Trish, Thanks for enlightening me about that PGSA Polish course! I don't think I have previously seen it, and could not get your link to work, but tracked it down here: http://www.pgsa.org/PDFs/CrashCourseInPolish.pdf John, I'm hoping that you have now got plenty of good ideas, and I have to concur with Debbie that I find old Polish handwriting easier to read than that from the present day. Likewise, unless you are unlucky, you will find most Cyrillic entries exhibit reasonable penmanship. Kind regards, Bronwyn. PS Yes, all those Shea and Hoffman books mentioned are valuable investments. They make a potentially difficult topic very approachable. So if someone is looking for Christmas ideas... On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 9:00 PM, Trish Stumpf Garcia < stumpf.garcia@charter.net> wrote: > Hi John, > > I concur with Chris. Fred Hoffman's book is very helpful. It also include > an index of given names, so you can guess at the handwriting and then see > what name it most likely actually is. He also has a list of Polish > surnames > I used to check against last names I needed help with. > > I found the book "In Their Words" at Polish Art Center > http://www.polartcenter.com for a good price. > > You might also try: a Crash Course online at > http://www.pgsa.org/CrashCourseInPolish.pdf that has some good information > in it. > > > Good luck! > > Trish Stumpf Garcia > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Chris Smolinski" <csmolinski@blackcatsystems.com> > To: <poland-roots@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2008 10:50 AM > Subject: Re: [POLAND] Interpreting Polish Records found on FHC - LDS films > > > > If you don't already have a copy, please immediately order Fred > > Hoffman's excellent book _In Their Words_ Volume 1: Polish. In > > addition to a working vocabulary of the Polish word's you're likely > > to encounter, it also has real examples of the various BMD records > > you will encounter, and step by step translations of them, including > > many handwriting examples. > > > > The other thing that I have found useful is to compare adjacent > > documents written by the same priest. You will quickly learn his > > particular handwriting style. The same surnames will come up time and > > time again in a particular parish, so you can find many other > > examples to study and compare to. You'll also discover subtle > > variations in the spelling of the surname over time. > > > > -- > > > > --- > > Chris Smolinski > > Black Cat Systems > > http://www.blackcatsystems.com > > ********************************* > > Need to contact the list manager? Write to Marie at > Poland-Roots-admin@rootsweb.com > > ---------------------------------- > > Discussion of Polish food, culture, and customs are welcome on the list > as > long as the discussion stays pertinent to the topic of this list: > researching our Polish roots. > > ---------------------------------- > > Browse the list's archives here: > > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=poland-roots > > Search the list's archives here: > > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?aop=1 > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLAND-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > ********************************* > Need to contact the list manager? Write to Marie at > Poland-Roots-admin@rootsweb.com > ---------------------------------- > Discussion of Polish food, culture, and customs are welcome on the list as > long as the discussion stays pertinent to the topic of this list: > researching our Polish roots. > ---------------------------------- > Browse the list's archives here: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=poland-roots > Search the list's archives here: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?aop=1 > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLAND-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >