The fastest way to learn Latvian is to spend most of your study time on Latvian you can mostly understand. That kind of Latvian is called comprehensible input. What you read and listen to should change as you improve, so the plan below shows what to do at each level and how to split an hour of study.
What to Do at Each Level
Find the level that sounds like you. Its bar shows how to spend an hour of study.
- Level 1
I'm just starting out or know only a few words.
Read and listen 35 min. Review 15 min. Speak 10 min.
Read the short stories on Duostories, which come with audio and questions, and listen to each one twice. Try the interactive Laipa A1 lessons on Māci un mācies, the Latvian Language Agency's free site, and say a few lines out loud.
- Level 2
I can handle simple exchanges.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 10 min. Speak 10 min.
Listen to Fluent Fiction, which tells each story again sentence by sentence with English in between, and look up only the words that stop you. Watch Tutas lietas, a short children's show on YouTube, and start short talks with a tutor or a friend.
- Level 3
I follow conversations on familiar topics.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 5 min. Speak 15 min.
Read and hear the five-minute evening news in easy Latvian, Ziņas vieglajā valodā, and listen once more without reading along. Watch Palīgā!, a TV series made for learning Latvian, and talk about what you saw for longer.
- Level 4
I understand most content but miss some nuance.
Read and watch 45 min. Review 5 min. Speak 10 min.
Watch Latvian videos on Language Player, which shows the Latvian subtitles beside the ones in your own language. Listen to a show on Latvian Radio 1 on its website each week.
- Level 5
I read complex topics but rare words slow me down.
- Level 6
I read at near-native level.
Read and watch 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Read Latvian novels and newspapers, and talk about them, for their own sake. Letonika has a library of Latvian classics, with some free books and audiobooks.
Move up a level when your lessons start to feel easy, and move back down if you lose the thread by the third line.
How Long Does It Take to Learn Latvian?
Latvian takes 1,012 class hours, or about 44 weeks of full-time study, to reach professional fluency, according to the U.S. Foreign Service Institute. That puts Latvian in the third of its four groups for English speakers, with Lithuanian, Polish and Russian.
| Language | FSI group | Full-time weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish | Category I | 30 |
| German | Category II | 36 |
| Latvian, Lithuanian | Category III | 44 |
| Japanese | Category IV | 88 |
The Latvian Language Agency's 2026 course plan for adults gives 80 hours to its first level, A0, which is for learners who know no Latvian yet, and 160 hours to each level after that. So a beginner finishes A2 after 400 hours and B1 after 560. Here is how long those take at different amounts of study a week:
| Study per week | Latvian Language Agency A2 (400 hours) | Latvian Language Agency B1 (560 hours) | FSI professional fluency (1,012 hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3½ hours | About 2¼ years | About 3 years | About 5½ years |
| 7 hours | About 13 months | About 18 months | About 2¾ years |
| 14 hours | About 6½ months | About 9 months | About 17 months |
| 28 hours | About 3 months | About 4½ months | About 8 months |
These are class hours, so treat them as a rough guide. Time you spend understanding Latvian on your own counts too.
What Slows Learners Down
- Skipping the Long MarksA line over a vowel makes it long, and a long vowel can make a different word, as in pile (a drop) and pīle (a duck). Learn each word with its sound and its marks.
- Case Tables AloneLatvian nouns have seven cases, so māja (house) also turns up as mājā (in the house) and mājas (of the house). A table of endings is hard to use until you have read each form in many sentences.
- Content Far Too HardEasy Latvian is still hard to find, and the first book of new stories written in easy Latvian came out in 2024. A film where you know one word in five teaches you very little, so start with stories made for learners.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Latvian app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Latvian, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Our Latvian app comparison covers courses, tutors and speaking apps too.
Can I learn Latvian in three months?
You can learn enough Latvian to order food and introduce yourself. At 14 hours a week, three months is about 180 hours, which is less than half of the 400 hours the Latvian Language Agency plans for a beginner to finish A2.
How much should I study Latvian each week?
Aim for three to five hours a week of Latvian you understand, in sessions of at least 15 to 30 minutes. A longer session lets you get lost in a story, which teaches more than five minutes a day, and steady time each week matters more than a daily streak. Our post on deep sessions over daily streaks explains why.
Is Latvian hard for English speakers?
Yes, by the Foreign Service Institute's measure: Latvian is in its third group of four, so it takes longer than Spanish or German and half as long as Japanese. One part is easy, because the stress almost always falls on the first syllable of a word. Most of the time goes into the words and the case endings, which you pick up fastest from Latvian you understand.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- U.S. Department of State, Foreign Language Training (FSI language categories)
- Latvian Language Agency, Latviešu valodas kā svešvalodas apguves programma, A0–C2 (2026): A0, for learners with no prior knowledge, 80 hours; A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2, 160 hours each
- Wikipedia: Latvian phonology (fixed initial stress; vowel length changes meaning, as in pile, a drop, and pīle, a duck)
- Wikipedia: Latvian orthography (33 letters; the macron marks a long vowel)
- Wikipedia: Latvian declension (Latvian nouns have seven cases)
- Wiktionary: māja (house), with its forms mājas and mājā
- LSM: The first book of original Latvian stories in easy language (June 2024)
