How children learn to speak properly

As soon as a person is born, he communicates with others. Babies cry when they want something. They can already say a few simple words at a few months of age. With two years, they can say sentences of about three words. You can't influence when children begin to speak. But you can influence how well children learn their native language! For that, however, you have to consider a few things. Above all, it's important that the child is always motivated when learning. He must recognize that he's succeeding in something when he speaks. Babies like a smile as positive feedback. Older children look for dialogue with their environment. They orient themselves towards the language of the people around them. Therefore the language skills of their parents and educators are important. Children must also learn that language is valuable! However, they should always have fun in the process. Reading aloud to them shows children how exciting language can be. Parents should also do as much as possible with their child. When a child experiences many things, he wants to talk about them. Children growing up bilingual need firm rules. They have to know which language should be spoken with whom. This way their brain can learn to differentiate between the two languages. When children start going to school, their language changes. They learn a new colloquial language. Then it's important that the parents pay attention to how their child speaks. Studies show that the first language is stamped on the brain forever. What we learn as children accompanies us for the rest of our lives. He who learns his native language properly as a child will profit from it later. He learns new things faster and better – not only foreign languages…

Guess the language!

Latvian is a member of the eastern group of the Baltic languages. It is spoken by more than 2 million people. Latvian is most closely related to Lithuanian. Nevertheless the two languages are not very similar to each other. Thus it can happen that a Lithuanian and a Latvian converse in Russian. The structure of the Latvian language is also less archaic than that of Lithuanian. However, many ancient elements can still be found in traditional songs and poems. These show, for example, the relationship between Latvian and Latin.

The Latvian vocabulary is constructed in a very interesting manner. It contains many words that come from other languages. Among those languages are German, Swedish, Russian or English. Some words were only recently created because they were simply missing up to now. Latvian is written with the Latin alphabet and accented on the first syllable. The grammar has many features that do not exist in other languages. However, their rules are always clear and distinct.