Neighborhood

Bensonhurst

Brooklyn
In the Census-defined PUMA including Bensonhurst & Bath Beach, according to recent Census data, (in descending order), Cantonese, Russian, Italian, Mandarin, Polish, and Bengali each have more than 1000 speakers. Varieties of English, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, and Chinese are commonly spoken in the area as well.
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Languages with a significant site in this neighborhood, marked by a point on the map:

Bulgarian Turkish

Bulgarca Türkçe
New York's major Turkish-speaking concentrations are in and around Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, where the American Turkish Eyüp Sultan Cultural Center is a gathering place, and Sunnyside in Queens (home to the Turkish Cultural Center Queens), with a substantial community as well in Paterson, New Jersey (centered in part on the United Islamic Center). This includes speakers of a number of Oghuz varieties from west of the Caucasus, including Istanbul, Black Sea, Anatolian, and Bulgarian Turkish — as well as speakers of Cypriot Turkish, who have a community in the Bronx.

Calabrese (Gioiosano)

Calabrese
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.

Cantonese

廣東話
Alongside the related variety Taishanese, Cantonese was one of the first Chinese languages to be widely spoken in New York City, decades before Mandarin became dominant following large-scale immigration from Taiwan and Chinese provinces beyond the southeast. Through at least the 1980s, the Cantonese varieties of China's Guangdong (Canton) province and Hong Kong remained the most common language in Manhattan's Chinatown, but most Cantonese speakers today live in the new Chinatowns of Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, Sheepshead Bay, and beyond in Brooklyn. Cantonese remains a major language throughout the metropolitan area including suburbs, but Mandarin and other varieties have become increasingly important in all the city's Chinatowns, particularly in Queens, reflecting language policies in China itself and a global shift in the composition of the Chinese diaspora.

Fujianese

福建话
A large wave of working-class Fujianese speakers, especially from in and around the city of Fuzhou in China's Fujian Province, arrived in New York in the 1980s and 90s, after China loosened its emigration restrictions. At the time, Manhattan's Chinatown was dominated by Cantonese speakers from China's Guangdong Province, so Fujianese people settled in and around East Broadway, where Chinatown slowly expanded. Today, most Fujianese New Yorkers speak Mandarin as well and have spread across the city's Chinese neighborhoods, including Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, and Flushing. The Fujianese spoken in Fuzhou is also called Eastern Min, highlighting its connections to a wider group of related Sinitic languages. Also spoken to a lesser degree in New York are forms of Northern Min, from the northern part of Fujian: one example being several speakers from the area around Jianyang and Wuyishan, where neighboring villages may speak very differently. Forms of Southern Min are also related and to some extent heard in New York's Chinese neighborhoods, including Hainanese, Teochew, and Taiwanese — the latter also called Hokkien and widely spoken in the Southeast Asian Chinese diaspora.

Georgian

ქართული
Over the last few decades, New York has become home to one of the hemisphere's most significant Georgian communities, with a growing number of restaurants and other institutions. 4,032 Georgian-born New Yorkers are listed as speaking "Other Not Elsewhere Classified" languages in the 2015-2019 American Community Survey data, which likely refers to Georgian. Assuming that most Georgian-born New Yorkers speak the language — though some may be Russian-dominant — then the number is over 6,000, largely concentrated in Brooklyn (home to the Pesvebi Georgian Cultural Center), with some in New Jersey (home to St Grigol Of Khandzta Georgian Orthodox Church) as well. Some Georgian New Yorkers are native speakers of Mingrelian, Svan, and possibly other varieties. A smaller community of Georgian Jews lives in eastern Queens and worships at the Congregation of Georgian Jews synagogue.

Ishkashimi

Šëkošmi
Ishkashimi is a highly endangered Pamiri language spoken in one village in the Pamir region of Tajikistan (Rin) and in neighboring Afghanistan, with very little documentation. In 2018, a team from ELA worked extensively with local language activists to record over 10 hours of songs, stories, conversations, and other materials in Rin, which are gradually being transcribed, translated, analyzed, and make public. In New York, ELA has identified just one speaker in Brooklyn and one in Queens.

Italian

Italiano
Substantial Italian communities have existed across much of Brooklyn since the late 19th century, with several important initial areas of settlement near the waterfront. The neighborhoods known today as Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, and Gowanus retain an Italian (and occasionally Italian-speaking) presence, but after the Second World War the largest communities emerged in neighborhoods to the south such as Bensonhurst, Bay Ridge, and Dyker Heights. Other Italian groups in Williamsburg and Bushwick later saw movement towards Queens and Long Island. Many postwar migrants—much more likely than those who came earlier to have been educated in Italian and to speak it in addition to local languages—also settled in large numbers in these areas, making them among the most Italian-speaking in the city.

K'iche'

K'iche'
K’iche’ is Guatemala’s largest Indigenous language, with over a million speakers concentrated in the country’s central highlands. Like the Mam and other Mayan peoples, the K’iche’ suffered greatly during the genocidal campaigns of the Guatemalan state in the late 20th century and continue to face deeply ingrained discrimination which is driving many north across the border. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the K’iche’ are the largest Mayan ethnic group in New York City, dispersed throughout the city but with clusters in Bensonhurst/Bath Beach/Gravesend (where there are concentrations connected to certain blocks, churches, and businesses), as well as parts of Queens and New Jersey.

Kalmyk

Хальмг
Following the Russian Civil War and the Second World War, some Kalmyks fled Kalmykia for Europe, and in the 1950s some of these Kalmyks began arriving as refugees in America. They settled mostly in Philadelphia and in Howell, New Jersey — a town which today is still the heart of the diaspora, with a "Kalmyk Road" and three Buddhist temples. Kalmyk language and culture suffered grievously following Stalin’s deportation of much of the community to Siberia, though there have remained a few places in Kalmykia where everyone still speaks Kalmyk. In the 1990s, following the fall of the Soviet Union, a new group of Kalmyks began to arrive in America, settling mostly in Russian-speaking areas of New York City and including a number of musicians, dancers, and other artists who first came as performers because of a lack of work back home. Today, as many as a few thousand Kalmyks may live in Brooklyn (especially the Bensonhurst/Bay Parkway area). The number who speak the Kalmyk language is small, especially among the newcomers.

Kyrgyz

Кыргызча
Speakers of Kyrgyz have arrived in increasing numbers as the city's broader Central Asian community, especially in south Brooklyn, has grown. The Kyrgyz American Foundation, led by the concert pianist Aza Sydykov, brings this new generation of Kyrgyz-Americans with others who are interested in the country and its culture, especially music, as well as policy and civil society issues.

Mingrelian

მარგალური
Over the last few decades, New York has become home to one of the hemisphere's most significant Georgian communities, with a growing number of restaurants and other institutions. 4,032 Georgian-born New Yorkers are listed as speaking "Other Not Elsewhere Classified" languages in the 2015-2019 American Community Survey data, which likely refers to Georgian. Assuming that most Georgian-born New Yorkers speak the language — though some may be Russian-dominant — then the number is over 6,000, largely concentrated in Brooklyn (home to the Pesvebi Georgian Cultural Center), with some in New Jersey (home to St Grigol Of Khandzta Georgian Orthodox Church) as well. Some Georgian New Yorkers are native speakers of Mingrelian, Svan, and possibly other varieties. A smaller community of Georgian Jews lives in eastern Queens and worships at the Congregation of Georgian Jews synagogue.

Northern Fujianese

闽北语
A large wave of working-class Fujianese speakers, especially from in and around the city of Fuzhou in China's Fujian Province, arrived in New York in the 1980s and 90s, after China loosened its emigration restrictions. At the time, Manhattan's Chinatown was dominated by Cantonese speakers from China's Guangdong Province, so Fujianese people settled in and around East Broadway, where Chinatown slowly expanded. Today, most Fujianese New Yorkers speak Mandarin as well and have spread across the city's Chinese neighborhoods, including Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, and Flushing. The Fujianese spoken in Fuzhou is also called Eastern Min, highlighting its connections to a wider group of related Sinitic languages. Also spoken to a lesser degree in New York are forms of Northern Min, from the northern part of Fujian: one example being several speakers from the area around Jianyang and Wuyishan, where neighboring villages may speak very differently. Forms of Southern Min are also related and to some extent heard in New York's Chinese neighborhoods, including Hainanese, Teochew, and Taiwanese — the latter also called Hokkien and widely spoken in the Southeast Asian Chinese diaspora.

Shughni

Xuǧnoni
Shughni is the largest of the local languages spoken in the Pamir region, based in the Shugnon District (centered on the regional capital of Khorog) and sometimes serving as a lingua franca between different groups. The majority of Pamiri New Yorkers, maybe 200 and growing, are speakers of Shughni, living especially in Brooklyn (Bensonhurst and Bay Ridge) and Queens (Rego Park/Woodhaven Boulevard area). Rushani, the distinct variety spoken in the Rushan District near Shugnon, is closely related to Shughni, and Rushani speakers may be the most numerous in New York after Shughni. Read more here.

Svan

ლუშნუ ნინ
According to one member of the community, there may be as many as 100 speakers of Svan, a minority language of Georgia, now living in the U.S., with the largest number living in Brooklyn among other Georgian immigrants but others in New Jersey and Philadelphia. Given language barriers and immigration status, many men work in moving, construction, or as drivers while women work as home health aides.

Tosk Albanian

Shqip (Tosk)
Speakers of Tosk Albanian varieties, from southern areas of the Albanian-speaking world including Albania's capital city Tirana, often live near Gegs but also have a significant concentration in Brooklyn neighborhoods from Flatbush to Bensonhurst and in New Jersey. As with Geg Albanian speakers, they are often proficient in Italian for historical reasons and have settled in New York neighborhoods with high concentrations of ethnic Italians. Many likewise came during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and the wars that followed, but a smaller group, primarily Christian, came in the first half of the 20th century.

Turkmen

Türkmençe
A small number of Turkmen speakers live principally in and among other Central Asians and Russian-speakers in south Brooklyn.

Uzbek

Oʻzbekcha
North America's largest Uzbek community — and one of the largest outside the former Soviet Union — runs roughly along Coney Island Avenue from near Ditmas Avenue, where a community from Samarkand has reportedly taken root, as far down as Brighton Beach, with many from Tashkent living near Avenues X, Y, Z. Brooklyn is home to the Uzbek American Community Center. A smaller community lives in Queens, and a significant number of Bukharian Jews, though more likely to speak Russian and Bukhori, also have knowledge of Uzbek. The Turkistanian American Association draws in New Jersey Uzbeks. According to writer Zohra Saed, an earlier wave of Cold War-era migrants, including Afghan Uzbeks, settled in southern Brooklyn and later in New Jersey and Long Island suburbs. According to 2015-2019 American Community Survey data, there are some 4,935 Uzbekistan-born speakers of "Other Asian Languages" in Kings County. (For privacy reasons, there must be a minimum of 10,000 speakers across the U.S. for a language to appear in the public data.) The American Community Survey also found 19,021 Uzbekistan-born speakers of Russian — some may be ethnic Russians who do not speak Uzbek and some may be ethnic Uzbeks dominant in Russian, but a large number also likely speak Uzbek.

Vietnamese

Tiếng Việt
Few Vietnamese speakers lived in New York before 1975, when the fall of Saigon drove large numbers of South Vietnamese to come to the United States as refugees. Some Vietnamese migrants had married U.S. servicemen, but a much larger number, including many Hoa (or ethnic Chinese), came as "boat people" fleeing repression in the following years. A substantial Vietnamese community, speaking Southern varieties, called New York home by the 1990s, with no single center but concentrations in or near Chinese areas of Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan (considering degrees of cultural and linguistic kinship) and an apparently more heavily Kinh community in the Bronx with its own Buddhist temple (Chieu Kien) and a Vietnamese-language mass at St. Nicholas of Tolentine. Quite distinct is a smaller grouping of North Vietnamese who have come as educational migrants and professionals in recent years.

Wakhi

X̌ik
With approximately 40,000 speakers worldwide, Wakhi is a language of the Pamir mountains, spoken by small populations in adjacent, remote regions of Tajikistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China. In New York, there are some six or seven Wakhi families from the Hunza area of Pakistan and a handful of Wakhis from the Pamir region of Tajikistan. All maintain some connection with the Ismaili community centered on the jamatkhana, or religious center, on Woodhaven Boulevard in Queens. Wakhi speaker Husniya Khujamyorova, originally from Murghab (Tajikistan) but now living in Brooklyn, has worked extensively on her language and other Pamiri languages with the Endangered Language Alliance since 2010, including fieldwork in New York, Tajikistan, and China. The results include a large set of recordings, a growing dictionary, a set of older materials digitized, and a planned future series of children's books. Read more here.

Yakut

Sakha
According to lawyer and human rights advocate Platon Shamaev, the number of speakers of Yakut, a Turkic language of Siberia known to its speakers as Sakha, is growing quickly especially in and around Bensonhurst. Some 200 turning up for the 2023 celebration of Yhyаkh (summer solstice) celebrations in a Dyker Heights park nearby. Just a few years ago, there were far fewer, but conditions in the Russian Federation are driving those who can leave to seek asylum, finding work doing delivery or as handymen in the Russian-speaking matrix of greater Brighton Beach while trying to get a foothold in a new land.
Additional languages spoken in this neighborhood:
  • Azeri
  • Italian
  • Italian English
  • Judeo-Spanish
  • Koryo-Mar
  • Nahuatl
  • Neapolitan
  • Pugliese (Molese)
  • Sicilian
  • Tajik
  • Wenzhounese
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Bensonhurst

Brooklyn

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Language
Endonym
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Global Speakers
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Location
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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
Abruzzese (Orsognese)Abruzzésë

Southern Europe

  • Italy flag
    Italy
Indo-European
Astoria

Small

Residential
Abruzzese (Orsognese)Abruzzésë

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.

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