Neighborhood

East Midtown

Manhattan
In the Census-defined PUMA including Murray Hill, Gramercy & Stuyvesant Town, according to recent Census data, (in descending order) French, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, and Hindi each have at least 1000 speakers. English, Spanish, and Korean varieties are widely 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:

Bemba

ChiBemba
A small community of Zambian students and professionals live in and around New York, with the Zambian UN Mission one focal point and organizations like the Tri-State Association of Zambians and the Organization of Zambians Abroad. Many speak the official language Chewa (or Nyanja) or Bemba, a lingua franca in northeast Zambia.

Bislama

Bislama
Bislama evolved as an English-based creole with influence from Indigenous Vanuatuan languages during Britain's colonial rule of Vanuatu, beginning in the late 19th century. Now one of the nation's official languages, Bislama is spoken by only nine people in New York, according to the Permanent Mission of Vanuatu to the UN—with a tenth on the Upper West Side (with Chinese Vanuatuan roots) having contacted ELA. Most speakers live on Roosevelt Island, which is a hub for expats and immigrants from Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and other nations of the Pacific Islands. Some of the first Pacific Islanders to arrive in New York settled on Roosevelt Island, drawing a multinational community of Polynesians, Melanesians, and Micronesians. Vanuatuans have been members of this community since their arrival in the 1980s. Other Bislama speakers connected to the Mission live in Bay Ridge and Queens, one of whom is bilingual in Ambae. Though small, the Vanuatuan community still comes together annually to celebrate the country's Independence Day on July 30.

Canadian English

Canadian English
According to 2015-2019 American Community Survey data, nearly 22,000 New Yorkers are Canadian-born, living primarily in Manhattan and Brooklyn, with a smaller number in Queens. The number of Canadians in New York has increased in recent years, with most speaking some form of Canadian English, but there have also been and continue to be other substantial distinct linguistic communities from Canada, including speakers of Québécois French, other varieties of English (such as those from Newfoundland), and First Nations languages such as Mohawk and Cree, not to mention immigrant and diaspora communities from around the world where there are closer ties across the U.S. border.

Chamorro

Chamoru
Compared to larger communities elsewhere, especially Hawaii and California, the presence of Chamorro speakers in the United States territory of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (a U.S. commonwealth) is relatively limited, but there are speakers, including a presence at the United Nations.

Chewa

Chinyanja
A small community of Zambian students and professionals live in and around New York, with the Zambian UN Mission one focal point and organizations like the Tri-State Association of Zambians and the Organization of Zambians Abroad. Many speak the official language Chewa (or Nyanja) or Bemba, a lingua franca in northeast Zambia.

Comorian

Shikomori
Comorian, a Bantu language sometimes linked to Swahili, is the official and principal language of Comoros, an archipelago nation off the coast of East Africa. The small Comorian presence in New York is connected to the country's United Nations Mission.

Dinka

Thuɔŋjäŋ
Scholar Busi Makoni reports that members of the Dinka diaspora, who may speak a number of distinct Dinka varities, are living in New York. Some may be associated with South Sudan's Mission to the United Nations.

Gikuyu

Gĩgĩkũyũ
In addition to a diplomatic and business community for which Kenya's United Nations Mission is a gathering place, a number of Gikuyu speakers live in various New Jersey towns including Paterson and Jersey City.

Haketia

חכיתיה
Within New York's Moroccan Jewish community — including synagogues in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn but relatively small compared to other Jewish communities and to the Moroccan Jewish communities in Israel, France, Spain, and Latin America — there are a few who remember the Judeo-Spanish spoken up until the 1950s in cities of northern Morocco like Tetuan and Tangier. Of the same origin as the better-known Judeo-Spanish (or Ladino) of the Ottoman Empire, Haketia took on more elements of Moroccan (Judeo-)Arabic, among other things. Alicia Raz, taken from Morocco to Israel when she was one day old, grew up speaking a "Hispanicized" Haketia and has worked to bring Haketia speakers in New York (and beyond) together with her Voces de Haketia project.

Icelandic

Íslenska
Thousands of Icelanders migrated to the U.S. beginning in the late 19th century, with most ending up in the Upper Midwest. However, a number of individual Icelanders have come to settle in New York for various professional reasons, with one well-known example being Nina Tryggvadottir, an abstract expressionist painter who spent the final two decades of her life in the city. Today the Icelandic Mission to the UN is a significant hub.

Kirundi

Ikirundi
Kirundi, the official and most widely spoken language in the nation of Burundi, is spoken at least by some of the officials working at the UN Mission.

Luxembourgish

Lëtzebuergesch
A substantial percentage of Luxembourgers left the country in the late 19th century, with tens of thousands coming to America—most passed through New York but ultimately settled in the Midwest. Today the Luxembourgish language, considered a Moselle Franconian variety of Germanic, has official status in the country along with German and French. Luxembourgers presently in the city include those in a diplomatic or business capacity, connected with institutions like the Luxembourg American Chamber of Commerce and the Grand Duchy's consulate. Ramath Orah, a synagogue in Morningside Heights, was originally established by Jewish Luxembourgers who fled the country during the Second World War.

Mapuche

Mapudungun
Mapuche speakers and activists from Chile have been among those who periodically visit and spend time in the city as part of the annual meetings at the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the United Nations.

Nuer

Naath
Along with Dinka, Nuer is the mostly widely spoken language in the newly independent nation of South Sudan. Aside from those in New York representing South Sudan at the United Nations, a small number of Nuer speakers may be found in the city's fashion and modeling world, such as the South Sudanese (Nuer) models Nykhor Paul and Duckie Thot.

Palauan

A Tekoi Er A Belau
Palauan, the official language of the Republic of Palau along with English, is spoken by a handful of New Yorkers, including those associated with the country's UN Mission. Pasadena and Portland, Oregon have established Palaun-American communities.

Sango

Yângâ Tî Sängö
Sango is the official language and widespread lingua franca of the Central African Republic — at least a small number of speakers are associated at any given time with the country's UN Mission.

Singlish

Singlish
Singlish, or Singaporean English, has evolved out of the city-state's unique multilingual matrix including varieties of Chinese, Malay, Tamil, and British English, characterized by increasing shift towards the latter and towards Mandarin. At least several hundred Singaporeans, especially professionals and students, live in and around NYC at any given time, and there are numerous groups and events connecting the community, with the UN Mission one hub.

Sorani Kurdish

سۆرانی
The relatively small and scattered community of Kurdish speakers across the New York area comes together every year at Nawruz, held in recent years at the Armenian community's Hovnanian School in New Milford, near where some speakers live. Others are in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and many are students staying temporarily. Unlike Nashville's large, concentrated community from Iraqi Kurdistan, Kurdish speakers in New York may come from across the Kurdish world (including Syria, Turkey, Iran, Iraq). In addition to Kurmaji, small numbers also speak Zaza, Sorani, and possibly other varieties.

Swati

SiSwati
Several thousand South African New Yorkers live in neighborhoods across the city — besides South African English, there are at least small numbers of speakers of Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu, Northern Sotho (also spoken in Lesotho), Ndebele (also spoken in Zimbabwe), Swati (also spoken in Eswatini), and Tswana (also spoken in Botswana). All are official languages of South Africa today, testifying to an extraordinary multilingualism also embodied by comedian and New York resident Trevor Noah, who reportedly speaks (a distinctly South African-inflected) English, Afrikaans, Southern Sotho, Tsonga, Tswana, Xhosa, and Zulu.

Tetum

Tetum
Along with Portuguese (the colonial language), Tetum is the other official language of East Timor, which gained its independence from Indonesia in 2002. Among the handful of speakers in New York are those associated with the fledgling nation's UN Mission.

Tongan

Lea Fakatonga
Pacific Islanders speaking Samoan, Tongan, and Fijian reside in all five boroughs of NYC, though the majority live on Manhattan’s Roosevelt Island, according to one community member. The UN Permanent Missions to various Polynesian and Melanesian nations act as both political and cultural organizations in New York, supporting shows from visiting Islanders and working with museums like The Met and The Queens Museum to curate exhibits featuring "Pac Island" culture and artifacts. The East Village’s "Kavasutra Kava Bar" attracts many Samoans, Tongans, and Fijians who drink the kava (itself a Tongan word meaning "bitter") imported from Vanuatu.

Tswana

Setswana
Several thousand South African New Yorkers live in neighborhoods across the city — besides South African English, there are at least small numbers of speakers of Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu, Northern Sotho (also spoken in Lesotho), Ndebele (also spoken in Zimbabwe), Swati (also spoken in Eswatini), and Tswana (also spoken in Botswana). All are official languages of South Africa today, testifying to an extraordinary multilingualism also embodied by comedian and New York resident Trevor Noah, who reportedly speaks (a distinctly South African-inflected) English, Afrikaans, Southern Sotho, Tsonga, Tswana, Xhosa, and Zulu.

West Ambae

Nduidui
One of Vanuatu's 40 islands, Ambae is home to four major languages, each with several distinctive dialects. One speaker of West Ambae's Nduindui dialect lives in Bay Ridge and works for the Permanent Mission of Vanuatu to the UN. The other known Ambae speaker in NYC lives on Roosevelt Island, a small hub for Tongans, Samoans, Fijians, and other Pacific Islanders. Ambae speakers typically also speak Bislama, a creole language combining elements from English, French, and the Indigenous languages of Vanuatu.
Additional languages spoken in this neighborhood:
  • Hindi
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