Latvia

The Republic of Latvia (Latvian: Latvijas Republika) is a country in Northern Europe. Latvia has land borders with its two fellow Baltic states ? Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south ? and Russia and Belarus to the east. In the west Latvia shares a maritime border with Sweden. The capital of Latvia, Riga (Latvian: R?ga), is the largest city in the Baltic States.

Language

The official language of the Republic of Latvia is Latvian. The Latvian language, like Lithuanian and the extinct Old Prussian language, belongs to the Baltic language group of the Indo-European language family and is neither Germanic nor Slavic. Russian is by far the most widespread minority language, also spoken or at least understood by large sections of non-Russian population. The Latgalian language is widespread in Latgale, though authorities consider it a dialect of Latvian for political reasons.

Related Topics:
Latvian - Extinct - Old Prussian language - Baltic language group - Indo-European language family - Germanic - Slavic - Russian - Latgale - Dialect

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