magnumholmes

Our daughter might be going to Latvia on a youth exchange program next year, and we would like to know about the country.

What is the predominant language?

Can people get by in English? Would it be necessary for her to take a crash course in the language?

How is Latvia as far as school system and other things? She will be a senior.

I may have more questions later.

Thanks

Underhill

The official language of Latvia is Liv; Russian is also spoken sometimes. I doubt that your daughter could get by everywhere in English, and she certainly would miss a great deal of a wonderful cultural experience by not learning at least the basics of the country's language before she goes there.

Underhill

P.S. A checker at our favorite market is from Riga. The next time I see her I'll ask her about the school system.

FainaAgain

Tell her not to show sympathy to Russians living in Latvia or to attempt to speak Russian. The country was occupied by Russians in 1939 per agreement with Hitler.

KT

Ummm...the official language of Latvia is Latvian. Liv is a minority language spoken mostly along the Livonian coast.

Marc_David_Miller

I've worked with many people who have taken part in such exchange programs in the former Soviet Union. Most of these exchange programs include a heavy amount of language instruction. The ideal would be to find out in advance which town or city your daughter will go to, but usually the program won't tell you that till after the student is accepted.

There is a big difference between the capital, Riga, and the rest of the country in how much English is spoken (it is possible to get around Riga with English, outside of Riga less easy).

The official language is Latvian, although Russian is widely understood (30% of the country's population is ethnic Russian, higher in Riga; Russian instruction was compulsory till the early 1990’s, and most everyone has a working knowledge of Russian). As Faina mentioned, there is some tension due to historic reasons between the Latvian majority and Russian minority, so sometimes it is more prudent not to speak Russian.

Lonely Planet's Baltic Guidebooks are quite good as a general background, as is the relevant section of

www.InYourPocket.com

Marc_David_Miller

As for its school system, certainly your daughter will learn a great deal, and many of the secondary schools are quite comprehensive. There are many links on the internet concerning this:

http://www.euroeducation.net/prof1/latviaco.htm

http://www.am.gov.lv/en/policy/4641/4642/4643/

A good general site on attending school in Latvia (that of ISEP, which runs exchange programs) is
http://www.isep.org/handbooks/latvia/education.html

You would be best served to ask the program your specific questions, and arrange to speak with some students who have gone through the program in Latvia (as students' experience in other countries is less relevant).

Underhill

Your daughter could get a start on her learning curve by researching Latvia on the Internet. The more she knows, the better, and doing the work herself will make her a real participant in the experience.

hsv

magnumholmes,

I agree with most other posters here.

The predominant language certainly is Latvian. It is not related to any other language (apart from a distant resemblance to Lithuanian) and not exactly easy to speak. As a rule of thumb, the pronounciation of every word is being stressed on the first syllable, which makes it a bit easier when speaking to come across authentically, although it'll be a hard job.

English is widely spoken among the younger generation as Latvians have turned towards the West soon after regaining their independence.
Russian evidently will get you by, although Faina is right when claiming that due to Russia's occupation of Latvia, it is not exactly a popular language and is met with some reservation. However, noticing that your daughter is a foreigner, people would understand if she referred to Russian instead of the complicated local language of Latvian.
A large share of the population is Russian indeed, with Russians even being in the majority in Riga. The same might hold true in Eastern cities such as Daugavpils.

Out of respect for the country that your daughter would be a guest in, I would strongly suggest to make some efforts learning the Latvian language. People are not accustomed to foreigners undergoing the efforts to learn it and thus appreciate it even more, if you know at least a few words to get by in daily life.
"Paldies" (pronounced 'Pal deeyes) means "Thank you" - for a start.

As I did not attend school in Latvia, I cannot really comment on the school system, however, the Latvian work force appears to be well educated and people in general are hard working and studious, so I don't think there are any reservations to be had.

Apart from that, living circumstances differ widely. Riga as the capital is a Western sort of metropolis and a very beautiful one at that. It is bustling with life and has wonderfully restored Art Deco mansions in its city center. The suburbs, however, still consist of some pretty grimy Soviet style concrete buildings housing a majority of people.
Standard of living is still low for Western standards, but everything is available and can be bought, if you have the cash. I still believe that a number of middle class families are struggling to get by. On the other hand, the Latvian economy has been enjoying one of the highest growth rates in Europe, so things are changing for the better (though still slowly).
Rural Latvia is quite different from my perception. A trip here is like stepping back in time a few decades. This is not to say, however, that I would consider it not advisable to visit these parts. The landscape is beautiful in a very simple and calm way - and even these parts are advancing, though still a bit on the quaint side. There are also some pretty scenic and very nice smaller towns such as Sigulda.

Having lived in Latvia for a while myself, I have felt a longing to return ever since. Living there has broadened my horizon considerably, I believe, and has made me more aware of what's important in my life. I have never regretted that part of my life.

Good luck for you and your daughter!
hsv

ben_haines_london

Here are some jottings that you could pass your daughter as e-mail or on disc, so she can use them with Google. She might start with the sites that the School of Slavonic and East European Studies of the University of London recommend. If the software works she may find she reaches them by clicking on each heading, and otherwise she uses the School web site.
§ Government and official information
§ Elections
§ Economics and statistics
§ News and media
§ Academic sites
§ Libraries and archives
§ Language and literature
§ Culture and society
§ History
§ Regions and cities
§ Search engines
§ Other resources
She reaches this through www.ssees.ac.uk/, then Directory of Internet Resources on Central and Eastern Europe and Russia, then Latvia. The list is shorter than it looks, as many items are in Latvian. After her reading, she might see what she still wants to know, and write to a well informed Australian journalist, whose site is http://www.freewebz.com/rigabedandbreakfast/ and address is [email protected]/. You will see that he offers bed and breakfast, and I must say this is excellent, as is his information. But of course he is a busy man, so she should write only after she has done initial reading.
The site http://www.realpostreports.com/rprwe...e/latvia.shtml gives notes by people who lived there. The opening paragraph is little use, but the notes after the flag are good.
Here is a list of web sites that I know as useful to tourists. Of course, she is no tourist, so only some will help.
Links: http://www.jewishgen.org/shtetlinks/riga/rigapage.htm, then under “Useful Links”
“Browse websites” at foot of http://lv.orientation.com/en/home.html
http://www.travel-library.com/europe/latvia/
http://www.budgettravel.com/latvia.htm
Tourist board: http://www.latviatravel.com/home.htm
http://www.inyourpocket.com

From The Independent
Latvia? It's a bit like the Broads 17 March 2002 The world's great writers and their adventures in literature.
48 hours in Riga. 12 May 2003. Latvia's medieval capital is full of music this summer, from Eurovision and opera to the country's patriotic Song Festival.
Riga: there's new life in the old town yet 28 May 2001 A thriving metropolis amid this Baltic city's cobbled corners
http://travel.independent.co.uk/europe/eastern/.

Local paper guide: http://www.balticsww.com/tourist/index.html
Rail: http://www.ldz.lv/english/index.html
Riga: http://www.virtualriga.lv, http://www.virtualriga.com, and
http://www.riga800.lv/en/index.asp

Events: http://www.balticsww.com/tourist/Events.htm
Baltic Times www.baltictimes.com/about_us.htm
http://www.rigathisweek.lv
A night at Riga's opera: http://www.timesonline.co.uk, then click on travel, countries, Europe, and Latvia

[email protected]

Frequent_Flyer

I just returned from Latvia on Friday. In my experience, most of the younger generation speak English. I only found people over the age of 65 or so not speaking any English at all. Someone mentioned Russian, but my colleagues told me they don't want anything to do with the Russians (for good reason), and that includes their language.

Latvian is the predominant language, the currency is Lats. The people in general are very nice, I think it's worth mentioning that Riga is very expensive.

Check out the US State Department web site - they've got a lot of info, including scholarship programs.

magnumholmes

Thanks for the replies so far. Inyourpocket is a fabulous Web site.

Anything else anybody can tell me would be super.

imanta

I'm not sure if this is still relevant as your daughter may have already gone to Latvia, but just wanted to add my 2 cents. I studied abroad in Latvia for 5 months back in 1993 and have been back 2 times since then. Once I was there fore 2 months living in n apartment and the last time was just for a short 10 day stay.
Definitely the predominant language is Latvian with most people also speaking Russian(as it was required learning until last decade). I would recommend attempting some Latvian before then trying Russian with people you meet. There is some tension there. I definitely think it would be good for her to start learning some basic words/phrases in Latvian before getting there. Please is "ludzu", thank you is "paldies", yes is "ja", no is "ne". If this is still a relevant topic for you magnumholmes, please feel free to ask any more questions you'd like. I've spent a lot of time in Latvia over the years so hopefully would be able to help.