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GENEALOGY TRANSLATIONS

You are researching your family tree and stumble across a document written in a flowery cursive Russian. You are not alone! We have been painstakingly translating dozens of such genealogy records over the years for our clients here in the UK as well as the USA. We have now developed expertise in this area and have the relevant experience to take on the translation of your documents too.

HOW WE CAN HELP

What do you need to do if you would like us to translate your old document in Russian? Email us a scan or a photo of the document you want translating. Alternately you can send us a link to the portal where the document is uploaded. We will check if it’s legible enough for us to handle. Every handwriting is different so it requires time to work out the unique ways the writer penned each letter. What makes it even harder is the fact that the spelling rules have changed since the early 20th century and some characters are no longer used, not to mention some outdated vocabulary.

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If we can decipher the handwriting, we will give you a quote to have the record translated, and if you wish to go ahead, we’ll start the work and uncover some family mysteries you’ve been waiting to unravel.

SOME TYPES OF PAPERS WE TYPICALLY TRANSLATE 

  • Birth records

  • Marriage records

  • Death records

  • Passport pages

  • Postcards

  • Diaries

  • Military record books

  • Letters from archives

  • Church records

These may originate from countries which were once part of the Russian empire and are now independent states: Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine to name those we deal with most often. We have also worked with the producers of the BBC's popular TV series Who Do You Think You Are.

 

Our work has also been acknowledged in books, such as Tim Tate’s The Spy who was Left out in the Cold. Our article on the challenges of genealogy translations made a cover story in the Bulletin - the magazine published by the Institute of Translation and Interpreting.

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Get in touch with us to discuss how we can help you in discovering your family history.

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