52 Ancestors Week 23: Bridge

 From Amy Johnson Crow: The theme this week is "Bridge." A bridge connects two things that are separated, whether it's land or people (maybe even time?). You could take the theme literally and write about an ancestor who worked on bridges or had to cross them regularly. How about someone who worked or lived on a river? What about someone who played bridge (the card game). You could take a more figurative take on and think about who has been a bridge in your genealogy -- who has connected you to the past? Lots of possibilities this week!

Get that babelfish in your ear and don't panic!

    When you are a grandson of a recent immigrant like I am, eventually you are going to come across a language barrier in your research. A birth document might be in Italian and a marriage record might be in French. What do you do if you aren't fluent in the language of your ancestors? You use Google Translate to translate a document and if you're fortunate enough to have relatives in the "motherland", you can use it to bridge the gap between nations and unite with relatives all over the world.

Italia!

    I'll be the first to admit that my Italian isn't that great and neither is my French. When I was in high school, I took Spanish all four years and I never had the opportunity to learn the languages of my ancestors. French was offered, of course. I just never took it. Spanish was the closest to Italian and I already knew some words thanks to my father and grandmother Ollie. So, I picked that language to study.

    As the years went by, I learned a bit more Italian from my grandmother. Grandma Natalie would teach me various French words. This was all basic stuff. When the Internet came around, I even used Babelfish to translate random words out of boredom.

    When I got into genealogy, I realized that I should probably learn some more Italian than what I already knew. My father and great-aunt always told me that I had relatives in Italy and Switzerland. There was a slim chance that they could contact me! I was cautiously optimistic!

    I joined an Italian Genealogy Facebook group shortly after joining WikiTree. There was a user in the group who mentioned how he used Google Translate to aid him in his quest. He used it to contact the commune office in his ancestral town. I replied and asked some questions. The first one was "How accurate could Google Translate be?" The answer, surprisingly, was "Pretty accurate."

    Translation algorithms for certain languages have changed a lot since I played around with Babelfish back in the day. The user in the group reassured me that the translations were sound. An admin who lives in Italy even chimed in and sang its praises. They said that while there were some hiccups here and there it was still a useful tool to use. Apparently, Google has people working around the clock to fine-tune the translations. Are they completely accurate all across the board? You tell me. The next thing my friends in the group suggest was to join the town's Facebook group and ask my questions there using Google Translate.

    After thinking about it for a bit, I decided to join the group. I needed help with a few questions and I decided to try. What did I have to lose? Would I have been laughed out of the group? It's possible. Thankfully, the users on the page were fantastic and so helpful.

Caterina Tedesco

    It did not take long for a descendant of my great-grandmother sister, Caterina to notice my post and ask "Are you related to Nicolina Ferraiolo?" She then mentioned how she last saw her when she was a little girl many years ago when she visited Italy and that she descended from Maria Tedesco's sister. My jaw dropped as I read the translation. I sent my cousin (Nicolina's daughter) a text about the Italian cousin and she said that the woman talking to me was indeed a cousin. A second cousin to be exact! Nicolina's daughter also said that she was going to send me contact information for other cousins in the area.

    My new cousin mentioned that my Italian was pretty good. That surprised me because I was still using Google Translate and I had no idea if it was accurate at the time. I told her I was using the program and she said that was fine. 

    To make a long story short, I ended up using Google Translate to talk to her and several other relatives in San Pietro. I got a lot of valuable information and I've even used it to get information from the commune office! Not bad, right? It worked very well and I'm very thankful for that and for understanding cousins half a world away.

Marco and Caterina

    My experience with Google Translate later prepared me for when cousins on the Ferraiolo side contacted me on Myheritage earlier this year. We know how well that turned out. =D Check out the blog posts from February! My cousins in Switzerland gave me an even greater insight into the Ferraiolo side of the tree just like my Tedesco cousins did. They understood I was clearly using Google Translate and were very happy to be in touch and were patient as well. I am continually floored by the amount of patience and generosity my European relatives have. 

    As you can see, using Google Translate to talk to relatives across the pond has its advantages. Every once in a while, I have used it to talk to cousins in Canada who speak only French. But, that's usually on rare occasions. It's very fortunate that my cousins have been warm and understanding. Without the tool, I would not have had much success in the field of Italian genealogy and keep in mind it is just a tool. I've been thinking about getting Duolingo and giving it a try. What's the harm in that? Learning new languages is fun and Google translate has helped me learn some Italian and now I practice every day. Will I ever be fluent? Probably not. But, it is nice to use it to talk to relatives in distant lands. 

    I guess in a way I am bridging the gap between the ocean and a language barrier. Pretty cool, huh?

Arrivederci alla prossima! CIAO!