Reading Old German - Free Tutorials
Whether the printed German Gothic (aka Fraktur) or the old German handwriting (Kurrent or Sütterlin), here are a couple free resources to h
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Pamela Israel
- Aug 17
- 3 min
Tips for Translating German Church Records: Cheat sheet
Deciphering German church records can be tough. A German translation cheat sheet and a few tips should help you along your way.
187 views
Stefan Israel
- Jul 21
- 5 min
Fiefdom in a Desk
What challenges of reading an older document, such as a 15th century manuscript, and what can its language tell us? Who, when, where & more!
103 views
Stefan Israel
- Jul 6
- 3 min
Why Couldn’t Shakespeare Get U and V Right?
When you look at old books into the 1600’s, it looks like they mixed u and v up with abandon. Originally, there had only been one letter.
86 views
Pamela Israel
- Jun 22
- 3 min
German Feudal, Fief and Enfeoffment
A 1497 German manuscript stashed in a Boston desk opens a window into German enfeoffments - relationships between feudal lords and vassals.
111 views
Stefan Israel
- Jun 8
- 5 min
Why... do we dot our i's? Minims!
Why do we dot our i's? Minims! Old English and old German writing and printing added the dot to decipher which letter was which. Read on!
123 views
Pamela Israel
- May 25
- 3 min
1497 German Medieval Letter
Part 1 of 3 It's not every day you find a medieval German knight's letter in an old desk. What on earth? Well, Laurence Posner of...
155 views
Stefan Israel
- Apr 27
- 5 min
Punctuation and the Genealogist
A comma, semi-colon or period - different quotation marks in different languages - Agh! What an interesting history to punctuation marks.
75 views
Pamela Israel
- Apr 14
- 1 min
Taxes: English Fleeced to German Plucked
Tax Time: Plucked Chicken - In English we say the tax office fleeces tax payers, Germans say plucked! Translation is fun, isn't it?
49 views
Stefan Israel
- Mar 30
- 2 min
Two Dots and an Umlaut
Unlocking the umlaut. History of the two dots.
313 views
Pamela Israel
- Mar 6
- 1 min
Milestone Favorites: Language, History & Tips
Unlock Your History launched in 2017! Check out some favorite posts about language history & translating old German, Danish, Swedish.
77 views
Stefan Israel
- Jun 15, 2021
- 4 min
How to Spot the Dot
What language belongs to those accents? From German to Norwegian Hungarian or French, see different accents that some languages use.
798 views
Stefan Israel
- Mar 5, 2021
- 4 min
When France Came to Germany
Beethoven and Goethe, the German Shakespeare, were glad to see liberator Napoleon come, and glad to see occupier Napoleon go. Napoleonic la
777 views
Stefan Israel
- Jan 28, 2021
- 4 min
Why Couldn’t My Ancestor Spell Their Name the Same?
You’re tracing your family back, and the spellings sometimes just go crazy.
606 views
Pamela Israel
- Jan 14, 2021
- 6 min
A Plea to Save Letters!
Save letters! I have a treasure trove of memories downstairs.
So began the email from my mother earlier this week.
87 views
Stefan Israel
- Oct 30, 2020
- 1 min
Our Dutch (Speaking) President Martin Van Buren
The first U.S. president born in the United States (so after the country’s founding) didn’t even speak English as his first language.
942 views
Stefan Israel
- Apr 13, 2020
- 3 min
DUTCH, not DEUTSCH: English, Dutch and German
English, Dutch and German are all related languages - the languages diverged - you can see it in how the same original words now differ.-
1,344 views
Pamela Israel
- Mar 30, 2020
- 2 min
ä ë ï ö ü - Umlaut on the Keyboard
I’m typing away and I’d like to add a letter with an umlaut (two dots sometimes above a vowel)….agh
130,558 views
Stefan Israel
- Mar 17, 2020
- 4 min
Celtic father-names: Donaldson, McDonald, O’Donnell
The main Celtic traditions for genealogy are the Irish, the Scottish and the Welsh. Complicating matters, Irish settlers brought Gaelic from
623 views
Stefan Israel
- Mar 2, 2020
- 4 min
Understanding -Sen and -Son in a Name: Johnson, Janson and Jansen
Why do some family names end in -son and some in -sen?
7,702 views
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