Workshops

Learn to Read the Old German Script

Virtual Workshop in Two Parts
January 27 and February 3, 2024

Join Mark Louden and Antje Petty and learn to read Kurrent, the old German handwriting most widely used in the 18th to early 20th centuries. Through presentations and practical exercises, you will learn strategies for how to decipher this script even if you don’t speak German.

Part I: Deciphering Kurrent for Beginners
Saturday, January 27, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm, Central Time
This workshop will introduce you to the old German script, its alphabet, common letter combinations, words, and sentences. Exercises will include simple texts from a variety of sources.

Part II: Deciphering Kurrent — Intermediate Level
Saturday, February 3, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm, Central Time
Part II will provide strategies on how to decipher more challenging texts. Participants will have taken Part I or will have otherwise acquired a basic knowledge of the old German script.

Mark L. Louden is the Director of the Max Kade Institute for German American Studies and the Alfred L. Shoemaker, J. William Frey, and Don Yoder Professor of Germanic Linguistics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Antje Petty is the Associate Director of the Max Kade Institute for German American Studies and has extensive experience working with documents in the old German script.

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This workshop is sponsored by the Friends of the Max Kade Institute.