und Papierers-Gesell ehel. Tochter auch Bürger allhier nach 3ml. proclamation, ordentl. ver__?det worden d. 26th Aprilis.
Translation	Thus Johann Caspar Reußner, citizen and tailor here, widower, legitimate son of the late Johann Georg Reußner, former citizen of Gaildorf, with Miss Susanna Maria, legitimate daughter of Caspar Welchen, citizen from here. The aforementioned were, after three proper proclamations and the customary marriage blessing thereupon, in the presence of witnesses, married on April 26th.	The widower Johann Caspar Reußner, citizen and tailor here, was married after three proclamations to Dorothea Susanna Maria, legitimate daughter of Caspar Welcken, Combergian resident of Reinsberg and journeyman papermaker as well as citizen here April 26th.

Gemini added the name of Johann Caspar Reußner’s father, even though it doesn’t appear in the original record. Also, Gemini left out the bride’s first name, Dorothea, as well as her father’s place of residence and occupation.

Even though a chatbot’s transcription and translation might look convincing, verify the work. Archaic handwriting, the layout of the text, and the clarity of the image can all affect an AI chatbot’s ability to transcribe a record correctly. And you never know when a chatbot will simply make up material that doesn’t appear in the original record.

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If you’re having trouble deciphering foreign-language records in your family history research, give these tools a try. While they don’t work all the time, chatbots, in particular, have a truly amazing ability to transcribe and translate impenetrable handwriting in old foreign-language records.

Related Reads

A version of this article appeared in the May/June 2025 issue of Family Tree Magazine. Earlier articles on a similar topic ran in the February 2001 (by Jan Jaben-Eilon), June 2003 (Rick Crume) and July 2007 (Tara Beecham) issues.