Jan and Teresa, It is not at all a surprise that each letter averaged $15 for accurate translation. Typical costs for such services can be found on the Internet and seem to be between 5 and 10 cents per word. Of course, the charges may easily rise with the difficulty of the original handwriting or poor readability of old documents. I can easily spend more than an hour to first become familiar with the handwriting, prepare a typed transcription and then perform a professional translation on a single-page letter of, say, no more than a hundred words. Factor in hourly rates of no less than $25 for the services of educated bilinguists and we see how reasonable the original price might have been. One can certainly request free translation help, but one should expect to appropriately compensate those who spend time performing work on items of interest to you. Roman Jan Hayes wrote: > Hi Teresa, > > I had 80 letters translated and it was costly. However, if you want her > email, I will get it to you , (provided she agrees to do it). She is in Ca, > but I'm sure you could scan and send the letters to her. The cost was > determined by the length of the letters, so it averaged about $15 per > letter. Maybe there is someone out there who charges less but I needed it > done and it was the only place I knew about. > > I would also ask the Polish Catholic Church in your area. This is where my > traslator came from and she did a great job. She also found a guide for me > when I was visiting Krakow last year. He drove me to the village my father's > family came from 100 years ago. I actually met dad's 2great aunt, age 94. > > Good luck, > Jan Hayes > janet11@dslextreme.com >

Roman, Thank you. I just read Jan's e mail. Yes, it is expensive, so I will try everyone's advice and try a Polish Catholic Church around. I was also offered to have them translated through Marian which is very thoughtful of her. I just need to make some arrangements. Again, thank you for all the options I can use. Teresa Roman <romanka@comcast.net> wrote: Jan and Teresa, It is not at all a surprise that each letter averaged $15 for accurate translation. Typical costs for such services can be found on the Internet and seem to be between 5 and 10 cents per word. Of course, the charges may easily rise with the difficulty of the original handwriting or poor readability of old documents. I can easily spend more than an hour to first become familiar with the handwriting, prepare a typed transcription and then perform a professional translation on a single-page letter of, say, no more than a hundred words. Factor in hourly rates of no less than $25 for the services of educated bilinguists and we see how reasonable the original price might have been. One can certainly request free translation help, but one should expect to appropriately compensate those who spend time performing work on items of interest to you. Roman Jan Hayes wrote: > Hi Teresa, > > I had 80 letters translated and it was costly. However, if you want her > email, I will get it to you , (provided she agrees to do it). She is in Ca, > but I'm sure you could scan and send the letters to her. The cost was > determined by the length of the letters, so it averaged about $15 per > letter. Maybe there is someone out there who charges less but I needed it > done and it was the only place I knew about. > > I would also ask the Polish Catholic Church in your area. This is where my > traslator came from and she did a great job. She also found a guide for me > when I was visiting Krakow last year. He drove me to the village my father's > family came from 100 years ago. I actually met dad's 2great aunt, age 94. > > Good luck, > Jan Hayes > janet11@dslextreme.com > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message --------------------------------- Luggage? GPS? Comic books? Check out fitting gifts for grads at Yahoo! Search.