Latvian is an Indo-European language (not Slavic) just as old as Lithuanian. It has six declensions and a lot of funny accents. Even the most heavily accented and ungrammatical attempt to speak their language will please Latvians, who are prone to cheer your 'proficiency' and slam the Russians who 'have lived here for fifty years and still can't even say hello'.

Although the official language of the country is Latvian, you will very easily get around with a command of Russian, as over half of the population in Riga is Russian speaking and most Latvians do understand Russian. They will, however, avoid it, except to swear, because Russian curses are more colourful than Latvian.

Older people often speak a fair bit of German, but most young Latvians are not shy to speak English!

Latvians reshape foreign names to fit their language and add an 's' to the end of all male names, i.e. Bils Klintons, Tonijs Blers and Gerhards żroders. Females will get an 'a' or an 'e' on the end instead, as happened to Hilarija Klintone. Hilarious!