Why learn Latvian? Visit the Careerlinx site for the answer to this, more information about the Latvian language and Latvians in Australia.

A profile of someone who has used his knowledge of the Latvian language to good effect follows on this page.

Background:

Arnis was born in Melbourne and grew up there. In 1981, he completed year 12. This included Latvian which he studied at the Victorian School of Languages. Some years later, to enable him to produce one of his early products, he attended the 3 year tertiary Latvian course provided by Professor Trevor Fennell of Flinders University.

Arnis has a Bachelor of Engineering (Communications Engineering) from Monash University.

Arnis’ work: Latvian and computers.

Arnis has used his knowledge and expertise in Latvian and computer technology in a number of areas. He has set up his own company, Deksoft, which he operates from home. The company provides computer technology for Latvians in Australia, Latvia and elsewhere in the world. Working at home gives Arnis flexibility, which is especially important to him now that he has a young family.

Early ventures:

The Deksoft company produced software for practice in Latvian grammar: declining nouns and conjugating verbs.

Arnis worked at gaining recognition for Latvian in the computer world: Microsoft and other companies now have the Latvian font as standard on their software. As Arnis says; “Those languages will live which are on the computer.” He also achieved having the ancient Liv font on Microsoft and other companies’ programs.

Software on order:

Deksoft expanded its activities to provide programs for particular purposes. An example is “Latvian hyphenated” which it developed for the Latvian newspaper - Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze.” This program accurately hyphenates words – a complex process in Latvian.

Baltic Express Mail:

In 1991, Arnis set up this service, which provided the speedy delivery of mail to the Baltic states through the Internet and couriers.

“Latvijas vēsture” CD Rom:

Deksoft was a partner in producing this CD Rom overview of Latvia and the expatriate Latvian communities.

Latvians on line:

This Deksoft web site, dating from 18 November 2000, provides up to date information for people in Latvia, USA, Australia, Sweden and elsewhere. It generates income from advertisements on the site.

Arnis Gross has used his Latvian knowledge and computer technology skills to provide services for Latvians in Latvia and elsewhere.