It is a no-win situation Peter.While young they refuse to learn, and when older ,they

will blame you for not teaching them the language. Peer group reinforcement is required, thus the need for Latvian schools.

Why learn Latvian? Economic reasons! Many of the trimda own or should own
property or interests in Latvia and proper management requires knowledge of the language. Only reason my kids are at this late date attempting to learn( after berating me for my failure to teach them ).

Ogresdēls ~ it seems like we did not get to first base. ”… need for Latvian schools, proper management requires knowledge of language, and economic reasons,” is piecemealing and does not hold much water. It is the old fashion standard thinking among expatriate Latvians. This is where motherhood and apple pie is mired.

I would replace your argument simply that Latvian is being learned for the love of it. There are no cost benefits or economic glory in knowing Latvian today. Foreigners and foreign enterprises are buying up Latvian property and land. Latvians are scattering to all four corners of this world. Russian language has more business power in Latvia than the Latvian language. English as a second language is spoken by 70% of the people in Latvia.

What Latvians need is a nitch for creating value with the Latvian language. It can be done, but are we willing to put forth our collective efforts? The last, as I pointed out previously on this thread, is a historical weakness embedded in our genes. We’ll need to work twice as hard to overcome our shortcomings. Latvians need to think globally and stop trying to hold back the direction of economic development and progress. Piecemealing our efforts will not work. Have we learned anything from the Irish? Don’t be shy in learning success stories from other countries. Japan’s success came from emulating successful countries. Think of Latvian culture! Think big! Think competitively! Think of an entreprenaurial revolution!

Let’s not strike out so easily and try to round all the bases.

Cheers, Ivars

Ah.the old and stale academia argument of try harder and blame the need for “global’ and other interest for the lack of success. Soon comes the “great solution” of"we need more money to improve the education and bring success”. Money for higher salaries and more brick!

Grandiose schemes of “pie in the sky” may bring in some idealistic and ineffective support, but success is generally based upon the self-interest of economics.

Russian may be the “business power” language of the present (based upon its power in the past), however,the emphasis on the local language in today’s schools will change that as well. Avoiding the trap of “multi-culture” in Latvia is the first priority. The trimda need to be the “foreigners” buying up the property instead of promoting vague language or culture “nitches”.

Don’t stop the train now! Grease the wheels and just keep it rolling! I agree that every bit helps “Kāpēc sūtīt bērnu latviešu skolā?” whether it’s a matter of a heart throb for the Latvian language or a bread winning proposition where Latvian is a must. It’s the 90% expatriate Latvians that do not enter these ivory doors or are ostracized from the Latvian culture that concerns me.

Ogresdēls, glad that you are airing your points. However, it would be helpful if you could back up your consternations by providing examples instead of letting them just hang. It will clarify your thought process and understanding where you are coming from.

Consider that change is one of the more difficult things to introduce as the opposition to making improvents and advances is fierce. Yes, a mind set is difficult to overcome. It is human nature to resist and they are but few that carry the day for progress. It was change that has propelled us from merely continuing to be cave dwellers and a zero sum society. “Mērnieku laiki” ir sen garām, mums letiņiem tā loma vairs nav jāspēlē.

~*~

Here’s Ogresdēls understanding of what will make Latvia and Latvians successful: ”Ah.the old and stale academia argument of try harder and blame the need for “global’ and other interest for the lack of success. Soon comes the “great solution” of"we need more money to improve the education and bring success”. Money for higher salaries and more brick!”

This should not be a surprise, even for those uninitiated in economics – local and global – unless one is a sheltered commie. As we well know, economic success is not for free. It requires time, money and effort to make things happen. While Latvia is to a certain extent subsidized by EU at some point down the road it will be required to pull its own weight when the freebies are no longer provided. Latvia’s precedence, Erin go Bragh! is not an “old or stale academia argument,” as today Ireland leads the world with its standard of living with US$ 44,087 per capita. (A*) Ireland’s “Clicks and bricks” were well planned out with government support for foreign investment incentives that created Ireland’s success story. I was there, responsible for several capital investment projects in the 1980s, and can attest that this was no mere academic rhetoric.

Thus far, there has been no blame game discussed on this thread as there has been no need for blame. Countries and people simply participate in globalization or they don’t. It is a choice and actually a very natural process where people talk, interact, barter, exchange, trade, etc. Nowadays it’s called globalization, but it has been around since people discovered they had neighbors.

I’m not sure where you came up with the aspect of trying “harder”? Generally the focus is on being smarter and more creative, expending less work but more efficiently. This is what the knowledge age is all about. Lately the economic and business world is realizing the significance and value in vested human capital where formerly capital was merely associated with finance and assets. It is the investment in human capital through education, training, knowledge sharing – tacit and explicit – and experience where I would like to see Latvians stand out. There is no doubt in my mind that with some effort Latvians can compete meaningfully in this human capital arena. But, it needs to be a focused effort that will require working together as a national team. It will allow a small nation to compete with natural resource-rich countries. Call it Latvian people power!

That people have knowledge value and thus should not be chucked away is even more reason why Latvians need to hold on to their Latvians in one way or another.

~*~

Ogresdēls’ vituperative dilemna: ”Grandiose schemes of “pie in the sky” may bring in some idealistic and ineffective support, but success is generally based upon the self-interest of economics.”

To what “Grandiose schemes of “pie-in-the-sky” are you specifically referring and what makes them so? In your information base, what is the alternative to “self-interest of economics”? Are you thinking of a collective or group such as a national-interest in economics? I have no problem with either, but it is a different scenario when it becomes self-serving. That sounds more like the oligarchs of Latvia and it becomes a red-flag item. There is no need to subscribe to principle of mediocrity.

(To be continued … ***)

(*** … continued)

Ogresdēls pitches for buying property over culture and nitches: ”Russian may be the “business power” language of the present (based upon its power in the past), however,the emphasis on the local language in today’s schools will change that as well. Avoiding the trap of “multi-culture” in Latvia is the first priority. The trimda need to be the “foreigners” buying up the property instead of promoting vague language or culture “nitches”.

It’s not only based on the past “business power” of the Russian language but also based on the current inflow of Russia’s capital investments in Latvia. One of Russia’s goals, which is public knowledge, is to gobble up Latvia piece by piece. It’s ability does not come from the educational schooling in local Russian schools in Latvia, but from the cultural and economic awarness that is being hammered home by Kremlin and the legitimate Russian oriented political parties in Latvia. Money talks, and there are Latvian political leaders that abide by that principle regretfully. You could ask youself how much trust do you have in your political leaders. Why do we allow them to lead the way in the wrong direction?

The multicultural aspects of globalization are unavoidable if one desires to be an active participant in global events including economics and socio-political power plays. Otherwise you do not get to surf on the third wave. Also multi-lingualism among Latvians will be standard, one for the culture and play, the other for business and economic success.

Btw, the usefulness of nitches is that it allows a small cultural interest group like Latvians to stand out in the crowd, collaborate, become competitive and thus masters of their own destiny as long as they learn to work together. While you’re contemplating, what does a nitch mean to you? How would you apply it or simply it does not mean anything to you?

Cheers, Ivars

NB - (A*) Purchasing power parity (PPP) of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in 2005, considered a measure for standard of living by the International Monetary Fund, was US$ 44,087 for Ireland compared to United States - $ 43,574; Canada – $ 35,494; United Kingdom – $ 35,051; Australia - $ 32,938; Germany - $ 31,095; France - $ 30,693; Estonia - $ 18,216; Lithuania $ 15,858; Latvia - $ 15,549; Russia - $ 12,096; Belarus - $ 8,862.