Germanology Unlocked
Featured on PBS’ Finding Your Roots, The History Channel, and More!
Uncover the Stories of Your Ancestors
Choose the option to best help you on your genealogy journey:

Translations
Discover your family’s story through our high-quality German to English genealogical translations (German handwriting included).

Courses
Empower yourself on your German genealogy journey by taking our interactive German handwriting and language classes.

Webinars
Watch a free webinar to learn more about German genealogy, or book a topic-specific webinar for your own genealogy society.

Membership
Subscribe and receive extra help on your German genealogical documents during our weekly “Ask-the-Translator” Hour.
Meet Katherine Schober, Founder and CEO
With more than a decade of experience professionally translating German to English, I love helping clients like you discover the fascinating lives of their German ancestors. Deciphering the old handwriting and finding the perfect words to unlock the secrets of your family letters, diaries, and records – as well as teaching you how to do it yourself – is something I truly enjoy.
Born in St. Louis, I earned my Master’s degree in the German language through Bowling Green State University/University of Salzburg. I then spent three additional years in Austria, teaching English and translating German (with a focus on history). In 2014, I moved back to the States with my Austrian husband, and, although we are now in America, German is still the main language spoken in our home. As a German-English genealogy translator and educator, I can happily say I love what I do.

Get Started on Your Genealogy!
Explore German Genealogy Resources:
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German for Genealogists Online Course
$477.00 — or $96.00 / month for 5 months -
Reading the Old German Handwriting Online Course
$359.00 — or $90.00 / month for 4 months -
BUNDLE DEAL: Reading the Old German Handwriting + German for Genealogists
$796.00 — or $135.00 / month for 6 months
What Clients Are Saying:
I am stunned what Katherine was able to translate from some civil war-era family letters due to the poor letter quality. I didn’t think it could be done. Katherine dedicates herself to your project like it’s her own family. I am grateful that I found her and her work will have an impact on my family for generations to come.
Katherine transcribed several handwritten German documents dating from the Second World War for me, and it was truly a pleasure to work with her. Thanks to her skill in deciphering the texts, I’ve learned a great deal about my family history, and she was particularly thorough in researching the places and names included in the text. Katherine is professional and resourceful with a great eye for detail – exactly as a good translator should be – and I would not hesitate in recommending her.
I enthusiastically recommend Katherine for your translation needs! She is professional, courteous, timely, and very pleasant to work with. She responds promptly to emails, and meets the deadlines she establishes for the translations. I had asked her to translate some 1800 era Austrian church records in handwritten script, the quality of which was not always the best. She came through with not only the English translations, but the German transcriptions as well. Her footnotes and additi…
Thank you for a great job! I am very impressed that you could read, never mind translate, her writing. Very professional and much appreciated! I will have it bound and send copies to my cousins. I should mention too that the footnotes you provided were very helpful and beyond what I expected.
Just got home to find this treat in my inbox. I am thrilled to read the words my [ancestor] Christopher read; that he felt deeply enough to quote. Great job on the translation.
Katherine was instrumental in helping me give my wife—her words—“the best gift she has ever gotten.” For forty years, she has had copies of letters to and from her beloved grandmother and her siblings handwritten in German. Katherine translated the letters beautifully, providing us with both the German and English digital files. She was always responsive in our communications and met challenging time deadlines so that I could give my wife the letters as a Christmas present. Her fees were…
Thank you so much for doing my translation, I am thrilled to pieces and this afternoon I am going to send it off to all the family here in England and in Germany. How you translated that writing I just don’t know, but I suppose if you study languages it perhaps becomes a little easier! Many thanks again, I am so delighted. And isn’t it interesting!
So happy to finally receive a translation!! You don’t know how hard and long I tried to find someone capable. The places named in the letter will be so helpful in my genealogy search.
I asked Katherine to transcribe and translate a baptismal record written in Old German script from 1828 about my Great, Great Grandfather. We had hit a brick wall in our Erkenbrecher genealogy and we just couldn’t find where or who our relatives were in Germany. Katherine did an excellent job of translating this document which divulged the parents of our GG Grandfather. Because of this finding, I have been able to go back eight generations in our Erkenbrecher family tree, all the way back to Hei…
Great job. You have unlocked a mystery. The relationship between Ignatz and Mathaus was unclear until now. Thanks.