Countries
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
  
European Union, Latvia
  
National Language
Russia
  
Latvia
  
Second Language
Afganistan
  
Not spoken in any of the countries
  
Speaking Continents
Asia, Europe
  
Europe
  
Minority Language
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Poland, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
  
Not spoken in any of the countries
  
Regulated By
Russian Academy, Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
  
Latvian State Language Center
  
Interesting Facts
- In Russian language, the words are not pronounced as they are written.
- In Russian language, there are only 200,000 words out of which only few words are used and due to this many words have more than one meaning.
  
- The first written form of Latvian dates from 16th century was found in religious texts.
- The old latvian language was based on the a Gothic script.
  
Similar To
Ukrainian and Belarusian Languages
  
Lithuanian Language
  
Derived From
Proto-Slavic Vocabulary
  
Not Available
  
Alphabets in
Russian-Alphabets.jpg#200
  
Latvian-Alphabets.jpg#200
  
Phonology
  
  
Scripts
Cyrillic
  
Latin
  
Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal
  
Left-To-Right, Horizontal
  
Hard to Learn
  
  
Hello
здравствуйте(zdravstvuyte)
  
Sveiki
  
Thank You
спасибо(spasibo)
  
Paldies
  
How Are You?
Как дела? (Kak dela?)
  
Kā jums klājas?
  
Good Night
Спокойной Ночи(Spokoynoy Nochi)
  
Ar labunakti
  
Good Evening
Добрый Вечер(Dobryy Vecher)
  
Labvakar
  
Good Afternoon
Добрый День(Dobryy Den')
  
Labdien
  
Good Morning
Доброе Утро(Dobroye Utro)
  
Labrīt
  
Please
пожалуйста(pozhaluysta)
  
lūdzu
  
Sorry
Извините(Izvinite)
  
Piedodiet!
  
Bye
до свидания(do svidaniya)
  
Uz redzēšanos
  
I Love You
Я тебя люблю(YA tebya lyublyu)
  
Es tevi mīlu
  
Excuse Me
извините(izvinite)
  
Piedodiet!
  
Dialect 1
Doukhobor Russian
  
Livonian
  
Where They Speak
Alberta, British Columbia, Canada, Saskatchewan
  
Latvia
  
How Many People Speak
Not Available
  
Dialect 2
Olonets
  
Middle Latvian
  
Where They Speak
Olonets
  
Latvia
  
Dialect 3
Novgorod
  
High Latvian
  
Where They Speak
Novgorod
  
France, Latvia
  
How Many People Speak?
276.00 million
  
6
1.75 million
  
99+
Speaking Population
Not Available
  
Native Speakers
166.00 million
  
8
1.75 million
  
99+
Second Language Speakers
110.00 million
  
7
Not Available
  
Native Name
Русский
  
latviešu valoda
  
Alternative Names
Russki
  
Lettish
  
French Name
russe
  
letton
  
German Name
Russisch
  
Lettisch
  
Pronunciation
[ˈruskʲɪj jɪˈzɨk]
  
Not Available
  
Ethnicity
Russians
  
Latvians or Letts
  
Origin
1000 AD
  
1530
  
Language Family
Indo-European Family, Slavic Family
  
Indo-European Family
  
Subgroup
Slavic
  
Baltic
  
Branch
Eastern
  
Not Available
  
Language Forms
  
  
Early Forms
Old East Slavic
  
No early forms
  
Standard Forms
Standard Russian
  
Latvian
  
Language Position
Not Available
  
Signed Forms
Signed Russian
  
Latvian Sign Language
  
Scope
Individual
  
Macrolanguage
  
ISO 639 1
ru
  
lv
  
ISO 639 2
  
  
ISO 639 2/T
rus
  
lav
  
ISO 639 2/B
rus
  
lav
  
ISO 639 3
rus
  
lav
  
ISO 639 6
Not Available
  
not Available
  
Glottocode
russ1263
  
latv1249
  
Linguasphere
53-AAA-ea
  
54-AAB-a
  
Types of Language
  
  
Language Type
Living
  
Living
  
Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object
  
Subject-Verb-Object
  
Language Morphological Typology
Fusional, Synthetic
  
Synthetic