Latvian
One of the last two Baltics
Baltic had many languages and has two left. Latvian is the one that modernised faster.
- Only Latvian and Lithuanian survive from the Baltic branch. Old Prussian died out in the eighteenth century.
- Stress falls on the first syllable, always, which is unusual for the neighbourhood.
- Some dialects have pitch accents, so the melody of a vowel can change the word.
- It has kept archaic Indo-European features, though fewer than Lithuanian, which is the more conservative sister.
- Foreign names are respelled to fit Latvian spelling and given Latvian endings, so George Bush becomes Džordžs Bušs.
One of the two survivors of the Baltic branch, closer to ancient Indo-European than almost anything still spoken. Pitch accent included, dainas folk songs included. Riga's Art Nouveau streets and song festivals where a quarter of the nation performs together: small language, choral superpower.
Where Latvian parts company with the languages closest to it, and what each one would cost you from here.
Latvian vs Lithuanian → Latvian vs Russian → Latvian vs Polish →
Reading about a language is not speaking it. These are the places I would go to find someone to speak Latvian with.
The Latvian Passepartout is not out yet
Five printed pages that carry you through the arrival. Leave your address and you hear about it first, and nothing else.
Leaving takes one click.
Short stories written inside a measured vocabulary, with the word lists and nothing invented for a textbook.