Haus-Targaryen
8 Feb 2017 / #1
Hello everyone,
My father and I are doing a genealogy trip to Poland later this month, and I could use some advice.
First - language. We trace our ancestry from south of Tarnow in a collection of small farming villages. I am fluent in both German and English, my dad only speaks English. Can we get by using these two languages, or should we hire a translator from the area to tag along for a few days? We are anticipating sleeping in either Tarnow or Krakow, so I figure there would be university students who would be down for 50€ a day + food to do translating. Is this necessary, or can we get by with my German and English?
Second - searches. We are anticipating hitting the cemeteries in the villages we can trace our roots to as well as baptismal records and tax records. As far as we have researched, this part of Poland avoided most of the chaos over the last 100 years. Cemeteries were for the most part left alone and not paved over by the Ukrainians or the Soviets like it was farther East.
Given we as well as our ancestors are Catholic, we expect most marriage certificates, baptism certificates, funeral documents and what not to have survived. The question is would the local parish still have these documents on site, or would these documents have been collected in a central depository?
Third - language software. Can anyone recommend language crash-course software suited for tourists? I'd love to be able to at least speak a little Polish before going into restaurants and hotels. I think its a bit of "Respektlos" when I cannot speak any of the language in the country in which I am in.
Any other suggestions for the trip, or ideas on where/what we can search?
Best,
Haus
My father and I are doing a genealogy trip to Poland later this month, and I could use some advice.
First - language. We trace our ancestry from south of Tarnow in a collection of small farming villages. I am fluent in both German and English, my dad only speaks English. Can we get by using these two languages, or should we hire a translator from the area to tag along for a few days? We are anticipating sleeping in either Tarnow or Krakow, so I figure there would be university students who would be down for 50€ a day + food to do translating. Is this necessary, or can we get by with my German and English?
Second - searches. We are anticipating hitting the cemeteries in the villages we can trace our roots to as well as baptismal records and tax records. As far as we have researched, this part of Poland avoided most of the chaos over the last 100 years. Cemeteries were for the most part left alone and not paved over by the Ukrainians or the Soviets like it was farther East.
Given we as well as our ancestors are Catholic, we expect most marriage certificates, baptism certificates, funeral documents and what not to have survived. The question is would the local parish still have these documents on site, or would these documents have been collected in a central depository?
Third - language software. Can anyone recommend language crash-course software suited for tourists? I'd love to be able to at least speak a little Polish before going into restaurants and hotels. I think its a bit of "Respektlos" when I cannot speak any of the language in the country in which I am in.
Any other suggestions for the trip, or ideas on where/what we can search?
Best,
Haus