# Latvian Translation Services

> Latvian translation services to and from English, for documents from Latvia, by native human translators. Certified for USCIS, with notarization.

https://roxotranslations.com/latvian-translation/

Roxo Translations offers Latvian translation services for documents from Latvia and from the Latvian communities abroad, from Latvian into English and from English into Latvian. Every translation is done by a human translator, native in the target language, and reviewed by a second one, never by machine translation.

Send a photo or scan of the document, see the price and the deadline instantly, and receive the translation as a PDF. For the United States it comes certified and accepted by USCIS, with the signed statement and notarization included.

- Latvian and English, in both directions
- Certified for USCIS, with notarization included
- Instant online quote and fast delivery

## Where Latvian is spoken and where your translation is accepted

Latvian is the only state language of Latvia and an official language of the European Union since 2004. It has nearly 2 million speakers, counting those who speak it as a second language. After the Second World War, tens of thousands of Latvian refugees settled in the United States, Canada and Australia, and since 2004 many Latvians have moved to the United Kingdom and Ireland. In the early 20th century Latvian immigrants also settled in the state of São Paulo, in Brazil. The destination decides the type of translation.

| Where | What you need |
|---|---|
| United States: USCIS, courts, universities and employers | [Certified translation](https://roxotranslations.com/certified-translation/) into English, with the signed statement of accuracy and notarization included |
| Brazil: notary offices, universities and public agencies | [Sworn translation](https://roxotranslations.com/pt/traducao-juramentada/) into Portuguese, signed by a public sworn translator and valid nationwide. For Latvian, we confirm the sworn translation when we quote |
| Latvia and other countries | Ask the receiving authority which format it accepts: we tell you the options before quoting, including the [Hague apostille](https://roxotranslations.com/apostille/) when it applies |
| Latvian consulates, citizenship and immigration processes | The translation into the language the authority asks for, with the apostille on the original when it is required |

## Latvian language pairs we translate

Today we translate Latvian with English, in both directions: from Latvian into English and from English into Latvian.

- Latvian to [English](https://roxotranslations.com/english-translation/)
- [English](https://roxotranslations.com/english-translation/) to Latvian

Need a pair that is not on the list? Talk to us: we answer within one hour, 7 days a week.

## Latvian translation services for documents from Latvia

Latvian has its own letters, gives every name a grammatical ending and writes dates in its own order, and documents from Latvia follow their own formats and official terms. A good translation follows the Latvian of the original, keeps every letter of the names and reads naturally to whoever receives it.

- Letters: Latvian uses the Latin alphabet with marks of its own: a bar for long vowels (ā, ē, ī, ū), a hook on č, š and ž, and a comma under ģ, ķ, ļ and ņ. American documents often drop the marks, so Bērziņš becomes Berzins. The translation keeps every name exactly as in the original, so tell us the form used in your US documents when you order.
- Latvian, Latgalian and Russian: in eastern Latvia there is also a written Latgalian (latgaliešu valoda), which the State Language Law protects as a historical variety of Latvian. Many records from the Soviet period, which ended in 1991, come in Russian or in Latvian and Russian side by side. If part of your document is not in Latvian, tell us when you order and we confirm the options before quoting.
- Names: Latvian adds an ending to every name, so surnames have a male and a female form, such as Bērziņš and Bērziņa, and foreign names are written the Latvian way, so John Smith appears as Džons Smits. The translation never adapts a name: it keeps the spelling of the original, and differences between your documents are something to point out when you order.
- Dates and numbers: numeric dates come in day, month and year order, so 03.10.2026 is October 3, 2026, and in words the year comes first, as in 2026. gada 3. oktobris, with the months in lowercase. Decimals use a comma and thousands a space, so 1 500,00 is one thousand five hundred. Older personal codes (personas kods) begin with the date of birth; those issued since 2017 no longer do.
- Documents from Latvia: the birth certificate (dzimšanas apliecība) and the marriage certificate (laulības apliecība), issued by the civil registry offices (dzimtsarakstu nodaļa), statements (izziņa) from the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (PMLP), the certificate of no criminal record (izziņa par sodāmību) and the diploma (diploms). The translation reproduces every stamp, seal and note.

## The history of the Latvian language

Latvian is a Baltic language, of the Indo-European family, and together with Lithuanian it is one of the two Baltic languages still spoken. It took shape from the speech of Baltic peoples such as the Latgalians, the Semigallians, the Curonians and the Selonians, and it borrowed words from Livonian, a Finnic language of the coast. The name of the language comes from the Latgalians.

The first printed book in Latvian was a Catholic catechism, published in 1585, and for centuries the spelling followed German. The first complete Bible in Latvian, translated by the pastor Ernst Glück, was printed in Riga between 1685 and 1694. In the 19th century Krišjānis Barons collected hundreds of thousands of folk songs (dainas), published between 1894 and 1915, and the cabinet where he kept them is listed in the UNESCO Memory of the World register.

A spelling prepared in 1908 by a commission of linguists replaced the German-based spelling, so sch gave way to š, and after independence in 1918 it became the standard. During the Soviet period Russian took over much of public life, and after independence was restored in 1991 the State Language Law of 1999 made Latvian the only state language. Today it has nearly 2 million speakers, in Latvia and in the communities abroad.

## We also translate other languages

- [Irish translation](https://roxotranslations.com/irish-translation/)
- [Hungarian translation](https://roxotranslations.com/hungarian-translation/)
- [Estonian translation](https://roxotranslations.com/estonian-translation/)
- [Slovenian translation](https://roxotranslations.com/slovenian-translation/)
- [Maltese translation](https://roxotranslations.com/maltese-translation/)