Northern Europe
Video Chat with People from Latvia
The person on your screen from Latvia could be in Riga, where whole streets are lined with Art Nouveau facades, or in the beach town of Jūrmala, musical Liepāja, Cēsis with its medieval castle, Sigulda in the Gauja valley, Daugavpils in the southeast, or Kuldīga beside its wide, low waterfall. Latvian is the official language, a Baltic language related to Lithuanian, and Russian is also widely spoken, particularly in Riga and the southeast. Many younger adults switch to English without fuss.
Riga is two hours ahead of London, so a late-evening Latvian chat suits people in the UK just after dinner. The midsummer festival Jāņi, with bonfires, oak-leaf wreaths, caraway cheese and singing through the night, is a favorite topic, as is the huge Song and Dance Festival held every few years. Food talk might cover dark rye bread, grey peas with bacon, smoked fish from the coast or Riga Black Balsam. Ice hockey and basketball fans are easy to find. The country filter can connect you with people in Latvia; our Estonia page shows how different the next Baltic country can be.
Latvia at a glance
| Flag | 🇱🇻 |
|---|---|
| Official name | Republic of Latvia |
| Capital | Riga |
| Region | Europe · Northern Europe |
| Official language | Latvian |
| Currency | Euro (€, EUR) |
| Calling code | +371 |
| Time zone | Eastern European Time (Europe/Riga) |
How to say hello
A few words of Latvian make a great first impression, even if you switch to English right after.
| Language | Phrase | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latvian | Sveiki! | SVAY-kee | Hello! |
| Latvian | Čau! | chow | Hi! / Bye! (casual) |
| Latvian | Kā iet? | kah EE-et | How's it going? |
| Latvian | Labvakar! | LAHB-vah-kar | Good evening! |
Tips for chatting with people from Latvia
- Ask about Riga's Central Market, set inside old zeppelin hangars; it's an easy door into food and daily life.
- Latvian marks long vowels with a line on top (ā, ē, ī, ū). Asking someone to say a word slowly is a quick pronunciation lesson.
- Around midsummer it stays light very late in Latvia, so a late-evening chat in June may still have daylight behind the camera.
- Mushroom and berry picking in late summer and autumn is a popular pastime; ask what they've found this year.
Only meet people from Latvia
Omlet matches you Worldwide by default. To meet only people from Latvia, use the country filter, the only filter Omlet has:
- Open Omlet and press Country on the control panel.
- Search for Latvia and select it.
- Press Start. Press Next to meet someone else from Latvia, or switch back to Worldwide any time.
Your first day is free: you add a card through Stripe to start it, and nothing is charged that day. When the 24 hours end, the country filter costs $3 one time, charged to that card, unless you cancel before then in Settings (if you cancel, you can still pick a country until the day ends). It's not a subscription, and it stays unlocked on that device and browser. It doesn't carry over to other devices or browsers, and clearing your browser data removes it. There's one free day per device, home network and card. Payment goes through Stripe, so Omlet never sees your card number.
The filter works both ways, and matching can be slower when fewer people from Latvia are online. Chatting itself is free, and Worldwide matching never costs anything.
Your own country is detected automatically and shown to the people you meet as a flag.
Neighboring countries
Latvia borders 4 countries. Curious about the people next door? Meet them too: