You need to be very cautious about relying on the computer translation programs, unless your intention is to entertain or to offend, depending on your audience. Babelfish, which you referenced, is the most popular http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/translate? but read on to see what you can do to yourself! Here's a good test - here's the original message about Babelfish: "Go here to write in English and translate instantly into French, Italian, Portegese...etc! They only have about a dozen languages so far and I just wrote a letter to my hubbys family in Rome in Italian and our friend in France in French! What fun! Wouldn't it be wonderful if they eventually have different Nations translations? Just thought I should share this find! Have a great day!" Here is the message translated from English to French: Allez ici écrire en anglais et traduire immédiatement en franèais, italien, Portegese...etc..! Ils ont seulement environ les langages une douzaine jusqu'ici et j'ai juste écrit une lettre þ ma famille de hubbys þ Rome en italien et notre ami en France en franèais! Quel amusement! Ne serait-il pas merveilleux s' ils ont par la suite différentes traductions de nations? Pensée juste je devrais partager cette trouvaille! Ayez un jour splendide! Then I translated the French back to English, using Babelfish again: Here write in English and translate immediately into French, Italian, Portegese... etc.! They have only approximately the languages up to now a dozen and I have right writing a letter with my family of hubbys in Rome in Italian and our friend in French France! What a recreation! Wouldn't it be marvellous if they have various translations of nations thereafter? Thought right I should share this lucky find! Have one day splendid! This message actually did fairly well. I don't know about other languages, but the people who are active on the German list will translate short inquiry letters for free. Other sites provide templates for the more common types of genealogical query letters. Some people hire college students who are in language classes to translate letters. If you know the people you are writing to and don't mind making a fool out of yourself, then Babelfish could work, sortof. You learn how to write for it - no slang, very formal language, no expressions, etc. It's most useful for getting the gist of documents - use Babelfish for the first translation, then a dual-language dictionary for the rest. Have one day splendid! Diane dhettrick@earthlink.net