Translating a German Document with AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a technology that uses algorithms to mimic the human brain’s decision-making process and analyze vast amounts of data to reveal connections and insights that might have been overlooked. In genealogy, AI has potential to help researchers break down brick walls, create timelines, identify commonalities, and suggest relatives. AI can also help families preserve memories and give children a sense of their physical presence of deceased ancestors. Some examples of AI tools for genealogy are ChatGPT, Andi, Perplexity, and Google Translate.

Google Translate is an online app that uses AI to translate text from one language to another. I’ve used it frequently to translate German to English. But, to use it, you need to have text in German that you can copy/paste into the ‘in’ box of Google Translate, or type it in. But if the German text is in an image, and uses the one of the old German typescipts, Google Translate cannot be used directly, and there is the extra challenge of reading the German script.

During a recent genealogy webinar, I learned about Transcribus, a new AI application with attempts to transcribe text in images to plain text. It already has a large number of models, each based on a script. So, if you have a German record that you want to translate, you can use Transcribus, but first have to recognize the type of script so that you select the correct ‘model’. I tried Transcribus to help me translate the following ancestral record:

This clip is the obituary of Isaac Willison German from a US German-language newspaper, I elected to use the “German Fraktur 19th-20th century” model.

(https://readcoop.eu/model/german-fraktur-19th-20th-century/) 

I dragged/dropped the image and it gave me the transcription which I downloaded as a Word doc. I then copied and pasted the transcription into Google translate, and it gave me the following:

his empty apartment. 30 11 Church Avenne (Norld Canal Steohen, Auegheny. s., Jsoak Willison, om Monlag, 3. 8.80 am, in his 72nd year of life. The burial is on Thursday, July 4th at 0.30 am UIdr from Funeral period from stott whereupon at o'clock in the Roman Catholic Saint Peter's Church Sberman Apenne and Ohio Strah#e Alleobenh

 I then cleaned up the transcript a bit, also changing some of the letters, and got this…

 At his empty apartment, 30 Church Avenue (North Canal Streets), Allegheny PA. Isaac Willison, Monday morning, July 3, 1890, in his 72nd year of life. The burial will take place on Thursday, July 4th, at 8.30am from the funeral home, followed by 8.00pm in the Roman Catholic Church of St Peters. Eberman Avenue and Ohio Street. Allegheny. A naval office is held. and other friends and acquaintances voluntarily swear in Pessrgung indter uub glbor peiratin invited privately.

The words at the end of the image are a bit blurry, so it is no wonder that the AI (and I) couldn’t make it out. But hopefully you’ll agree that the combination of Transcribus and Google Translate provided a reasonable translation (apart from the last 2 lines).

If you have questions, comments, feedback, please contact me at the email address below. And if you have a better method for someone with only limited knowledge of German, please let me know!

David Nowotnik

dpnGenealogy@gmail.com

p.s. The first paragraph of this article was generated by Microsoft Bing AI, with some small changes by me.