23 March 2026
The Rudolf Steiner Archive—rsarchive.org—is at the forefront of enabling world-wide access to the collected works of Rudolf Steiner. For the first time ever, the full corpus of Rudolf Steiner's work is searchable in English through our service.
Compare Versions
For in-depth research, we are implementing side-by-side comparisons of all translations with the original German text. Having completed implementing this in the Dr. Steiner's books (GA 1-28), we are now working diligently to implement this new feature in his lectures.
- ✦ Click [Compare] at the top of the document;
- ✦ Select a version for comparison via a drop-down box on the right.
German, English & Other Languages
We further want to make this material available to people who speak other languages. For this reason, we have added an automated translation tool above the German. The text in the right column may then be changed to the German for comparison to other languages like Spanish or French. This automated approach is not recommended for those who read German and/or English.
Steiner Online Library Translations
To make the full corpus of Rudolf Steiner's teachings available we have added the missing material ourselves. Our translations are marked as "Translated Steiner Online Library." Some of those are translated by us and others are based upon submissions by other translators with edits done by us.
We don't use Google Translate or make these translations in "real time." Rather, we utilize common translation software that is used by many people in the translation profession. We are customizing it to serve as a thesaurus with common anthroposophical terms and expressions used by Rudolf Steiner. The process is far from automatic as it requires extensive work on our part to prepare, format, and proof the text that is ultimately posted online. We will continue to review and improve our translations as time goes on but our initial goal was to make all of the material searchable and able to be compared to the original German.
Translation Verification
We understand many people would prefer that absolutely no technology be used in our translations. We agree that translation is not just vocabulary, grammar and word-substitution. It is interpretation. The translator, whether it be human or the human behind the technological, makes choices. However, even skilled human translators necessarily introduce their own perspectives and interpretations of the text into their work. For this reason, we encourage readers to go to the source of the original German text, work with it, and compare various texts and translations. Enjoy your research!