Language in Latvia is intertwined with politics and driven by emotions tied to history, patriotism, and nationhood. A saying, emblematic of the changing generations, articulates: if parents want to speak about their kids when they are in the room, they speak in Russian, but if children want to speak about their parents, they speak in English. Inese, whose name has been changed to protect her anonymity, laughs when I ask her about this phrase. “You know it’s true,” she says. “We talk about my grandkids in Russian all the time.”
Inese has been ...
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