Latvian Culture

Latvia
Latvians for a long time have been ruled over by Germans and Russians, thus adopting some of their characteristics and as well losing our own identity. Nevertheless, Latvia now is independent country and it has its own culture and traditions. Despite the fact that Latvia is independent for such a short time we still have different concepts and communication styles.
Latvians are well known around the world, because of our singing and dancing, but this is in the past. Nowadays Latvians are not that keen on singing or dancing, only small part of people still is doing this, those who still practice singing and dancing come from family which values this a lot. Due to globalisation we are losing our cultural values and we are adopting values from other cultures, mostly from the developed ones, for instance, USA, Germany.
Latvia for a long time was under control of Soviet Russia and in this society collectivism was appreciated. However, nowadays Latvian society individualism is much more common, we rely mostly on our selves, and we do not expect help of other people. Also Latvians are modest, we don’t strive for very high position, and it is more than enough if we can be only subordinates. Despite the fact that Latvians are modest, status still is very important, furthermore, it is important to look good and be well dressed to be taken seriously.
Communication is important in every society, but it differs in all of them. When having conversation with Latvian for a first time it might feel that, he is not very responsive and that he acts reserved. In the first times of meeting Latvians tend to be formal, and they almost never will express their feelings when having conversation to stranger. However, Latvians become more open in next meeting times, and it is almost like having conversation with completely different person.
In conclusion, I would like to say that Latvia is small nation and that small part of world population knows it. However, those who know