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iamnotaparakeet
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14 Sep 2008, 3:49 pm

Sveiks!

I'd like to learn Latvian, from a book if possible, so I'm looking for recommendations.

Here are the websites I've found:

http://www.codefusion.com/latvian/

http://courses.washington.edu/latvian/g ... sabout.htm

http://www.languagehelpers.com/Latvia/T ... habet.html

http://www.latvianstuff.com/Language.html

But they aren't very extensive. I'd like a book which covers the grammar with only a small vocabulary so there wouldn't be so much memorization, sort of like Wheelock's does for Latin.



NeantHumain
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14 Sep 2008, 6:14 pm

Why do you want to learn Latvian in particular? Do you have Latvian ancestry?



iamnotaparakeet
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14 Sep 2008, 6:56 pm

NeantHumain wrote:
Why do you want to learn Latvian in particular? Do you have Latvian ancestry?


I have friends who are from Latvia. My family is mainly French and Irish in genealogy...



iamnotaparakeet
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18 Sep 2008, 12:15 pm

I just made a profile of the Latvian language:


=============================
Format
=============================

Declensions of nouns: 1st, 2nd.a, 2nd.b, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th


Conjugations of verbs: 1st.a, 1st.b, 1st.c, 1st.d, 1st.e, 2nd, 3rd.a, 3rd.b, 3rd.c


=============================
Information
=============================

Cases: Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative, Locative, Vocative & Instrumental(Ablative).


Number: Singular & Plural


Gender: Masculine & Feminine


Tense: Simple(Present, Imperfect, Future); Complex([conjugated verb of "to be"] + participle);


Mood: Indicative, Imperative, Relative, Subjunctive, & Debitive.


Voice: Active & Passive.



iamnotaparakeet
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18 Sep 2008, 5:26 pm

Quote:
FROM: http://www.conservapedia.com/Latvian


"Written with the Latin alphabet, Latvian is the language of the Latvian people and the official language of the country. It is an inflective language with several analytical forms, three dialects, and German syntactical influence. The oldest known examples of written Latvian are from a 1585 catechism. Latvians and Lithuanians are the only surviving direct descendents of the Baltic peoples who speak languages of the Indo-European family. While Latvia was a member of the U.S.S.R, Russian was the official language, so many Latvians also speak Russian, and the resident Slavic populace generally speaks Russian as a first language."



iamnotaparakeet
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19 Sep 2008, 3:51 pm

=============================
Latvian Alphabet
=============================

A a = English short a

Ā ā = Spanish a

B b = b

C c = ts, similar to Hebrew tsadee צ

Č č = ch

D d = d

Dz dz = D + Z?

Dž dž = English j

E e = English Short e or Long a

Ē ē = Spanish e ?

F f = f

G g = g

Ģ ģ = G + Y?

H h = h

I i = English short i

Ī ī = Spanish i

J j = y

K k = kh

Ķ ķ = like an English J + Spanish Y?

L l = L

Ļ ļ = ??? Ļaudis (people) sounds like yowd-dees to me.

M m = m

N n = n

Ņ ņ = Spanish Ñ, which is N + Y.

O o = Spanish O or a (w + A) sound.

P p = p

R r = Spanish RR

S s = s

Š š = German ß which is ss (like in "Congress") or sh (like in "English".)

T t = t

U u = English short u

Ū ū = Spanish u

V v = v + w

Z z = z

Ž ž = zh



iamnotaparakeet
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19 Sep 2008, 3:59 pm

The internet has very limited resources for Latvian, so I'd really appreciate a textbook suggestion.