Latgalian language
Latgalian is spoken in Latgale, the eastern part of Latvia. It is debated whether it is a separate language or a distinct dialect of Latvian. Nevertheless, its standardized form is recognized and protected as a "historical variety of the Latvian language" "(vēsturisks latviešu valodas paveids)" by Latvian law. The 2011 Latvian census established that 8.8% of Latvia's inhabitants, or 164,500 people, speak Latgalian daily. 97,600 of them live in Latgale, 29,400 in Riga and 14,400 in the Riga region.
Language policy in Latvia
In the 2000 census, 891,451 respondents listed Russian as their mother tongue, representing 37.5% of the total population, whereas Latvian was recorded as the mother tongue for 58.2%. Latvian was spoken as a second language by 20.8% of the population, and 43.7% spoke Russian as a second language. At that time, in age groups up to 10–14 years, a greater proportion of Russians could speak Latvian than ethnic Latvians could speak Russian. In age groups over 15 years, however, more Latvians expressed proficiency in Russian than vice versa. In total, 71% of ethnic Latvians said they could speak Russian, and 52% of Russians could speak Latvian.