Latvian Learning Games

Latvian is the official language of Latvia, a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the two surviving Baltic languages, alongside Lithuanian, and belongs to the Indo-European language family. Latvian is spoken by approximately 1.75 million people in Latvia and by Latvian communities abroad.

The language has three dialects: the Livonian dialect, the Middle dialect, and the High Latvian dialect. Latvian uses the Latin script, enriched with diacritical marks to represent its unique sounds. As a relatively young literary language, its standardization began in the 19th century. Rich in vowels and melodic in nature, Latvian is integral to the country’s cultural heritage, particularly in its famous folk songs, or 'dainas.'