Slovenia Languages

Materials used in Slovenian research can be written in German, Slovene, Latin, Hungarian, or Italian. You do not need to know all these languages to do research in Slovenian records. You will, however, need to know some key words and phrases in Slovene, German and Latin for most of the country. Good genealogical word lists in English, Slovene, German and Latin are found in the appendices to Moj Rodovnik by Vasja Butina FHL INTL 949.73 D27b. If your ancestors happen to be from near the border with either Hungary or Italy you will also need to know some key genealogical words and phrases for those languages.


 * Archival finding aids are written in Slovene.
 * I found later census records (1880-1890) for Novo Mesto written mostly in Slovene although the columns are dual language—both German and Slovene. When recording a family of German heritage that entry would be written in German using the Fraktur script. All other entries were written in Slovene using Latin script.
 * You will only find Hungarian in the eastern edges of Slovenia next to Hungary. For instance, the records at the FHL for Murska Sobota include Muster rolls (births) 1849-68 in Hungarian; Jewish Records b,m,d 1835-96 German &amp; Hungarian; Civil Registration b,m,d 1895-1918 Hungarian; and Roman Catholic parish registers b,m,d 1828-95 Latin &amp; Hungarian.