Neighborhood

East Village

Manhattan
In the Census-defined PUMA including Chinatown & Lower East Side, according to recent Census data, (in descending order) Cantonese, Mandarin, and French each have at least 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:

Bengali

বাংলা
Between 1917 and 1965, legislation severely limited South Asians from immigrating to the US, but speakers of Bengali and (the closely related) Sylheti nonetheless found their way to New York, often by working on British steamships that stopped at various East Coast ports. Living among and assimilating into African-American and Puerto Rican communities, a notable Bengali-speaking community grew up in East Harlem, as chronicled in Vivek Bald's book Bengali Harlem. Another cluster, as Bald describes, found their way to the Lower East Side, where a substantially Sylheti-speaking community has now existed for over half a century, with Bengali known as a second language.

Cebuano

Sugbuanon
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.

Central Malay

Besemah
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.

Changki

Changki
Today there may be a small number of speakers of at least 9 different distinct Naga languages — with some also speaking the lingua franca Nagamese — living in New Jersey, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Long Island, according to Abraham Lotha, who is based in Edison and has been working on Lotha, his own mother tongue. The earliest known Naga to come to the United States was Eramo Shanjamo Jungi, who arrived in 1904 with a family of Baptist missionaries returning from Nagaland to their home in Trenton Junction. Shanjamo, who was Lotha, returned to Nagaland in 1908 and played an active role in the Baptist church in India until his death in 1956.

German

Deutsch
Speakers of German language varieties were among the early colonists in New Amsterdam, but it was in the mid-19th century that New York became a German-language metropolis of tremendous scale and diversity rivaled only by Berlin and Vienna. Initially the hub was Kleindeutschland (Little Germany), today the East Village, especially in the vicinity of Tompkins Square Park. Among the largest regional linguistic groups, coming in waves after the uprisings of 1848, were the Prussians, the (Prussian-avoiding) Bavarians (including Palatines), Swabians, Wurttembergers, Hanoverians, and many others. Each group was concentrated to a degree in a different, neighboring East Side ward. There were 28 German-language newspapers around 1850, and still 12 German dailies in 1890, including some in regional languages like the Plattdeutsche Post (Low German) and Schwabbisches Wochenblatt (Swabian). The end of Kleindeutschland (Little Germany) is sometimes dated to the Slocum Disaster of 1904, in which over 1,000 people (primarily German-Americans) died, and the discrimination faced by German-Americans during the World Wars.

Hebrew

עברית
The movement to revitalize Hebrew as a spoken language in Europe and Palestine had many adherents in the New York Jewish community, beginning on the Lower East Side, where (as elsewhere in the Jewish diaspora) there was a long tradition of reading and writing, though usually not speaking, Hebrew. The growth of an Israeli community in New York following the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 — including many who had only lived in Israel for a few years before moving to America — solidified the presence of Hebrew in New York as an everyday spoken language. Israeli New Yorkers are scattered throughout the city, but are generally more numerous in traditionally Jewish neighborhoods like the Upper West Side and Forest Hills, though there are also distinctly Israeli concentrations in a few city neighborhoods and in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Many Orthodox and Hasidic New Yorkers, particularly in Brooklyn, have knowledge of Hebrew due both to traditional learning and transnational ties.

Ibaloy

Inibaloi
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.

Ilocano

Iloko
The Ilocano diaspora in the US is concentrated in Hawai'i, where they originally worked in the pineapple plantations alongside Japanese, Native Hawai'ians and others. Ilocanos have been particularly active in literary production and are one of the few lowland Christian groups in the Philippines to have preserved a precolonial epic (Biag ni Lam-ang, The life of Lam-ang). The Ilocano writers association, GUMIL, has active branches both in the Philippines and in Hawai'i. Here in NYC, the Ilocanos form a part of the larger Filipino community in Queens, which is home to the Ilocano-American Association, Inc. in New York (IAAINY), founded in 1982. The current president of the IAAINY has proudly passed on the language to her children in NYC.

Ilonggo

Hiligaynon
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.

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.

Lemko

Лeмкo
Lemkos are a Slavic gorup from the Transcarpathian region of eastern Europe who variously identify as an independent ethnic group, as (Carpatho-)Rusyns, or as Ukrainians — and linguistically there are close connections within a zone of transitional Slavic varieties. There is a large Lemko diaspora in the US, with many having fled a series of deportations in what is now southeastern Poland. In the New York area, a distinct Lemko community has been present and active for over a century in preserving historical and cultural memory. Though Lemkos are scattered in the tristate area with significant settlements in Westchester (Yonkers) and Connecticut (Terryville), the Ukrainian section of the East Village remains a hub, with a Lemko Vatra festival taking place upstate, meetings of a branch of the Organization for the Defense of Lemkivshchyna, and other activities.

Pangasinan

Pangasinan
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.

Philippine English

Philippine English
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.

Polish

Polski
Like most European immigrants, Poles began arriving in large numbers at Ellis Island in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Large waves followed after the Second World War and again in the 1980s and 90s with the collpase of the Eastern Bloc. In recent decades, the city's best-known Polish community has been in Greenpoint, where Polish delis, bakeries, and butcher shops stretch along Manhattan Avenue, often bearing signs with no English translation, with churches, schools, and other community institutions to match. More recently, with gentrification and generational shift, much of the community has moved to the nearby neighborhoods of Maspeth and Ridgewood. Other Polish communities continue to thrive elsewhere in Brooklyn (Windsor Terrace, Borough Park) as well as in Manhattan (in the East Village, near other Slavic groups), as well as in many areas in New Jersey and Long Island.

Punjabi

ਪੰਜਾਬੀ, پن٘جابی
New York's first wave of immigrants from North India's Punjab region were mostly medical students and professionals seeking greater opportunities in the United States, but a large second wave comprised Punjabi Sikhs, fleeing political tensions with the Indian government in the 1980s. Ever since, Punjabi communities have steadily grown in New York, particularly around the gurdwaras (Sikh temples) in Richmond Hill and Bellerose in Queens, as well as in Jersey City. Muslims from Pakistan's Punjab region, also speakers of Punjabi but using an Arabic script, have found homes around Makki Masjid, an important mosque in Kensington (Brooklyn), and with other Pakistanis along Coney Island Avenue.

Rusyn

Русиньскый
Rusyns (also called Carpatho-Rusyns or Ruthenians) descend from an East Slavic group based in the Carpathian mountains in modern-day Ukraine, Slovakia, and Poland. Some may also consider themselves Lemkos. New York's Rusyn community started developing in the late 1880s, with another wave coming after the Second World War, and communities developing around other Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles, and Slavic groups. The Rusyn community established Williamsburg's Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Transfiguration, a hub beginning in 1921 and several institutions in Yonkers. Many from around the metropolitan area continue to gather at the St. Nicholas Church in the East Village. Today speakers are scattered in Brooklyn, Staten Island, and various towns in both northern New Jersey (Paterson, Clifton) and south from Elizabeth and Perth Amboy to Manville.

Slovenian

Slovenščina
Many of the Slovenians who first arrived in New York in the late 19th century came from the Domžale region and introduced their specialized straw-hat making trade to America. Originally settling in the East Village with many other Eastern and Central European groups, Slovenians since 1916 have made the Church of St. Syril on St. Mark's Place an important community center, offering Slovenian language classes and serving as a hub for other community groups and activities. Many Slovenian speakers, including a later wave following the Second World War, settled elsewhere in the city, especially Brooklyn, and beyond (including the Bridgeport-Fairfield area in Connecticut). There were some who spoke in the lanugage in the distinctive community of Gottscheers, a Germanic group from what is today Slovenia, which made its home in Ridgewood, Queens and the surrounding area.

Spanglish

Spanglish
Puerto Ricans began moving to the mainland United States in significant numbers in the late 19th century, bringing with them their unique variety of Caribbean Spanish. The Great Migration following the Second World War brought tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans to the city each year, making Puerto Rican Spanish the dominant form of Spanish in New York for much of the 20th century in major barrios including East Harlem, the Lower East Side (sometimes called Loisaida), Williamsburg, Bushwick, and much of the Bronx. Proudly Nuyorican poets like Miguel Algarín and Tato Laviera, blending Puerto Rican and New York culture, forged a distinctive, poetic Spanglish. Today, Puerto Rican Spanish speakers live throughout the city, but an increasing number are moving to suburban areas of Westchester, New Jersey, and other states.

Swabian

Schwäbisch
Speakers of German language varieties were among the early colonists in New Amsterdam, but it was in the mid-19th century that New York became a German-language metropolis of tremendous scale and diversity rivaled only by Berlin and Vienna. Initially the hub was Kleindeutschland (Little Germany), today the East Village, especially in the vicinity of Tompkins Square Park. Among the largest regional linguistic groups, coming in waves after the uprisings of 1848, were the Prussians, the (Prussian-avoiding) Bavarians (including Palatines), Swabians, Wurttembergers, Hanoverians, and many others. Each group was concentrated to a degree in a different, neighboring East Side ward. There were 28 German-language newspapers around 1850, and still 12 German dailies in 1890, including some in regional languages like the Plattdeutsche Post (Low German) and Schwabbisches Wochenblatt (Swabian). The end of Kleindeutschland (Little Germany) is sometimes dated to the Slocum Disaster of 1904, in which over 1,000 people (primarily German-Americans) died, and the discrimination faced by German-Americans during the World Wars.

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.

Tagalog

Tagalog
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.

Ukrainian

Українська
Large numbers of immigrants from what is today Ukraine first arrived in New York in the 1880s. Many in the earliest period were Lemkos (or Carpatho-Rusyns) from western Ukraine; many others were also Yiddish-speaking Jews. In the mid-20th century, a distinctive Little Ukraine arose in what is now considered the East Village, including many refugees from Soviet rule in Ukraine and a significant number of intellectuals, writers, and artists. Other Ukrainian communities have formed in Brooklyn (where the Little Odessa in Brighton Beach was at first primarily Jewish but came to include more recent Ukrainian immigrants), and in Queens among Polish neighbors. Significant Ukrainian communities and institutions exist in central New Jersey (mother church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church) and upstate New York (the Soyuzivka Heritage Center) as well.
Additional languages spoken in this neighborhood:
  • Batak
  • Bavarian
  • Bulgarian
  • Czech
  • Lenape (Munsee)
  • Puerto Rican Spanish
SearchExploreDataCensusInfo

© Mapbox © OpenStreetMap Improve this map

Data

Search
Local community data
View in map
County
Language
Endonym
World Region
Country
Global Speakers
Language Family
Video
Audio
Location
Size
Status
Filter
Filter
Filter
Filter
Filter
Filter
​
​
No communities found. Try fewer criteria or click the "Clear filters" button to reset the table.

Rows per page:

20 rows

0-0 of 0

0-0 of 0
Press space bar to start a drag. When dragging you can use the arrow keys to move the item around and escape to cancel. Some screen readers may require you to be in focus mode or to use your pass through key

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.