Intro to genealogical research in Alsace

Family history research is fascinating, like putting together the pieces to a puzzle about yourself.  It can be quite challenging even when working in your own language, but switching into a foreign language to trace migrating ancestors is even more difficult.  This is compounded when the region switches between two or more unfamiliar languages.  This is the case in the Alsace region of France.  The area sits on the border of France and Germany and has changed hands between the two many times.  Whoever was the controlling power at the time changed the official language, and which determined what language official records were kept in.  Because of this, you could find yourself tracing a German family (as I was) whose civil records are entirely in French for several generations.  To help you navigate the language crossover, I've created a table with a short list of important genealogical words in English, French and German.

This will help you get started, and can act as a quick reference sheet.  More complete lists can be found at https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/German_Word_List and https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/France_Language_and_Languages . These can be used for more complicated or problematic records, such as ones that are extremely wordy or contain word or spelling variations.