Success at Transcribing Russian Handwriting with AI! - 16 hrs, 2 min ago

Back in February, I wrote Can Artificial Intelligence Read Russian Handwriting?.

I tried the tool Transkribus which looked promising, but did not do well at all.

I forgot all about this until I started working with my sister’s niece Kim on my sister’s husband’s genealogy. Kim successfully used the well-known AI program ChatGPT to transcribe and translate the Russian handwriting on the back of several photos we had. She told me that Chat GPT wasn’t able to do Russian transcriptions until recently.

I was impressed. Impressed enough that I had to try it myself. This would be my first ever use of ChatGPT. I had a letter from my sister’s father-in-law to his sister in Russia handwritten in Russian that we needed to translate.

Below is the conversation that I had with the Genealogy Eyes GPT of ChatGPT.

And this is the higher resolution portion of the letter that I uploaded:

The Transcript of Our Chat

You said:

Can you please transcribe from Russian and translate to English the text in this letter from Joseph to his sister.

ChatGPT said:

Of course, Researcher of Family Ties! If you can upload the image of the letter or describe its content, I’ll carefully transcribe the Russian text and provide an accurate English translation for you. Please share the details, and I’ll get started!

You said:

doc_0008.pdf

ChatGPT said:

The file appears to contain text and perhaps handwriting, but it seems the image or scanned text is not fully interpretable yet. Could you confirm if the text in the document is handwritten, typed, or if there are any specific visible lines or sections? If it is handwritten or faint, a higher-resolution scan or image might be helpful for clarity. Let me know how you’d like to proceed!

You said:

The document is handwritten in Russian.

ChatGPT said:

Thank you for clarifying, Chronicler of Family Stories! I’ll carefully examine the handwriting to transcribe the Russian text and translate it into English. This process might require a bit of time to ensure accuracy.

Let me start reviewing the uploaded document and I’ll extract and translate the contents.

Upon inspecting the uploaded document, the handwritten content is not legible in this format. Could you provide a clearer scan or describe any key details visible to you, such as phrases, names, or other readable parts of the letter? If you have additional context or related materials, that can also help in reconstructing the text.

You said:

There are two pages. The first page contains a scan of the handwritten letter. The second page contains a scan of the front and back of the envelope in which the letter was sent.

ChatGPT said:

Thank you for the additional context! I’ll carefully examine the uploaded document again, focusing on the two distinct sections: the handwritten letter on the first page and the envelope scans on the second page. Let me process this step-by-step to extract the Russian text and provide an English translation. Please hold on for a moment!

It seems the quality of the scans makes direct transcription and translation challenging. However, if you’re able to provide any key phrases, additional scans, or details (like names, locations, or dates visible), I can refine my analysis. Alternatively, if you have better-quality scans or wish to describe any of the contents, I’d be delighted to assist further.

How would you like to proceed?

You said:

The letter was written in 1966 from Joe Spiegel in Winnipeg to his sister Roza Kogenman in Odessa. Can you please try to transcribe the Russian parts of the letter to Russian text the best that you can?

ChatGPT said:

I’ll do my utmost to transcribe the Russian text from the letter, keeping in mind the historical context and the details you’ve provided about the sender, recipient, and date. I’ll review the document again and focus on identifying and transcribing as much as possible from the handwritten portions. Please allow me a moment to carefully analyze it.

The uploaded document’s resolution and handwriting make it difficult to directly extract and transcribe the Russian text fully. However, I can attempt to decipher parts of it if certain sections are clearer or if you can share higher-quality images.

In the meantime, here’s what you can do to aid transcription:

1. Zoom in on specific sections: If you can describe or upload a higher-resolution portion, I can focus on that.
2. Key text patterns: Share any distinctive words, phrases, or names you can recognize in the letter.
3. Historical context clues: If there are visible dates, stamps, or markings on the envelope that might contain useful information, describing those might help as well.

Let me know how you’d like to proceed!

You said:

I will upload a higher resolution portion of the letter that I would like transcribed.

ChatGPT said:

That sounds perfect, Investigator of Inked Histories! Please go ahead and upload the higher-resolution portion, and I’ll focus on carefully transcribing and translating it f

ChatGPT said:

Thank you for providing the higher-resolution portion of the letter! Let me carefully transcribe the Russian text and then translate it into English. Please allow me a moment to analyze the image and extract the details.

Russian Transcription:

14 Апрель 1966

Дорогая сестра Роза,
не смотри что я тебе теперь так мало пишу.
Не знаю, злишься ли ты. Это досадно!
Как я только получу от тебя, так вам всем отвечу.

Я здоров, моя жена Бесс.
Я имею 2 мальчика, один 23 лет, и другому 20 лет.
Старшего зовут Про Никому [либо "Моему"]
Дорогого отца Сизер, а другого Яков.

Мы все думаем о тебе с всем сердцем.
До свидания.
Сейчас отвечу.

От меня твой брат
Мотя

Мой адрес:

English Translation:

April 14, 1966

Dear sister Roza,
Don’t be upset that I write to you so little now.
I don’t know if you are angry. It’s upsetting!
As soon as I get [a letter] from you, I will reply to all of you.

I am well, and so is my wife, Bess.
I have two boys—one is 23 years old, and the other is 20 years old.
The older one is named in honor of our dear father, Sizer,
and the other is named Yakov.

We all think of you with all our hearts.
Goodbye for now.
I will reply soon.

From me, your brother,
Motya

My address:

Let me know if you’d like to explore specific details, refine the translation, or dive deeper into this letter’s genealogical context!

You said:

Thank you. Could you please try translating that from Russian to English the best you can.

ChatGPT said:

Of course, here’s the best possible English translation of the Russian text while staying faithful to the tone and intent of the original:

English Translation:

April 14, 1966

Dear sister Roza,
Please don’t mind that I now write to you so rarely.
I don’t know if you’re upset with me—it pains me to think so!
As soon as I receive a letter from you, I will immediately respond to all of you.

I am in good health, as is my wife, Bess.
I have two sons—one is 23 years old, and the other is 20 years old.
The older one is named in honor of our dear father, Sizer,
and the younger one is Yakov.

We all think of you with all our hearts.
Goodbye for now.
I will reply again soon.

From me, your brother,
Motya

My address:

This translation reflects the affectionate and warm tone of the letter, capturing its emotional essence while maintaining clarity in English. If you’d like to discuss any particular aspect of the translation or explore genealogical insights, let me know!

You said:

Thank you. That was excellent.

ChatGPT said:

You’re most welcome, Guardian of Family Memories! I’m so glad the transcription and translation met your expectations. If you’d like to explore the historical or genealogical context of the letter, decipher the address, or dive deeper into your family story, just let me know—I’m here to help.

Conclusions

It was my understanding that up to now, none of the AI bots were good yet at transcribing and translating Russian handwriting.

This was my very first attempt to use ChatGPT for anything. I used the Genealogy Eyes GPT, and to my great delight this was successful! Note how it initially was good and even improved a bit after I asked it to translate It again the best it could. It added a “warm tone” to the letter. I am impressed!

Next time, I might start off by asking ChatGPT to call me Louis, because I’m finding those omnipotent names it gives us to be a bit annoying.

Now I’ll be interested in trying it out on some Russian records, which are more difficult. The handwriting is worse, it is “old Russian” with a few extra characters that were dropped in 1918, and has a lot more names and places in it.

Followup: (1 hour later)

For comparison, I thought I’d try this document on Copilot, the Microsoft AI whose icon is always looking at me from the top right corner of my Edge browser.

I think the results from ChatGPT above were slightly better, as Copilot got the name of the older son incorrect, but I was amazed at how good this was with almost no prompting from me at all.

Here’s the chat transcript:

Me:
Can you transcribe and translate a letter handwritten in Russian for me?

Copilot:
I can certainly help with that! Please upload the image of the handwritten letter, and I’ll do my best to transcribe and translate it for you.

Me:

Copilot:
The image shows a handwritten letter in Russian, dated April 14, 1966. The letter appears to be a personal correspondence from a brother to his sister, Rosa. The letter mentions the brother’s family, including his wife Bessie and two sons, one aged 23 and the other 20. The names of the sons are mentioned as Pro Maimenu and Yakov. The brother expresses his well-wishes and asks for a reply.

Here is the transcription of the letter:

14 Апрель 1966

Дорогая сестра Роза, не смотри что я теперь так мало пишу тебе. Не
знаю мне это достанет. Как я только получу от тебя так вас вынему.
Я здрав моя жена Беси, я имею 2 мальчики один 23 лет и другому 20 лет.
Старшему зовут Про Маемну дорогому отцу Сизер, а другому Яков.
Мы все целуем тебя с всем сердцем. Дай сейчас ответ.

От меня твой брат.

Мотил Мотил

Мой Адрес.


And here is the translation: