བོད་སྐད་
Tibetan
FlatironWhat is commonly called Tibetan is increasingly known to linguists as Tibetic, a substantial and diverse branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family with over 50 varieties of often limited mutual intelligibility spoken across the traditional Tibetan cultural sphere of the Himalaya in today’s China, Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bhutan — and, increasingly, around the world. For many, not only Tibetan Buddhism and the Tibetan alphabet, but also the Classical Tibetan of religious scripture and the modern "Diaspora Standard" Tibetan (based on the Lhasa variety), and sometimes a mixed Ramaluk all serve as common lingua francas uniting people whose home languages are quite different. Among the large groups in New York for whom Tibetan is a common second or third language are speakers of Sherpa, Loke, Dzongkha, and varieties of Amdo and Kham Tibetan (themselves very internally diverse).
T
ibetan-speaking New Yorkers have come from across the culturally and religiously Tibetan world, including many refugees who immigrate via India and Nepal. There are some institutions more oriented towards Westerners with an interest in Tibet, such as Tibet House in Manhattan, but most Tibetans have settled in the Queens neighborhoods of Astoria, Sunnyside, Woodside, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, and Corona, with smaller numbers in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and others now branching out elsewhere — with important religious centers also upstate in Woodstock and Walden. (ELA recognizes that the Chinese government's rule in Tibet is disputed.)
Note that the language above may be used throughout the New York area — this is just one significant site.