Is Latvian anything like Russian? I found it impossible to hear the vowels when I was first learning Russian. Even today, И and Ы are difficult for me to differentiate, but I've only been in Russian speaking countries for around three months, so maybe that will come with time.
Latvian and Lithuanian are Baltic languages, which is a language family within Indo-European language family. Among Indo-European language family, Baltic and Slavic languages are the closest (aka Balto-Slavic language family).
