This is the current operating system running on all of the latest Macintosh computers. Also known as OS X 10.4 not much has changed since Mac OS X Panther (Mac OS X 10.3) in terms of Latvian language support. The keyboard driver works well (based on either the Option or ~ key) and all Cocoa-based applications (iLife, iCal, TextEdit, Mail, iChat, Safari, Address Book, iTunes, iPhoto, GarageBand) work beautifully with Latvian fonts. Non Unicode applications such as MS Word X and AppleWorks will still have problems with Latvian fonts and you will need extra software such as Baltic Utilities.

Through the International System Preferences it is possible to select Latvian dates, time and number formats as well as the Latvian keyboard driver.

The Language tab allows you to drag Latviešu to the top of the list, but will cause minimum changes to the System in terms of translated application menus and dialogs.

The Formats tab allows you to choose the Latvia (Latvian) region which automatically brings up the Latvian date, time and number formats. Unfortunately the short form date formats are still not correct (similar to the US short date format) and hopefully this will be addressed in OS X Leopard.

The Input Menu tab allows you to select the Latvian keyboard which belongs to the Central European script. It is great to see that Apple has adopted the Option key approach to obtain the Latvian diacritical letters.

Apple’s announcement of the iPhone today is going to cause a bit of a stir in the mobile phone industry with its revolutionary 3.5” touch screen, built-in music and video iPod, GSM mobile phone, Internet capabilities and a user interface like never before in a smartphone.

Although we are still many months away from the final release early reports suggest that the Latvian language could also be supported. iPhone will run on a mobile version of OS X and feature Unicode friendly full version applications such as Safari, Calendar, Address Book and Notes. The big question remains on how Latvian letters will be input via the onscreen QWERTY keyboard.

American artist and writer and world’s best-selling children’s book author, Richard Scarry wrote and illustrated over 300 books, selling over 300 million copies worldwide. Thanks to a team lead by Baiba Vītoliņa (Sweden) the Latvian version “Jautrā grāmata” was published in 1974 (printed in Portugal) bringing joy to many emigre Latvian kids.

You have to remember that this was no easy task without the help of a personal computer which only came a decade later.

Click on any of the images below to view several pages from this book.

    

This book has been out of print for many years, but efforts are underway to get this reprinted again in Latvia.

Also known as Microsoft Office 2002 Professional this is the first version that Microsoft Latvia adapted for the Latvian market back in September, 2001.

With the help of the Latvian localisation company Tilde the menus, dialogs and buttons of MS Word 2002 were translated to Latvian. Latvian spellchecking and hyphenation was also introduced. About 90% of the accompanying help dialogs were translated to Latvian.

MS Excel 2002, MS Outlook 2002, MS Powerpoint 2002 & MS Access 2002 were not “latvianised” in this version of MS Office.

Click on any of the images below to view the main menus in MS Word 2002.

    

    

    

"Vāģi” ("Cars") by Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar was first shown in Latvian cinemas at the beginning of August, 2006 and was finally released in DVD format earlier this week. It is fully dubbed in Latvian featuring the well known Latvian voices of Gundars Silakaktiņš, Rēzija Kalniņa, Pēteris Liepiņš, Uldis Dumpis, Jānis Kirmuška, Valdis Liepiņš, Jānis Jarāns, Pēteris Šogolovs, Leons Krivāns and others.

You can select Latvian as the spoken language as well as Latvian sub-titles or even both simultaneously. This DVD is coded for Regions 2 & 5 so if you live outside of Europe you will need to use a region free DVD player. Vāģi is also available in VHS format.

Parker/Hasbro, responsible for the most played commercial board game in the world, released a localised Latvian version back in 2002, featuring streets, train stations and utilities from Rīga.

Currency is in Latvian lats with all of the correct denominations (1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 500). Instructions are also in Latvian. If you are a fan of Monopoly you’ll thorougly enjoy the Latvian version.

The popular Internet search tool “Google” supports more than 104 languages or dialects and offers a personalised version of its engine for 113 countries. Amongst this list you will also find Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian versions.

If you are residing in Latvia and accessing Google then you will automatically be redirected to the Latvian version of Google, irrespective of whether you typed in http://www.google.com or http://www.google.lv

Olympus started an advertising campaign earlier in the year proclaiming that these new digital cameras were the first to support the Latvian language.

Both the navigational menus and image viewer software are available in Latvian. Check that the Latvian language has been preloaded before purchasing. More details at Olympus.

The Microsoft Windows XP Latvian Language Interface Pack provides the desktop user with an approx. 80% localised user experience by translating a reduced set of user interface elements.

You’ll need a licensed copy of Windows XP Service Pack 2. If you can’t get used to the Latvian interface you can return to the English version.
Download link here.

Did you know that since March 2004 you can register .lv domain names that contain Latvian accented letters? NIC provides tūdaliņ.lv as an example to test your Web browser.

You can also read my article on Latvian domain names at Latvians Online.

You can choose from 36 different languages of which Latvian is also an option. The clear spoken driving instructions are apparently that of Ivars Siliņš and the interface and User Manual are also in Latvian. The Latvian street and locality names are however displayed without the accent marks (diacritics).

Quickly checked various sites around the globe and it seems that it doesn’t matter where you purchase these models - all provide the Latvian language as an option. If you need the detailed Riga map (available currently only in SD format) you’ll probably need to pick up the Go 510 unit in Rīga. More details at Tom Tom.

As reported in the November 2006 issue of “Next” (magazine published by SK Latvia) the BenQ-Siemens EF71 mobile phone supports the Latvian language.

2006 has been a busy year for the Rīga-based Rija film studio. This latest DreamWorks production more commonly known as “Flushed Away” hits the Forum Cinemas today and is fully dubbed in Latvian featuring the voices of Kaspars Pūce, Artis Robežnieks, Ieva Pļavniece, Jānis Jarāns, Pēteris Šogolovs, Jānis Kirmuška and others.

It could be several months before we see it released on DVD. 

Linux, which already has a significant share of the server market is now making its way to the workstation as more organizations decide to migrate to OpenOffice.org, a free open-source alternative to Microsoft’s Office software. The Linux Centre at the University of Latvia together with the Latvian Open Source Association have translated the interface of OpenOffice.org 2.0 to Latvian. A spelling checker is also a work in progress.

The Latvian interface for GNOME 2.14 has been completed and GNOME 2.16 is 98% done.

For more details check out the University of Latvia Linux Centre Web page.