Neighborhood

Astoria

Queens
In the Census-defined PUMA including Astoria, according to recent Census data, (in descending order) Greek, Bengali, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Albanian, and French each have more than 1000 speakers. English and Spanish varieties are widely spoken in the area as well.
De-select
Languages with a significant site in this neighborhood, marked by a point on the map:

Abruzzese

Abbruzzésə
Many immigrants from the town of Orsogna in Italy's Abruzzo region initially settled on Elizabeth Street in Little Italy. Later, the community became established in Astoria, and in 1939 seven men formed the Orsogna Mutual Aid Society at the heart of the growing Orsognesi community on 18th Street. Hundreds more Orsognesi came as refugees in the wake of the destruction brought by the Second World War. Strong ties between Astoria and Orsogna continue down to the present day. 

Acehnese

Bahsa Acèh
New York's relatively new Indonesian community is several thousand strong and growing, with the largest concentration in Elmhurst, and the Al-Hikmah mosque in Astoria serving as an important community center for Indonesian Muslims (while churches serve an analogous role for Christians). Indonesian serves as a lingua franca to which all Indonesians are increasingly shifting, but the New York community is highly multilingual with numerous speakers of Javanese, Manado Malay, Sundanese, and a dozen other languages.

Algerian Arabic

دزيرية
The Algerian Consulate in New York estimates that 2,000-3,000 Algerians live in Queens. An Algerian-managed Italian café along Steinway, an important Astoria street for North African communities in New York, is a popular gathering spot for Algerian World Cup games. Algerians also live in southern Brooklyn, where L'Algeroise in Bath Beach is a popular pâtisserie.

Asturian

Asturianu
Astoria's Centro Asturiano de Nueva York serves to unify Asturians throughout the city and celebrate the people's unique heritage in Northern Spain. Like their neighbors to the west in Galicia, Asturians share Hispano-Celtic roots, with some words of the language claimed to have Celtic roots. Originally established in Elmhurst by around 30 Asturian families in New York, the Centro Asturiano now has a dedicated headquarters in Astoria — the similarities of the names are purely a coincidence — and authentic Asturian culinary offerings can be found in the city at institutions like Despaña Brand Foods.

Bosnian

Босански
Sizeable Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) communities formed in Queens especially after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. One community is based in Astoria, within a wider Balkan matrix, with many worshipping at the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Islamic Center, while others have gone further east to Richmond Hill (home to the Bosniak Islamic Cultural Center). A separate but significant community in New Jersey has a hub at the Bosniak Community Center in Hackettstown.

Brazilian Portuguese

Português Brasileiro
Brazilian immigrants to New York began arriving in significant numbers in the 1980s, establishing businesses in "Little Brazil", a section of Manhattan's West 46th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues, and settling in larger numbers in Astoria where there are numerous markets, restaurants, churches, and other establishments. Many Brazilians have also settled in the Portuguese Ironbound neighborhood in Newark, and an increasing number, primarily people from the town of Poços de Caldas in Minas Gerias, are now in Mount Vernon in Westchester, where as much as one-tenth of the population is Brazilian, according to recent estimates.

Breton

Brezhoneg
Immigration from Brittany, the region of northwest France where this Celtic language is spoken, grew substantially in the early 20th century and reached its peak between the two world wars. During this time the majority of French immigrants in New York City may have been Breton, with several thousand having come to work at Michelin Tire Corporation's factory in Milltown, New Jersey, or otherwise after the Second World War as waiters, dishwashers, busboys etc. at restaurants which often had Breton owners. By 1967, there were 12,000 Bretons in the city, representing over a third of the city's total French population, according to the newspaper France-Amerique. The linguist Kenneth Nilsen found that a number of restaurants were mainly Breton-speaking, with many originally from the Gourin-Roudaouallec-Langonned region and some claiming to have learned French only in NYC's French restaurants. Today, the Breton Association of New York (BZH-NY) still has a large membership and continues to hold cultural events on a regular basis. A newer organization, Breizh Amerika, builds transnational ties between Bretons in Brittany and those in the city, who now number 2-3,000 at most according to the organization's founder Charles Kergaravat. Major areas of settlement have been Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan and later Astoria and Woodside in Queens.

Buginese

ᨅᨔ ᨕᨘᨁᨗ
New York's relatively new Indonesian community is several thousand strong and growing, with the largest concentration in Elmhurst, and the Al-Hikmah mosque in Astoria serving as an important community center for Indonesian Muslims (while churches serve an analogous role for Christians). Indonesian serves as a lingua franca to which all Indonesians are increasingly shifting, but the New York community is highly multilingual with numerous speakers of Javanese, Manado Malay, Sundanese, and a dozen other languages.

Chaouia

ⵜⴰⵛⴰⵡⵉⵜ
According to linguist Soubeika Bahri, several languages spoken by the Amazigh (or Berber) people of North Africa are represented in the city, with a notable concentration living and working within the North African community along Steinway Street in Astoria (sometimes referred to as Little Egypt) and other speakers in New Jersey. Among the languages represented with at least a small number of speakers are Chaouia, Kabyle, Siwi, Tamazight, Tarifit, Tashelhyt, and Zuwara.

Cretan Greek

Κρητική
Astoria is often cited as the largest and most diverse Greek community outside of Greece, with a tremendous range of cultural, political, religious and other institutions. Astoria became pre-eminent beginning in the 1960s, with significant communities of Pontic Greeks, Cretans, and Cypriots (all speaking distinctive varieties of Greek) as well as a galaxy of organizations based on people's islands or towns of origin—from the Amorgos Society (from the island of Amorgos in the Cyclades) to the Thessalonikian Society (for those from that major city in the north of Greece). In recent decades, significant Greek-speaking communities have also taken root across eastern Queens in neighborhoods such as Auburndale and Bayside, among others, with churches, schools, restaurants, and other institutions to match. Others have moved even further east to Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Croatian

Hrvatski
Croatians were historically concentrated on the far west side of Manhattan in Hell's Kitchen (near the Sts. Cyril & Methodius Croatian Roman Catholic Church) and later in Astoria, where there are numerous clubs, restaurants, and Croatian-language services at the Church of the Most Precious Blood. Many Croatians in the area, especially those who arrived immediately after the Second World War, were Istrians who considered themselves Italian and spoke Croatian as a second or third language. The Cardinal Stepinac Croatian Cultural Club is a gathering place for New Jersey Croatians.

Cypriot Greek

Κυπριακά
Astoria is often cited as the largest and most diverse Greek community outside of Greece, with a tremendous range of cultural, political, religious and other institutions. Astoria became pre-eminent beginning in the 1960s, with significant communities of Pontic Greeks, Cretans, and Cypriots (all speaking distinctive varieties of Greek) as well as a galaxy of organizations based on people's islands or towns of origin—from the Amorgos Society (from the island of Amorgos in the Cyclades) to the Thessalonikian Society (for those from that major city in the north of Greece). In recent decades, significant Greek-speaking communities have also taken root across eastern Queens in neighborhoods such as Auburndale and Bayside, among others, with churches, schools, restaurants, and other institutions to match. Others have moved even further east to Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Czech

Čeština
A significant Czech community first formed within the German world of Kleindeutschland (Little Germany), with "Czech Broadway" along Avenue A between 1st and 8th Streets springing up in the late 19th century. Most Czechs later moved uptown, in tandem with German New Yorkers and other Central Europeans, with a distinctly Czech quarter forming in the 60s and 70s on the East Side, the most enduring landmark of which is the recently renovated Bohemian National Hall. Much of the community later moved to Astoria, where in 1911 the Bohemian Citizens’ Benevolent Society established the Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden, a famous gathering place in recent years open to all New Yorkers and since 2000 a Traditional Cultural Property on the National Register of Historic Places.

Denjongke

འབྲས་ལྗོངས་སྐད་
At least one family from Sikkim lives in Astoria and speaks the Tibetic language of Sikkim known variously as Denjongke, (Sikkimese) Bhutia, Lhoke, or Sikkimese. Sikkim is a Himalayan state within India that was a Tibetan Buddhist kingdom until 1973. After his ouster, the last king (chogyal) of Sikkim, Palden Thondup Namgyal, lived with his family in Bronxville, just north of New York City.

Egyptian Arabic

مصرى
Egyptian Arabic speakers, including a substantial number of Coptic Christians fleeing sectarian violence in Egypt, have come to the metro area in recent decades. The "Little Egypt" on Steinway Street in Astoria is home to a range of institutions and now includes many other North African New Yorkers, but there are also Egyptian clusters in Bay Ridge, Ridgewood, Jersey City (home to the Ghabour Brothers market), and in much of Staten Island.

Estonian

Eesti
Estonians began immigrating to the United States in significant numbers after the turn of the 20th century: first, Estonian farmers, followed by post-Second World War refugees, and then a later group during the last years of the Soviet Union. Run by the Estonian Educational Society, Manhattan's New York Estonian House, which dates back to 1929, hosts numerous events as well as its own school to educate children about Estonian language and culture, as well as Estonian singing and folk dance groups and a local Estonian-language newspaper office. Speaker Tauri Pilberg reports that in Astoria, besides himself, some 10-20 Estonians he knows live "roughly in the area between Northern Boulevard and Ditmars [Boulevard], [from] Crescent Street to about 50th Street." The language is still spoken to some extent by second- and third-generation Estonian New Yorkers.

Galician

Galego
Natives of Galicia, from northwestern Spain, first arrived in New York as the largest wave of Spaniards in the late 19th century. "Pequeña España" (Little Spain) consequently grew along the Hudson River from Christopher Street to 23rd Street, and became home to over 15,000 Spanish immigrants. This multicultural Spanish community established La Nacional in 1868, whose primary goal was to promote friendship amongst Spaniards in New York, but also many specifically Galician institutions. Spain's languages (including Galician) could be heard spoken across Chelsea and the West Village for decades, with many refugees from the Spanish Civil War joining the community in the 1930s. Galician-owned restaurants and businesses opened to sell familiar foods and housewares to the community, like Casa Moneo, which drew in the growing community of Caribbean Spanish speakers, selling chorizo, gallon cans of olive oil, and other staples. In addition to working along the Brooklyn waterfront, many Galicians have since moved out of Manhattan's Little Spain to Queens (home to Casa Galicia) and the Ironbound District of Newark, New Jersey, where institutions like the Centro Ourensano (a social club for those from Ourense, an area in Galicia) and Casa d'Paco keep Galician cuisine and traditions alive.

Greek

Ελληνικά
Astoria is often cited as the largest and most diverse Greek community outside of Greece, with a tremendous range of cultural, political, religious and other institutions. Astoria became pre-eminent beginning in the 1960s, with significant communities of Pontic Greeks, Cretans, and Cypriots (all speaking distinctive varieties of Greek) as well as a galaxy of organizations based on people's islands or towns of origin—from the Amorgos Society (from the island of Amorgos in the Cyclades) to the Thessalonikian Society (for those from that major city in the north of Greece). In recent decades, significant Greek-speaking communities have also taken root across eastern Queens in neighborhoods such as Auburndale and Bayside, among others, with churches, schools, restaurants, and other institutions to match. Others have moved even further east to Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Indonesian

Bahasa Indonesia
New York's relatively new Indonesian community is several thousand strong and growing, with the largest concentration in Elmhurst, and the Al-Hikmah mosque in Astoria serving as an important community center for Indonesian Muslims (while churches serve an analogous role for Christians). Indonesian serves as a lingua franca to which all Indonesians are increasingly shifting, but the New York community is highly multilingual with numerous speakers of Javanese, Manado Malay, Sundanese, and a dozen other languages.

Istrioto

Istrioto
Some members of what is officially called the Italian ethnic community on the Istrian peninsula in today's Croatia speak the local language Istrioto or else Istro-Veneto, an Istrian dialect of the Venetian language, because the Venetian empire ruled Istria for nearly a millennium. Istro-Romanian, spoken in villages further inland on the peninsula, also has a community of speakers in New York. Today many in Istria are shifting to the regional Chakavian variety of Croatian but most Istrian New Yorkers left the region following the upheaval of the Second World War, with a significant number coming to New York City. Today, the Istria Sports Club remains a focal point for the community, where some speakers of Istrian languages can still be found. Linguist Zvjezdana Vrzic estimates that there are a few thousand Istrians living now not just in and around Astoria but in Bayside, Whitestone, New Jersey, Long Island, and elsewhere in the country.

Istro-Romanian

Vlashki
Istro-Romanian (also known today as Vlashki or Zheyanski after the villages where it is spoken) today has roughly 1,000 speakers worldwide and is severely endangered, according to the linguists Zvjezdana Vrzic and John Singler. According to their estimates, there may be several hundred speakers in Croatia today, but possibly more in diaspora with as many as 400-500 speakers primarily in the United States (especially New York City) and in western Australia. Within New York, most Istro-Romanian speakers have lived in parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Astoria, while present-day Istro-Romanian poet/musician Silvana Brkarić Krculić lives near Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Still in existence today, the Istrian Seamen Benevolent Society was founded in 1924 at 823 Greenwich Street in Manhattan near where many were living at the time, primarily single men from eastern Istrian towns such as Brdo, Čepić, Šušnjevica, Kožljak, and Kršan (according to a Croatia Week report).

Istro-Veneto

Istroveneto
Some members of what is officially called the Italian ethnic community on the Istrian peninsula in today's Croatia speak the local language Istrioto or else Istro-Veneto, an Istrian dialect of the Venetian language, because the Venetian empire ruled Istria for nearly a millennium. Istro-Romanian, spoken in villages further inland on the peninsula, also has a community of speakers in New York. Today many in Istria are shifting to the regional Chakavian variety of Croatian but most Istrian New Yorkers left the region following the upheaval of the Second World War, with a significant number coming to New York City. Today, the Istria Sports Club remains a focal point for the community, where some speakers of Istrian languages can still be found. Linguist Zvjezdana Vrzic estimates that there are a few thousand Istrians living now not just in and around Astoria but in Bayside, Whitestone, New Jersey, Long Island, and elsewhere in the country.

Japanese

日本語
One of the earliest Japanese communities in the city, between the 1910s and 1930s, was centered on the Ichiriki and Taiyo boarding houses on West 65th Street on the northeast side of San Juan Hill, a highly diverse working-class area that was forever altered by the construction of Lincoln Center in the 1950s. Today, Japanese speakers live throughout the city, with notable concentrations in the East Village and in Astoria, and enough parents with young children in Brooklyn to lead to the creation of a dual-language Japanese-English school in East Williamsburg.

Kabyle

Taqbaylit
According to linguist Soubeika Bahri, several languages spoken by the Amazigh (or Berber) people of North Africa are represented in the city, with a notable concentration living and working within the North African community along Steinway Street in Astoria (sometimes referred to as Little Egypt) and other speakers in New Jersey. Among the languages represented with at least a small number of speakers are Chaouia, Kabyle, Siwi, Tamazight, Tarifit, Tashelhyt, and Zuwara.

Kham Tibetan

ཁམས་སྐད་
Kham Tibetan is a broad term covering some of the diverse Tibetic language varieties spoken in Kham, the traditional province of eastern Tibet. Their tremendous variety makes them hard to classify, and not all are even mutually intelligible with each other, let alone other forms of Tibetan. Among the organizations representing Khampa New Yorkers in Queens are Tibetan Dege Society of North America and the Tibetan Dhokham Lithang Organization, for those from Dege and Litang respectively. (ELA recognizes that the Chinese government's rule in Tibet, where this language is spoken, is disputed.)

Koine Greek

Ελληνιστική Κοινή
Beginning in the late 19th century, one early Greek-speaking cluster had formed around Madison Street on the Lower East Side (where a community of Greek Jews appears to have also used Judeo-Greek) and in the east and west 20s and 30s, where a section of 8th Avenue was home to nightclubs where Armenian, Greek, and Turkish musicians peformed. Besides the central hub in Queens, Greek clusters also formed in Bay Ridge (with its numerous Greek institutions), in the Bronx (still home to the Kassian Brotherhood for those from Kasos), New Jersey, and beyond. Greek Orthodox Churches, where Koine Greek is the liturgical language, are found in Greek communities across the region.

Lazuri

ლაზური
A researcher with the Endangered Language Alliance encountered a few Lazuri speakers in Astoria in the early 2010s.

Libyan Arabic

ليبي
A broad representation of the world's Arabic varieties, as used by Muslims, Christians, and Jews from West Africa to Iraq, can be found across the metropolitan area — although many of them are mutually unintelligible with each other, speakers are able to communicate in the Modern Standard Arabic known as al-fuṣḥā ("the purest", and there is often widespread familiarity with larger varieties like Egyptian Arabic. In the second half of the 20th century, what had been primarily a Levantine Arabic speaking community (by then mostly in Brooklyn) was joined by significant numbers of Egyptian Arabic and Yemeni Arabic speakers, as well as smaller numbers of many other varieties found throughout the city. Significant Arabic-speaking areas include Bay Ridge, Astoria, the Bronx (for West African Arabic speakers), Yonkers, and Paterson, New Jersey. Classical (or Qu'ranic) Arabic flourishes widely at mosques like the Islamic Cultural Center on the Upper East Side and the Jamaica Muslim Center in Queens as well schools like Al-Noor in Brooklyn. Jewish varieties of Arabic, often linked to the local variety of the particular country of origin, are still spoken to some degree among the sizeable Middle Eastern and North African Jewish communities in the city, especially in Brooklyn.

Madurese

Basa Mathura
New York's relatively new Indonesian community is several thousand strong and growing, with the largest concentration in Elmhurst, and the Al-Hikmah mosque in Astoria serving as an important community center for Indonesian Muslims (while churches serve an analogous role for Christians). Indonesian serves as a lingua franca to which all Indonesians are increasingly shifting, but the New York community is highly multilingual with numerous speakers of Javanese, Manado Malay, Sundanese, and a dozen other languages.

Makassarese

ᨅᨔ ᨆᨀᨔᨑ
New York's relatively new Indonesian community is several thousand strong and growing, with the largest concentration in Elmhurst, and the Al-Hikmah mosque in Astoria serving as an important community center for Indonesian Muslims (while churches serve an analogous role for Christians). Indonesian serves as a lingua franca to which all Indonesians are increasingly shifting, but the New York community is highly multilingual with numerous speakers of Javanese, Manado Malay, Sundanese, and a dozen other languages.

Maltese

Malti
The New York area is home to a significant community from the Mediterranean island nation of Malta who speak Maltese, a distinctive Semitic language with influence from Italian and other languages. Earlier community estimates for the Maltese population around New York have been as high as 20,000, with emigration peaking around the 1960s due to the island government’s encouragment and many who arrived eventually working in the city’s building-related trades. Many Maltese New Yorkers initially lived on the lower west and east sides of Manhattan, with some in Brooklyn and Astoria later a focal point. Today the Maltese Center in Astoria, the community’s last remaining kazin (club) which opened in 1982, counts approximately 200 members. Open twice a week for socializing over pastizzi at a small bar as well as outdoor bocce games next to a storied fig tree (it-tina), the Center also hosts Leyla Malti (Maltese evenings with skits and short plays) as well as language classes for both children and adults. At the Center, Maltese is still actively spoken in its many dialects, which often vary from town to town, with many from the island of Gozo and some New York-born speakers. In Astoria, the Maltese find themselves in a matrix of Italian, Arabic, and Greek influences not unlike those on their homeland.

Maranao

Mëranaw
Some of the earliest Filipino communities in the city formed around port areas and military installations, such as the Brooklyn Navy Yard and later Governors Island. Today, a section of Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside is the major center for Tagalog speakers, and speakers of other languages of the Philippines, both for New York City and for the entire U.S. east of the Mississippi. There are other concentrations in every borough — often formed near hospitals where Filipina women have been employed in healthcare work — and individual speakers throughout the city. Among the largest of the other communities are Cebuano and Ilocano speakers, and a distinctive Philippine English is also spoken by many. According to 2015-2019 American Community Survey data, 7,987 Tagalog speakers also live in Jersey City, a major community.

Molisan

Mulisanə
While many of the first Italian New Yorkers were speakers of Ligurian, Piedmontese, Lombard, and Tuscan varieties, the overwhelming majority have been southerners who spoke forms of Sicilian, Neapolitan, Calabrese, and Pugliese. Given that less than 10 percent of the population spoke the national language (Italian) at the time of unification in the 19th century, most Italian New Yorkers were speakers of these (often not mutually intelligible) "dialects" who only learned Italian later, if at all. Diversity and clustering were the norm in all the major early Italian neighborhoods, with a Neapolitan-based koine reported as a common language among southern Italian immigrants. Little Italy and Greenwich Village were the crucible, but patterns were highly specific — for example Sicilians, especially from Sambucca, on Elizabeth Street, Neapolitans and Calabrians on Mulberry; Genoese on Baxter; Tyroleans and others from the far north of Italy on 69th Street by the Hudson, and so on. The first Italians in East Harlem, arriving in 1878, were reportedly from Polla in the province of Salerno, and settled in the vicinity of 115th Street; later, there was a Barese (Pugliese) community on East 112th Street; a group from Sarno near Naples on 107th; Calabrians on 109th; immigrants from Basilicata between 110th and 115th. Soon after, Calabrians, Campanians, and Sicilians involved with constructing streets, railways, and Croton Reservoir settled in the Bronx. Important areas where second- and third-generation Italian-Americans settled, as well as post-Second World War migrants who may still know the languages have included Bensonhurst, Ridgewood, Morris Park, much of Staten Island, and numerous New Jersey, Long Island, and Westchester suburbs, to name just a few. Nearly all of the substantial linguistic diversity of southern Italy has been represented at some point in the New York area, but there have also been lesser-known but still substantial groups speaking varieties from places like Lazio (e.g. Ripa) and Emilia Romagna (e.g. Piacenza), as well as individuals and a few communities speaking very different northern varieties, such as Nones and Friulian in Queens.

Montenegrin

Црногорски
One sizeable cluster of Montenegrin New Yorkers gathers in Astoria at the Islamic Unity & Cultural Center of Plav-Gusinje, since many of hail from the Plav-Gusinje region. Ridgewood is also home to a community from Montenegro, with businesses such as Europa Market and Melinda's Halal Meats. A substantial number of New Yorkers from Montenegro are ethnic Albanians, with Geg Albanian as their primary language.

Moroccan Arabic

الدارجة المغربية
Though smaller the communities from Egypt, Yemen, and the Levant, Moroccan New Yorkers form a substantial and growing group within Arabic-speaking parts of the city, with institutions to match such as the Moroccan American Association House in Bay Ridge and Moroccan-American Cultural Association in Morris Park in the Bronx. Some Moroccan New Yorkers are also speakers of French (still a language of higher education in the country) as well as Indigenous Amazigh languages such as Tashelhyt.

Nepali Sign Language

नेपाली साङ्केतिक भाषा
There are at least a few signers of NSL within the wider Nepali community in Queens.

North Levantine Arabic

(اللهجة الشامية (الشمالية
Most early Arabic speakers in New York, primarily Levantine Christians from the Ottoman Province of Lebanon, began to arrive in the 19th century, originally settling in the "Little Syria" along Washington Street in a then deeply diverse pocket of lower Manhattan. As the "Syrians in New York" research initiative demonstrated, many factors, ultimately including construction of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, drove the community to Brooklyn — first South Ferry (now known as Boerum Hill) and later primarily Bay Ridge (where Palestinian New Yorkers have formed the organization Beit Hanania). Yonkers, and Paterson, New Jersey also have significant Levantine-Arabic speaking communities.

Pontic Greek

Ποντιακά
Over a million Pontic Greeks (living on the Black Sea coast mostly in what is today part of Turkey) faced genocide and displacement in the early 20th century. Beginning in the early 1960s, many thousands came to the U.S., initially from Attiki and Macedonia in Greece, according to Pontion Society "Komninoi". The largest number settled within the larger Greek community in Astoria, while maintaining distinct institutions and commemorations of the distinctive Pontic culture. Today, only a few hundred speakers of the Pontic language remain in the New York area, according to Dmitri Molohidis, though the number who still maintain a Pontic identity and speak Greek or other languages is much larger.

Romagnol

Sammarinese
Tied to the remaining Italian worlds of Astoria but now also within the Middle Eastern world of Steinway Street stands the entrance to the Fratellanza Sammarinese, a small club for those with roots in the Republic of San Marino, a small independent nation surrounded by Italy's Emilia-Romagna region. Immigrants from San Marino largely settled in Detroit and New York, with some having coming to speak Standard Italian as well as the distinctive and today endangered local variety of Romagnol known as Sammarinese.

Sasak

Sasak
New York's relatively new Indonesian community is several thousand strong and growing, with the largest concentration in Elmhurst, and the Al-Hikmah mosque in Astoria serving as an important community center for Indonesian Muslims (while churches serve an analogous role for Christians). Indonesian serves as a lingua franca to which all Indonesians are increasingly shifting, but the New York community is highly multilingual with numerous speakers of Javanese, Manado Malay, Sundanese, and a dozen other languages.

Siwi

سيوية
According to linguist Soubeika Bahri, several languages spoken by the Amazigh (or Berber) people of North Africa are represented in the city, with a notable concentration living and working within the North African community along Steinway Street in Astoria (sometimes referred to as Little Egypt) and other speakers in New Jersey. Among the languages represented with at least a small number of speakers are Chaouia, Kabyle, Siwi, Tamazight, Tarifit, Tashelhyt, and Zuwara.

Slovak

Slovenčina
Arriving in significant numbers in the mid-19th century, Slovaks first settled in the East Village around 14th Street and 2nd Avenue, gradually moving with other Central and Eastern European groups up towards Yorkville, where Slovak-language church services are still held today at the Church of St. John Nepomucene. A host of Slovak-language newspapers and community organization, including the still-active Slovak American Cultural Center, flourished in New York, thanks in part to a new wave of Slovak refugees who came after the Second World War. New Slovak communities formed in the Williamsburg/Greenpoint area, in western Queens, and in Yonkers (where the Catholic Slovak Club is located).

Sundanese

Basa Sunda
New York's relatively new Indonesian community is several thousand strong and growing, with the largest concentration in Elmhurst, and the Al-Hikmah mosque in Astoria serving as an important community center for Indonesian Muslims (while churches serve an analogous role for Christians). Indonesian serves as a lingua franca to which all Indonesians are increasingly shifting, but the New York community is highly multilingual with numerous speakers of Javanese, Manado Malay, Sundanese, and a dozen other languages.

Sylheti

ꠍꠤꠟꠐꠤ
Among the first wave of Bengali speakers who made their way to New York—many of them ex-seamen who settled on the Lower East Side and in East Harlem, as told by Vivek Bald in Bengali Harlem—were many who also spoke Sylheti, the related language variety from Sylhet in what is now northeastern Bangladesh. A distinct Sylheti community remains in those neighborhoods today, exemplified by the East Village's Madina Masjid and the small restaurant row on East 6th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues, which began in the 1970s. Other small Sylheti communities continue in Harlem and parts of Brooklyn, and in general Sylhetis constitute a significant portion of the sizeable Bangladeshi community in the New York metro area, with communities apparently existing in most areas with other Bengali speakers.

Tarifit

ⵜⴰⵔⵉⴼⵉⵜ
According to linguist Soubeika Bahri, several languages spoken by the Amazigh (or Berber) people of North Africa are represented in the city, with a notable concentration living and working within the North African community along Steinway Street in Astoria (sometimes referred to as Little Egypt) and other speakers in New Jersey. Among the languages represented with at least a small number of speakers are Chaouia, Kabyle, Siwi, Tamazight, Tarifit, Tashelhyt, and Zuwara.

Tashelhyt

ⵜⴰⵛⵍⵃⵉⵜ
According to linguist Soubeika Bahri, several languages spoken by the Amazigh (or Berber) people of North Africa are represented in the city, with a notable concentration living and working within the North African community along Steinway Street in Astoria (sometimes referred to as Little Egypt) and other speakers in New Jersey. Among the languages represented with at least a small number of speakers are Chaouia, Kabyle, Siwi, Tamazight, Tarifit, Tashelhyt, and Zuwara.

Tunisian Arabic

تونسي
A broad representation of the world's Arabic varieties, as used by Muslims, Christians, and Jews from West Africa to Iraq, can be found across the metropolitan area — although many of them are mutually unintelligible with each other, speakers are able to communicate in the Modern Standard Arabic known as al-fuṣḥā ("the purest", and there is often widespread familiarity with larger varieties like Egyptian Arabic. In the second half of the 20th century, what had been primarily a Levantine Arabic speaking community (by then mostly in Brooklyn) was joined by significant numbers of Egyptian Arabic and Yemeni Arabic speakers, as well as smaller numbers of many other varieties found throughout the city. Significant Arabic-speaking areas include Bay Ridge, Astoria, the Bronx (for West African Arabic speakers), Yonkers, and Paterson, New Jersey. Classical (or Qu'ranic) Arabic flourishes widely at mosques like the Islamic Cultural Center on the Upper East Side and the Jamaica Muslim Center in Queens as well schools like Al-Noor in Brooklyn. Jewish varieties of Arabic, often linked to the local variety of the particular country of origin, are still spoken to some degree among the sizeable Middle Eastern and North African Jewish communities in the city, especially in Brooklyn.

Zuwara

ⵎⴰⵣⵉⵗ
According to linguist Soubeika Bahri, several languages spoken by the Amazigh (or Berber) people of North Africa are represented in the city, with a notable concentration living and working within the North African community along Steinway Street in Astoria (sometimes referred to as Little Egypt) and other speakers in New Jersey. Among the languages represented with at least a small number of speakers are Chaouia, Kabyle, Siwi, Tamazight, Tarifit, Tashelhyt, and Zuwara.
Additional languages spoken in this neighborhood:
  • Amdo Tibetan
  • Aromanian
  • Bengali
  • Dzongkha
  • Geg Albanian
  • Italian
  • Loke
  • Romanian
  • Serbian
  • Sharchop
  • Sherpa
  • Sicilian
  • Tepehua
  • Tibetan
  • Tosk Albanian
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Astoria

Queens

Data

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County
Language
Endonym
World Region
Country
Global Speakers
Language Family
Video
Audio
Location
Size
Status
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AbakuáAbakuá

Caribbean

  • Cuba flag
    Cuba
Lower East Side

Smallest

Liturgical
AbazaАбаза

Western Asia

  • Turkey flag
    Turkey
  • Russia flag
    Russia
49,800
Abkhaz-Adyge
Wayne (NJ)

Smallest

Residential
AbruzzeseAbbruzzésə

Southern Europe

  • Italy flag
    Italy
Indo-European
Astoria

Small

Residential
AbruzzeseAbbruzzésə

Southern Europe

  • Italy flag
    Italy
Indo-European
Little Italy

Small

Historical
AcehneseBahsa Acèh

Southeastern Asia

  • Indonesia flag
    Indonesia
3,500,000
Austronesian
Astoria

Smallest

Community
AcehneseBahsa Acèh

Southeastern Asia

  • Indonesia flag
    Indonesia
3,500,000
Austronesian
Elmhurst

Smallest

Residential
AdjoukrouMɔjukru

Western Africa

  • Ivory Coast flag
    Ivory Coast
140,000
Atlantic-Congo
Concourse

Smallest

Residential
AdygheК|ахыбзэ

Western Asia

  • Turkey flag
    Turkey
  • Russia flag
    Russia
117,500
Abkhaz-Adyge
Wayne (NJ)

Small

Residential
AfenmaiAfenmai

Western Africa

  • Nigeria flag
    Nigeria
270,000
Atlantic-Congo
Castle Hill

Smallest

Residential
African-American EnglishBlack English

Northern America

  • United States flag
    United States
45,109,521
Indo-European
Bedford-Stuyvesant

Largest

Residential
African-American EnglishBlack English

Northern America

  • United States flag
    United States
45,109,521
Indo-European
Newark (NJ)

Largest

Residential
African-American EnglishBlack English

Northern America

  • United States flag
    United States
45,109,521
Indo-European
Clifton

Largest

Residential
African-American EnglishBlack English

Northern America

  • United States flag
    United States
45,109,521
Indo-European
Hollis

Largest

Residential
African-American EnglishBlack English

Northern America

  • United States flag
    United States
45,109,521
Indo-European
Edenwald

Largest

Residential
African-American EnglishBlack English

Northern America

  • United States flag
    United States
45,109,521
Indo-European
Central Harlem

Largest

Residential
African-American EnglishBlack English

Northern America

  • United States flag
    United States
45,109,521
Indo-European
Hempstead (NY)

Large

Residential
AfrikaansAfrikaans

Southern Africa

  • South Africa flag
    South Africa
  • Zimbabwe flag
    Zimbabwe
17,543,580
Indo-European
Murray Hill

Small

Community
AkanAkan

Western Africa

  • Ghana flag
    Ghana
9,231,300
Atlantic-Congo
Flatbush

Small

Residential
AkanAkan

Western Africa

  • Ghana flag
    Ghana
9,231,300
Atlantic-Congo
Shore Acres

Small

Residential
AkanAkan

Western Africa

  • Ghana flag
    Ghana
9,231,300
Atlantic-Congo
University Heights

Large

Residential

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An urban language map

Welcome to Languages of New York City, a free and interactive digital map of the world’s most linguistically diverse metropolitan area.

All data, unless otherwise specified, is from the Endangered Language Alliance (ELA), based on information from communities, speakers, and other sources.

The map is a work in progress and a partial snapshot, focused on significant sites for Indigenous, minority, and endangered languages. Larger languages are represented selectively. To protect the privacy of speakers, some locations are slightly altered. Social media users, note that LANGUAGEMAP.NYC works best in a separate browser. We apologize that the map may not be fully accessible to all users, including the visually impaired.

This map was created by the Mapping Linguistic Diversity team, with core support from the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies and the Endangered Language Alliance. Please send feedback!

By continuing I acknowledge that I have read and accept the above information.