Many genealogists are dismayed when they come across Latin records in the course of their research: their enthusiasm is suddenly dampened, as if they have come up against an insurmountable obstacle. It's true that sometimes discouragement seems justified when confronted with a language you don't know or haven't used since secondary school, and with scripts that aren't always legible.

However, it is relatively easy to find one's way through the Latin parish registers: we are far from the complexity of classical literature and the style of the great Roman authors: most of the formulas are recurrent and the vocabulary is limited.

This guide aims to provide a practical, methodical and step-by-step approach to Latin for genealogists. It briefly explains how the Latin sentence works, lays down some basic syntax, highlights the differences with French, and then deals in detail with the naming of individuals and places, numbers and dates, and the specific vocabulary used from record to record for baptisms, marriages and burials. With numerous glossaries in the appendices, it helps family historians to continue their research and easily translate the records of interest to them.