I have lines in France, the Azores, Portugal, Australia, Ireland, and England. Further back into my noble lines, I hit most of Europe.
Because of the wide range of countries, I’ve had to learn the basics of a couple of languages. I’ve learned a little French and a little more Portuguese. I know some Spanish which has come in handy in interpreting both the Portuguese and French. In Hawaiian Catholic Church records, I had to pick up some Latin. In the pre-state Hawaiian records, I had to learn a bit of Hawaiian. And when I worked on my brother-in-law’s La Grange (de la Grange) line in Schenectady and Albany, New York ca 1700, I suddenly had to cram on Dutch. That’s six languages just to get through the family history!
I would not say I am proficient in any. I’m probably best at Portuguese. I can now “read” genealogy books and pick out the salient information. I muddle through the best I can.
How many languages do you know? How many have you had to learn in order to do your family tree?
