Русский
Russian
Sea Cliff (NY)Many early Russian speakers were minorities from the western Russian Empire who may have known Russian as a second language but were native speakers of Yiddish, Polish, Ukrainian, Rusyn, Tatar, or other languages. Some were ethnic Russians, and an elite group of White Russians arrived after 1917. Beginning in the 1970s, a new generation of Russians, many of them Russian Jewish dissidents, came to southern Brooklyn and eastern Queens. Today, Russian is a major lingua franca spoken across much of the metro region by communities from across the former Soviet Union.
S
t. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral on 97th Street was completed in 1902, with funding from the then Russian Empire, to accomodate a growing number of Russian Orthodox New Yorkers in Manhattan, and it soon became a cathedral and the seat of the North American Diocese. After the Russian Revolution, a Russian exile community, including some members of the old nobility, formed in the area and established the nearby, very much separate Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign. Exiles also established a community in Sea Cliff on Long Island, building Russian Orthodox Churches there, while others scattered across the region—at least some maintaining the Russian language for several generations in their families.
Note that the language above may be used throughout the New York area — this is just one significant site.