Understanding Dutch genealogy resources

Reading Dutch acts is a skill that you can learn, even if you don't speak Dutch. The form of Dutch acts from the civil register is relatively constant. With practice, patience, perseverance, and a good dictionary, you can understand most acts, even though you won't be able to understand every word. Other sources, such as church books and the population register, are mere lists of names, dates and places - with just a few Dutch words, you can understand what it is all about.

To help you to get started, I will provide a list of Dutch words and phrases and their English translation. All words and phrases are taken from major Dutch genealogy resources, such as civil register acts, population registers and church books. Many of these words and phrases are not in your Dutch dictionary, but you may still encounter them in Dutch acts.

If you don't know Dutch, this list will help you understand Dutch genealogy acts. But even if you do know some Dutch, this list can be very useful if you want to translate Dutch acts.

The first 150 or so words and phrases are now available: http://www.van-kampen.org/roots/dict.htm.