latvia official language

Russia lies to the east of Latvia, Belarus to the southeast, and the Baltic Sea to the west. Lithuanian is the most popular language in the country, with over 3 million native Lithuanian speakers. A percentage of people also speak Russian. Today, Latvian is used in all official spheres of activity. [29] In a draft of its political programme,[30] Harmony Centre offers to grant co-official status to Latgalian and Russian in printed media, public sphere and education (for Russian, in communication with authorities, as well), stressing its support for the sole state language. Retrieved February 2, 2007. According to the same 1998 Education Law, the tertiary education in public colleges and universities has to be in Latvian only since 1999 (it had to be basically in Latvian since the second year, according to 1992 Law on Languages, Section 11). Moscow – Paris – Tallinn: 2009. 2003-02-0106", Valodu prasmes ietekme uz ekonomiski aktīvo iedzīvotāju dzīves kvalitāti, "Noteikumi par tulkojumu nodrošināšanu pasākumos", "Noteikumi par valodu lietošanu informācijā", edition being in force between 27.02.2004. and 15.09.2005., English, "Constitutional Court of Latvia judgment in case No. Latvia A country of north-central Europe on the Baltic Sea. Latvian was originally known in English as Lettish. [They] say that Russian should be an official language with equal rights, just as Swedish is in Finland (for just 6% of the population).[28]. http://www.euronews.net/ A month-long campaign has begun in Latvia that could lead to Russian becoming an official language. (1) The official language in the Republic of Latvia is the Latvian language. 2001-04-0103", "MINELRES: Communication to the UN HRC: minority names spelling in Latvia", State programme "Social integration in Latvia", Guidelines of cultural policy 2006–2015 "Nation state", Guidelines of the State Language Policy for 2005–2014. Yes, so on your first visit to the country, when … Latvian is also recognized as the official language of Latvia since 1989 as is provided for by Article 4 of the Constitution of Latvia. In Chicago, Mara Varpa, 57, said she voted against the proposal since Latvian was an integral part of the national identity and should therefore remain the sole official language. This site is designed as a starting point for people who want to learn more about the Latvian language. [26] Nataliya Pulina in Moskovskiye Novosti asserts that Latvia's Russophones are by percentage actually the largest linguistic minority in the EU whose language has no official status. [23] The idea of the nation state, where "language = nation", is seen as the core and main engine of the language policy of the Latvian state. (2) In the Republic of Latvia, everyone has the right to present submissions and communicate in the official language in institutions, public and religious organisations and undertakings (companies). In Latgale, the Polish language gained some influence, beginning from the 16th century. Europe has built its cultural identity on two instruments: Latin and the Christian religion. State had acknowledged public use of Latgalian. The official language of Latvia is Latvian; however, nearly one-third of the population speaks Russian. An exemption had existed for organizations of ethnic minorities and religious organizations; 1997 Law on Meetings, Processions and Pickets has foreseen free choice of language in meetings, pickets and processions, too (Section 19). 13, 31 December 1919. Latvian is the official language. HC programme project – section "Cultural and language diversity": Saeimas kārtības rullis. Latvia. All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions © 2021 worldatlas.com. They argue that, being such a large minority, they should have the right to education in their native language if the demand exists—which it certainly does. In the Constitution's chapter on human rights, rights to get answers from authorities in Latvian are specified since 2002 (Article 104). Follow. Until a judgement[32] of the Constitutional Court upon request of 24 ForHRUL MPs (delivered in 2003), broadcasting in minority languages was limited for private TV and radio (originally within 30%, since 1998 within 25%). [80], In the year 2000, Livonian was a moribund language spoken by some 35 people, of whom only 10 were fluent. Minority Rights in Estonia and Latvia. [76] Under Stalinism, Polish schools were closed and after Arvīds Pelše's 1959 victory over the "national communists" (Eduards Berklavs et al. From 1992–2000, authorities had to accept documents in Russian, German and English, too, and were allowed to answer in the language of application.[10]. The government of Latvia in its policy documents refers to Latvia as a (democratic) nation state,[19][20] constructing societal integration on the basis of the Latvian language,[21] while respecting the diversity of languages. Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet while Latvian uses the Latin alphabet with special characters. [5] In 1992, amendments to the 1989 Law on Languages strengthened the position of Latvian. The ethnic Russian group Dzimtā valoda (Native Language), petitioned for this measure in November and were able to garner 187,378 valid signatures. Likumu un valdības rīkojumu krājums Nr. What Is The Official Language Of Latvia? Latvian is also recognized as the official language of Latvia since 1989 as is provided for by Article 4 of the Constitution of Latvia. [36], Since the beginning of the 1990s, some Polish language schools were created besides the existing schools with Latvian and Russian language of instruction. Articles 4 and 114 of the Constitution of Latvia form the foundation for language policy in Latvia, declaring Latvian to be the official state language and affirming the rights of ethnic minorities to preserve and develop their languages. An interesting characteristic of Latvian language, which was also established at the beginning of the twentieth century, is the phonetically altering of proper names from other languages to be in line with the Latvian phonological system. In the postwar Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, the proportion of Latvian-speaking population decreased due to large losses in World War II and mass deportations, while the Russian-speaking population increased due to the presence of military forces and mass immigration of labour to implement the Soviet Union's industrialization policy (still, due to low birth rate, the population of Latvia had grown by 27.4% between 1959 and 1989 censuses, while that of the whole USSR – by 36.8%). These languages were introduced into the country by immigrants from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine during the period when the country was under Soviet occupation between 1940 and 1990. Besides, films aired in any channel should be dubbed in Latvian or to have the original soundtrack and Latvian subtitles; TV broadcasts in languages other than Latvian, except news, live events, language learning broadcasts and retranslated content, must be subtitled in Latvian. Latvijas tiesību vēsture (1914–2000) — Rīga: Fonds Latvijas Vēsture, 2000. let's care for this planet Antonyms for Latvian language. Today, Blake in Birmingham, AL took on Hot Wings on a $400 round of the game. Your official travel guide for travelling in Latvia. What Is The Official Language Of Latvia? What are synonyms for Latvian language? All the of the information on this site is free. Section 1. The LLA carries out regular sociolinguistic research in order to get acquainted with the situation of the official language in Latvia. Email. [4], The preamble to the Official Language Law includes as its goals "the integration of members of ethnic minorities into the society of Latvia, while observing their rights to use their native language or other languages; [and] the increased influence of the Latvian language in the cultural environment of Latvia, to promote a more rapid integration of society. The earliest documents written in Latvian were hymns written in 1530 by a German pastor known as Nikolaus Ramm as well as the translation of the Lord’s Prayer written in 1544. This measure was defeated with 75% of votes against.. Latvia's current territory is a close approximation to the range of Latvian habitation since the Latvian people emerged. In the medieval Livonian Confederation, Latin and German were the dominant languages of education and administration. In Daugavpils was also the highest percentage of people speaking Russian (95.7%), and in Kuldīga District the lowest (57.6%). After independence (1991), Latvia sought to limit citizenship in order to favor Latvians and other Balts over ethnic Russians and other minorities. 103GBF. [77][78], Latvian was declared the state language of the Latvian SSR by a decree of the republican Supreme Soviet on 6 October 1988. The language is closely related to Latvian with some linguists terming it as a dialect of the Latvian language. It is the most conservative language in the Indo-European family and retains most of the original features found in … Follow. Synonyms for Latvian language in Free Thesaurus. The Latvian language belongs to the Indo-European language family and of the eastern Baltic language side. Watch the clip below to find out … At the end of the 19th century, tsar Alexander III instigated a policy of Russification in non-Russian areas of the Empire. This amendment would have added Russian as an official state language in the country of Latvia. By 1989, about 56% of the Latvian population identified as native Latvian speakers, down from 80% of the population in 1935. According to research conducted by the Baltic Institute of Social Sciences in 2004,[31] the majority (77%) of ethnic Latvians opposed (56%) or mostly opposed (21%) granting Russian status as a second official language, while the majority (87%) of Russians supported (59%) or mostly supported (28%) such status, while a majority (75%) of other ethnicities also supported (40%) or rather supported (35%) such status. )In the late 20th century Latvian was spoken by about 1.5 million people. The land then passed to Russia. Latvian language. Today, Blake in Birmingham, AL took on Hot Wings on a $400 round of the game. Those who fail to show needed level during inspections can be fined. What Are The Biggest Industries In Latvia? When ratifying it, the Latvian Saeima (Parliament) made two declarations (worded as reservations) limiting the implementation of Articles 10 and 11. From the mid-19th century, Latvian started to rise in influence. Each morning on the show, we play Dumber Than The Show Trivia for a cash prize. Latgalian has 164,500 native speakers in Latvia with 97,600 of them residing in Latgale. In practice, this had led to re-examinations of various candidates, at least sometimes unexpected, which prevented Ignatāne and Podkolzina (representatives of the Equal Rights party in the 1997 local and 1998 parliamentary elections[11]) from participation. In age groups over 15 years, however, more Latvians expressed proficiency in Russian than vice versa. Remarkably, modern Latvian has retained a number of Indo-European archaisms lost by other languages. There was a similar breakdown with regards to mother tongue: 94.6% in Talsi District and for 11.6% in Daugavpils for Latvian, 80.4% in Daugavpils and for 3.0% in Talsi District for Russian. Today, Blake in Birmingham, AL took on Hot Wings on a $400 round of the game. Watch the clip below to find out if the pot increases, or if it resets to $100! The number of Russian schools is decreasing,[40] partly due to natural demographic decline and partly due to emigration,[41] as the following table demonstrates, with some schools with apparent viability closed. As concerns tertiary education, in some faculties, the language of instruction was only Latvian, in some, only Russian; in some there were two language "streams". Considering these statistics, we can see that there are a relatively high proportion of secondary language speakers of the Latvian language. [16] An analogous application was submitted to UN HRC in 2007 and won by the applicant on grounds of privacy (Raihman v. Click any language to explore how widely it is spoken in each country or click a country to explore which languages are most spoken within in. Likums par Latvijas izglītības iestādēm. 07-23. During this period (1940-1990), millions of immigrants from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine settled in the country and in so doing caused the decline of the use of Latvian in the country. Each morning on the show, we play Dumber Than The Show Trivia for a cash prize. Other languages used in Latvia are Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. Latvian is the dominant language in Latvia with an estimated 1.75 million native speakers in the country. Latvian is the dominant language as well as the official language of Latvia. Since 1998, the official status of the Latvian language has been written into the Constitution (Article 4); and since 2002, MPs have been asked to promise to strengthen Latvian as the only official language in order to take their seats (Article 18). [27] Regarding the demographic arguments for Russian language rights in Latvia, the BBC's Angus Roxburgh reported in 2005: There are as many Russians, proportionally, in Latvia as there are French speakers in Belgium. Итоги переписи населения 1989 года по Латвии – Rīga: LR Valsts statistikas komiteja, 1992 – 89. lpp./стр. Since the Official Language Law came into force in 2000, submitting documents to the government (local included) and state public enterprises is allowed in Latvian only, except in cases specially defined in the law (emergency services, foreign residents, etc. Latvian is an inflective language with several analytical forms, three dialects, and German syntactical influence. 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