Multicultural Language Options Added to the FamilySearch Family Tree

 

One comprehensive goal of genealogy should be to abandon its Western European roots and become more international. The FamilySearch.org Family Tree has just taken a long-awaited step in that direction with an internationalized menu of field options for entering names and making some edits. 

When you open an option, such as adding a new family member, the entry fields now include a link to enter the main language. 

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What is not obvious at first is that the fields change with the language or culture selected. Here is what happens if you click on Japanese. 

Not only does the name order change, but there are additional fields for entering the name in Kanji, Kana, and/or Roman letters. Here is another example using Vietnamese.

Be prepared to have this option show up in unexpected places. However, you will need to choose the new person page update, the option for name specification is not available in the previous version. As a person who has written about internationalizing names, dates, and place names, I welcome this change as a step in the right direction.