I never knew or even guessed that back in the 19th or 18th and I am sure in previous centuries, the church’s way of documenting baptism and marriage records and the like, were partly written in a form of shorthand. I am not meaning the abbreviations that they used, because that is a whole other story, but for example if in a record were a symbol that looked like an equal sign, that would be read as “married". Or if there was a capital V, that was the symbol for illegitimate. For example: "= married" or “V —for illegitimate child of".
Now personally, I have had the most difficult time trying to figure out what some of these shorthand marks meant. Then I stumbled across a book by Nancy Ellen Carlberg called “Beginning Mexican Research" which has really helped me out. Included in the book is a small chart that explains what the symbols are and their meaning.
I am not saying that I now know everything about the Spanish shorthand and abbreviations, because that is not true at all. I have been researching for a little over eight years and I am still learning something new everyday.
Just that, if you get stuck on something you may think is impossible to get around, such as a language barrier, keep trying, there is always something out there to assist. There is always help in the genealogy world. There is always a new little gem around the corner to help you along the way.