Latvian discussion group

[Sol Invictus]

The song is from Latvian song festival
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=roZP8PNHsao

Exactly the song I meant
Lyrics: http://www.dziesmas.lv/index.asp?page=lyrics&id=2590 It is interesting though that there are alternative lyrics (apparently original ?): http://www.musicbox.lv/music_page.php?song_id=1137

[amoeba]

Sveiki visiem,

Vai kāds var man ieteikt labu "website" ar stāstiem vai spelēm latviešu valodā? Es vēlos pilnveidot savu latviešu valodu, un gribētu lasīt par ikdienām situācijām, lai mācītos vairāk.

Liels paldies, čau!

[amoeba]

Starp citu, vai kāds var man palīdzēt mācīšanās? Runāt ar mani MSN?

[Sol Invictus]

Vai kāds var man ieteikt labu "website" ar stāstiem vai sp[s]e[/s]ēlēm latviešu valodā? Es vēlos pilnveidot savu latviešu valodu, un gribētu lasīt par ikdien[s]ām[/s]as situācijām, lai mācītos vairāk.

Starp citu, vai kāds var man palīdzēt mācī[s]šanās[/s]bās? Runāt ar mani MSN?

Website usualy is called lapa (or officialy vietne). Also you might want to use "varētu" (could) instead of "var" (can) and say "lai iemācītos vairāk" not "lai mācītos vairāk" (it is not wrong to write as you did, this is just matter of style).

Here is a large collection of Latvian literature. There are not many games in Latvian (besides most are crap). There is this contest http://www.indago.lv/, for Latvian game developers, their page usualy let's you download the participating games (not all are in Latvian though), but it curently is under construction. http://netgames.apollo.lv has a terible little flash game under "Latviešu spēles" and a bit more interesting game under "Uzcel gaismas pili", however it run very slowly for me. Perhaps you'll find something in this forum.

[amoeba]

Sol Invictus, paldies par tavu palīdzību.

Man arī bija iespēja iet uz bibliotēku, lai apmeklētu grāmatas latviešu valodā. Dabūju grāmatu ar latviešu bērnu stāstiem

Man sevišķi patīk www.mix.lv blogu lapas... interesanti uzzināt, ko notiek Latvijā.

Kāpēc šai forumā nav nekā vairs?

[0stsee]

Kāds ir tava gulta?

Kaapeec nesaki "Kaada ir tava gulta?" instead.
Is there no feminine form for kaads?

[Sol Invictus]

He made a mistake

[mak]

0stsee, if you can't type in Latvian you will find this link useful:
http://laacz.lv/tmp/conv.php

[0stsee]

Paldies Mak!
Es jau kraaju bookmarkaa linku tu devi.
I've already bookmarked the link.

[Levo]

By the way, are Latvians and Estonians aware of how many similarities there are in their languages? In vocabulary and grammar there are many points where Estonian isn't similar to Finno-Ugrian languages, but to Latvian, and I see many things in which Latvian isn't similar to Indo-European languages, but to Estonian.

[Sol Invictus]

By the way, are Latvians and Estonians aware of how many similarities there are in their languages? In vocabulary and grammar there are many points where Estonian isn't similar to Finno-Ugrian languages, but to Latvian, and I see many things in which Latvian isn't similar to Indo-European languages, but to Estonian.

Reigani knows we had a disscusion about that somewhere here, I think (though it was more about finnic influence on Latvian as far as I remmember)

[Levo]

By the way, are Latvians and Estonians aware of how many similarities there are in their languages? In vocabulary and grammar there are many points where Estonian isn't similar to Finno-Ugrian languages, but to Latvian, and I see many things in which Latvian isn't similar to Indo-European languages, but to Estonian.

Reigani knows we had a disscusion about that somewhere here, I think (though it was more about finnic influence on Latvian as far as I remmember)

I know it must be only a saying, but what does "Reigani" literally mean?

[Sol Invictus]

It is not a saying, it is the dark side of Brainstorm (google it and you'll see). Literally it is Reagan (you know - former president of USA) in plural

[Levo]

It is not a saying, it is the dark side of Brainstorm (google it and you'll see). Literally it is Reagan (you know - former president of USA) in plural

I googled it, watched some videos about it, but I am really only at a beginner's level at Latvian so I don't understand anything.

[Sol Invictus]

It is not a saying, it is the dark side of Brainstorm (google it and you'll see). Literally it is Reagan (you know - former president of USA) in plural

I googled it, watched some videos about it, but I am really only at a beginner's level at Latvian so I don't understand anything.

Eh, well, check them out in last fm, pay attention to names of the songs, there is nothing important to understand - they're a parody

[Levo]

I can't believe it!
The first time I check an online Latvian TV news broadcast, and at the 5th minute they are talking about some Guinneiss record in Hungary made with Pálinka http://www.tvnet.lv/onlinetv/player.php ... 87&vfrag=0

[Levo]

Sveiki!
I'd like to ask you one thing, I need it in different languages actually, where there is no good English data available or only old ones...
How do you say "average monthly salary" or "average monthly wages" in Latvian? I need to know it for a comparative table, 2008 if possible, the fresher the better.

[Sol Invictus]

you need data or translation ? It's vidējā (darba) alga and it's 486 lats

[Levo]

you need data or translation ? It's vidējā (darba) alga and it's 486 lats

Paldies, it's a bit less than here, and last time I saw a table where it was written that it is already 1% higher than in Hungary and though I knew Latvia was in a boom (back then) but it still seemed a bit unbelievable.

[Zorba]

Remember that official statistics don't always tell the full story... when I was in Latvia, my employer declared to the government that I was getting paid 150 lats less per month than I actually was, as part of some tax fiddle....