FamilySearch Wiki

Austro-Hungarian Empire Language and Handwriting

Revision as of 04:00, 19 August 2025 by Tegnosis (talk | contribs) (Changed "Rating" to "Content".)

(diff) ← Older revision | Approved revision (diff) | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Austro-Hungarian Empire Language and Handwriting
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Record Types
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Background

Records of the Empire might be written in German, Hungarian, Polish, Czech, or Russian.

Reading the Records

  • It's easier than you think! You do not have to be fluent in a language to use these records, as there is only a limited vocabulary used in them. By learning a few key phrases, you will be able to read them adequately. Here are some resources for learning to read records.

German

German Genealogical Word List
German Handwriting

  • These video webinars will teach you to read German handwriting:
  • Also online interactive slideshow lessons are available to help you learn to read these records:
*Reading German Handwritten Records Lesson 3: Reading Kurrent Documents. In this lesson, you will explore several types of German genealogical records, including birth, baptismal, marriage, and death records.

This converter will show you how any phrase or name might look in German script:

  • Kurrentschrift Converter (enter German genealogical word, click on "convert", view your word in Kurrentschrift (Gothic handwriting)

Latin Records

Records of the Catholic church will usually be written in Latin:

Hungarian

Polish

Because Silesia is now in Poland, these articles will help:

Czech

Russian

Retrieved from "https://integration-ru.familysearch.org/en/wiki/index.php?title=Austro-Hungarian_Empire_Language_and_Handwriting&oldid=6401067"