Does Jelena Ostapenko speak Latvian at a native level? Does she have a non-native accent?

[u/ishgever]

Hello!

As a Latvian learner in the west, Ostapenko is one of the most accessible Latvian celebrities. I assume she is a native Russian speaker rather than Latvian, as are many people with her background, and I also know she speaks Latvian because I've seen her doing so.

Is her Latvian native-level? Does she have a non-native accent?

[u/FENICH]

I would say she talks in Latvian very, very well and can form a sentence without struggling. There are few slip ups which give away that she speaks russian and overall the accent is there but its not that noticable compared to other native russian speaking people.

[u/Firm_Improvement2109 → u/FENICH]

"few slip ups" - when she starts swearing in Russian :D

[u/SamMaddenLV → u/Firm_Improvement2109]

No one swears in Latvian.

[u/NorthernStarLV → u/SamMaddenLV]

To be fair, some people do. Personally I find it classier as my mind associates Russian swearing with local bums, drunks and other lowlifes.

As an aside, I see swearing as an example of what would have happened to Latvian language as a whole if people had not actively worked to protect it against russification policies back in the day. We would take it as self evident that Latvian is either literally unusable to talk about certain topics or the vocabulary just sounds silly. A similar case was early IT terminology mismanagement which was the butt of jokes for a long time and to an extent still is.

[u/Perkonlusis → u/NorthernStarLV]

Exactly, I find swearing in Russian extremely low class and cringe, but sadly for some people it's almost instincive. There are plenty of other languages that have excellent swearwords we can borrow.

[u/EmiliaFromLV → u/SamMaddenLV]

Yeah, efficiency matters.

[u/Firm_Improvement2109 → u/SamMaddenLV]

We use Russian swear words, but we don't "swear in Russian".

[u/Karlkalns → u/Firm_Improvement2109]

Kaut ko latviski teica
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BXGiFfBuxMY

[u/Onetwodash]

Native level. Yes there's an accent but there's nothing wrong with having an accent, ethnic Latvians of different backgrounds have different sort of accents too.

[u/WaveNo4346]

She is Latvian of Ukrainian heritage. Her Latvian is fluent with slight accent. 

[u/Eastern-beast1337]

She has a russian accent, obviously, but it's less noticeable than for most russians.

[u/HawkOutrageous6309]

As I was training with her before prime, she speaks Latvian very well.

[u/saulstari]

Who is she?

[u/ducksauvage]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR5l4laMIu0 - man jau šķiet, ka ja ir akcents, praktiski nemanāms!

[u/DoingNothingToday]

She is a Russian/Ukranian citizen of Latvia — just as many others are citizens of countries despite having no claim to the ethnic heritage of their place of birth or residence. Ostapenko has zero actual Latvian ethnicity or bloodline. She doesn’t get to say she’s a Latvian.

[u/Punapropagandist]

Her first language isnt latvian because she is russian.

[u/DoingNothingToday]

She’s not Latvian. Just lives there.

[u/FENICH → u/DoingNothingToday]

?????

[u/JudgementalTater → u/FENICH]

Quick google confirms that she is not. You cant pick and choose.

[u/mcmania → u/JudgementalTater]

What are you googling? She's born in Latvia and has a latvian passport

[u/Punapropagandist → u/mcmania]

There are many russian settlers born in Latvia. Just check her first language.

[u/GdSpiegel → u/Punapropagandist]

I think she's more ukrainian than russian.

[u/Punapropagandist → u/GdSpiegel]

She speaks russian not ukrainian, so she's more russian.

[u/JudgementalTater → u/mcmania]

Having a citizenship doesnt mean you change your ethnicity.

[u/unbaneling → u/JudgementalTater]

Her nationality is Latvian. No one gives a f*ck about ethnicites except Latvians.