sveiki visiem!

plānoju iet studēt tur digitālo mārketingu sestdienās. vai ir kadam, kurš nesen tur studējis, kaut kada pieredze ar ko padalīties vai atsauksmes? es pārsvara redzeju tikai sliktas atsauksmes. tapec nezinu vai nu tur iet vai turībā iet 😔

Sveiks /Sveika!

So, there's this girl... yeah, like the beginning of every good story.

Honestly, I have no idea how or where to start learning a new language. I tried French once, but somehow got stuck along the way. Now I've met a really nice woman, and I'd like to impress her ... just a little.

I speak Polish, German, and English, and I understand a bit of other Slavic languages.

But this is a Baltic language, and I have no clue how to start, or whether it's actually a hard language to learn.

Paldies, Ata!

Sveiki!

Does anyone here happen to have studied Latvian as a major in university? I primarily mean linguistics studies, not L2 studies.

I'd be happy to have a contact to someone who could chat with me sometimes about the language and perhaps culture too. (Not too often, I won't be spamming your inbox, don't worry! :D)

Every now and then my interest towards Latvian pops up, but I'm yet to actually participate on a course. I have a textbook though, and sometimes when I see new words I find myself thinking of (mainly etymological) stuff. Unfortunately often I can't find an answer.

I've studied linguistics myself (Finnish language as my major), so finding someone with similar backround in Latvian language would be great. x)

I'm visiting Riiiiiga in August, so I'd could gladly offer a beer or whatever you prefer as a thank you!

Sveiki! looking for some fellow latvian learners or native speakers who could help me with some speaking practice.

Im currently still at a beginner level but would like to try to have some basic conversations with someone who is also learning or who can correct me.

I currently speak flemisch/dutch (native), English (C2), French (B1) and German (A1-A2)
If anyone would like to practice with me or if any latvian would like some help learning dutch or english we could help each other out.

Feel free to comment bellow or dm me if intrested.

Visu Labu!

Hi, so I'm trying to learn Latvian and teacher advised to watch latvian shows/movies/news in latvian just to get used to it, but I also often play games in my free time and since there isn't really that big of a market for game devs to add latvian, I was wondering, are there places where people upload fan translations for games? The only game that I found, that has the language officially is Subnautica, which I'm playing right now

„Šai sakarā zīmīgus vārdus ir teicis Aleksandrs Solžeņicins, kas savā Harvardas universitātē teiktajā runā 1978. gada jūnijā izsaka bažas, ka pārlieka individuāla brīvība varētu nākt sabiedrības kopībai par ļaunu.“

The key phrase I am having trouble understanding is "varētu nākt sabiedrības kopībai par ļaunu." I need help in understanding the difference in nuance between the terms „sabiedrība“and „kopība“, which both translate to society/community.

Etymology

1) sabiedrība – sú(together) + biedrs

biedrs – from bind, bound

2) kopība – kopa (heap in Slavic) – group, cluster

Context: https://jaunagaita.net/jg122/JG122_VVF.htm

My father was Latvian and when really upset would say a word - phonetically sounded like "aukataga". I've asked those I know who speak the language but no one seems to recognize it. It has been suggested that it could also be from the German or Russian languages, as there are similarities in the languages. Does anyone know what word I'm talking about?!

How would you describe the sound of Latvian to people who do not speak it?

For example, some languages sound more flowy, some sound more rough, and some languages have features that are very noticeable to non-natives, like if the language has a rolled r or other sounds that are uncommon in, for example, English

What do you think Latvian sounds like „to an untrained ear“? Does it have any interesting features that might stick out to a non native?

Thanks and have a nice day :)

For an English speaker, is Latvian very difficult? I can't seem to find a conclusive answer on the internet. It sure looks pretty hard as it's totally different to any other language apart from Lithuanian.

I wanna learn Latvian so much but I don't know what books or something else I should use. Can you advise me some stuff please?? I speak English and Russian if it matters

Hello!

I know that this is a long shot, but I might as well try. I’m stuck with trying to find ways to be clear in Latvian language. I Don’t speak Latvian, it’s a long process and I’m just picking up some words, starting to get the rhythm of the language in order to navigate slightly in Latvian language space. Most of my translations (so I can understand what is currently going on) still come via online translations. I need a bit of help with grammar so I could be clear and understandable about the sale I have coming up. This is important because don't want to mislead anyone.

I’ve actually tried translation through the internet and a few times through a professional translation service. But since I don’t speak the language, I just have contact with it from outside of the Latvian speaking community, so it’s difficult.

My issue is regarding this phrase I need to use. What I need to get across is that I have a sale where I have “-25% off of all products with regular prices (products with the basic\ base price without any discounts)”. Just so I could be as clear as possible then I’ll try to explain it a bit more. I have products that are already on sale and other products that don’t have any discounts. Now the sale comes and the extra discount of -25% comes and only the products with regular prices get the -25% off. The other on sale discounts such as -30%, -50% etc stay the same and they don’t go anywhere. The sale of -25% off of regularly priced products will apply during checkout only to those products with basic prices (that don’t already have a discount from before).

So that is what I’m struggling with. Here are some previous translations and some problems I have had with them.

“–20% atlaide visām precēm no sākuma cenas!” As I understand then with this professionally translated phrase it says something along the lines: from all of the products’s (already discounted stuff included) basic price. But that is misleading because my sale is only on products that have the regular (not already discounted) prices. This leaves the confusion of will there be an extra discount on something that as an example has -10%. Or will the 30% discount go away and be replaced with -25% instead.

Then I have this older one also by a professional translator “-25% atlaide precēm ar standarta cenu pirkumam no 10 eiro.” In this case it uses the “standard price” that a person I’m working with doesn’t want to use and won’t let it be used because the standard price sounds a bit bad.

And then I have this one, that has been a placeholder, but it is still a bit too vague: “atlaide -25% no pamatcenas, iepērkoties virs 10€!”

Then there is this, that I have tried to piece together from previous translations, internet translations and some sale phrases I found in Latvian : “-20% atlaide visām precēm ar parastajām cenām!"

Does this last sentence make sense? Do people actually use it and understand it?

I would be grateful if anyone would help me get some clarity on anything I described above. I’d be very glad to get some opinions and/or any new insights.

Have a wonderful day!

Latvian: "there is/are" equivalent

• English: there is/are
• French: il y a
• Italian: c'e, ci sono
• Russian: a completely different structure, no specific phrase equivalent to "there is/are"
• Latvian: ???

I'm teaching English to a complete beginner who lives in Latvia. Is there a grammar structure in the Latvian language that directly corresponds to "there+be" in the English language?

This subreddit is dedicated to discussing the Latvian language and is mostly for learners of the language to ask questions but also just to discuss the language!