Talk:Latvia

Formatting and language conventions For articles about Latvia, please use the 24-hour clock to show times, e.g. 09:00-12:00 and 18:00-00:00. Please show prices in this format: €100 and not EUR 100, 100 euro or 100€. Please use British spelling (colour, travelled, centre, realise, analogue, programme, defence).

CIA data

CIA data moved to Talk:Latvia/CIA World Factbook 2002 import (WT-en) Matthewmayer 16:43, 28 Dec 2003 (PST)

Price ranges

In Latvia what price ranges would be considered Budget, Mid-range, and Splurge? - (WT-en) Andrew Haggard (Sapphire) 17:39, 11 June 2006 (EDT)

Added information about mafia to Stay safe

Two days ago three of my friends with which I have been to Riga were robbed by mafia in a bar - asked for 200 Ls each, then beaten, after they've called the police it was cooperating with the mafia, asked for a bribe of 300 Ls saying "I know you are the Americans and you have money" and finally fined for "violence in the bar". The U.S. Embassy employees were familiar with the situation saying that occurs in Riga often and one of the U.S. Embassy employees had that experience too. Although they can provide list of places where not to go and it would be wise to ask for it before partying. My personal experience is that if you don't visit these clubs, you are generally safe. --89.79.35.19 16:39, 16 November 2008 (EST)

Asking people to contact the embassy for lists of bars to avoid is unhelpful and unlikely. Instead, I've linked to Common scams, which covers the "newly found friend invites you to bar" scam in detail. (WT-en) Jpatokal 23:52, 16 November 2008 (EST)

Cesis not in city list

Cesis is highlighted in the intro but not included in the list of 9 cities. I suggest adding it to the list, but not sure which one to take out, to keep the list to 9. Perhaps remove Valka, or Daugavpils, maybe Ventspils. Thoughts? Nurg (talk) 02:28, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

I'd remove Valka, Valga part is bigger and listed in Estonia article. Jjtkk (talk) 07:46, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

Certainly not Daugavpils, it's both the second largest city of Latvia and the only city in that part of the country mentioned in the list. Valga/Valka on the other hand is quite small and is already in Estonia's article. Ypsilon (talk) 08:52, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

Yes, Valka should be removed. It is a very boring city. Daugavpils is one of the biggest Latvian cities, and Ventspils is a big harbour. Both deserve to be highlighted. --Alexander (talk) 09:17, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

Thanks everyone. Confirmed my thinking. Have replaced Valka with Cesis. Nurg (talk) 09:35, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

Misleading illustration

In "Do" section the nice photo "Bridge over Venta in Kuldiga" depicts the river in the forest in the other country. Same river flows across Kuldiga too, plenty of photos of both Kuldiga and the famous bridge everywhere, i assume the picture was inserted deliberately so do not edit anything. Maybe more misleading info? :) .

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion:

• Daugava river at the sunset (8228968205).jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 12:53, 9 November 2019 (UTC)

Russian language

@The dog2: according to my experience, the reason is not in Russian-Latvian politics at all, but because a few local Russian speakers refusing to speak Latvian. I'd say that attitude towards foreigners speaking Russian is not negative at all (some Latvians even consider many Russians from Russia educated and bright people), since it is an international language and Latvian speakers happily speak Russian in Georgia, for example. Soshial (talk) 06:31, 17 May 2021 (UTC)

I'd suggest editing accordingly, as you have personal experience, but you could wait 24 hours for The dog to reply. Ikan Kekek (talk) 07:34, 17 May 2021 (UTC)

If you have local experience then go ahead. I just remember some of the younger Latvians on exchange programmes in university who did not speak Russian, and spoke English instead. But I've not been to Latvia myself, so I don't know how common that is. Speaking of which, here's an example of an ethnic Russian from Latvia who knows how to speak Latvian, though I have no idea how common or rare people like her are.

As for language and politics, they do often get intertwined. For instance, in Hong Kong, many people will get offended if you speak to them in Mandarin because they see that as an indication that you support China. But I'm not as familiar with the situation in the Baltics, so go ahead and write what you know. The dog2 (talk) 13:19, 17 May 2021 (UTC)