Latvian belongs to the Indo-European language group and is one of the two surviving Baltic languages. The other one is Lithuanian. For the record, Estonian, the language of the neighbouring country Estonia, the third Baltic state, is not a Baltic language. The Baltic language group is the smallest language group in Europe with just 4 million native speakers (1.5 million speak Latvian and 3.5 million speak Lithuanian).

Latvian

The small Baltic language group is very interesting to linguists, because of all Indo-European languages; these have changed the least in the course of thousands of years. Therefore, the Baltic languages are closest to Proto-Indo-European; the ancient language from which the entire Indo-European language group originates. Distinctive letters in the Latvian alphabet are the vowels with dashes above them (Ā, Ē, Ī, Ū) which indicate the length or intonation of the letter. The alphabet also has a few strange looking consonants with a cedilla underneath (Ģ, Ķ, Ļ, Ņ). Those letters are pronounced with a slight j-sound at the end. Lastly, there are letters with a circumflex: Č (tsj), Š (sj), Ž (zj).

Dutch words in Latvian

During the Hanze period (trade union of merchants and cities during the Middle Ages), Dutch traders had a lot of direct contact with Latvian merchants. The result is that approximately 175 Dutch loan words have been adopted in Latvian, including shipping terms such as ‘fokkemast’, ‘dieplood’ and ‘kooi’. Of course, plenty of words relating to trade were also taken from Dutch, such as, abrikoos (apricot), ansjovis (anchovy), kantoor (office), katoen (cotton), and makelaar (realtor).

Language and culture

Our preference for working with in-country translators has to do with the fact that translation involves more than just language; cultural experience also plays a role. A translator needs to know how to address the desired audience. That is why we work with Latvian translators who live in Latvia and are native speakers of Latvian. Translators who are at the heart of their language and culture.

Guarantees

We are in possession of the highest achievable European quality standards for translation agencies (ISO 9001 and ISO 17100); standards that impose strict requirements on us and the translators we work with. Besides quality, we also focus on very competitive prices for our translations. This is why we also offer you a lowest price guarantee and our 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you are wondering how we can be both good and inexpensive, you can find out here. With us, you do not run any risk, not in terms of price and not in terms of quality. It may also be interesting to read what our clients think of us on this independent website.