Neighborhood

Midwood

Brooklyn
In the Census-defined PUMA including Flatbush & Midwood, according to recent Census data, (in descending order), Haitian Creole, Russian, Urdu, Yiddish, Hebrew, Bengali, French, "Niger-Congo languages" and "Other Asian Languages" each have more than 1000 speakers. Varieties of English, Spanish, and Chinese are commonly spoken in the area as well.
De-select
Languages with a significant site in this neighborhood, marked by a point on the map:

Algerian Judeo-Arabic

العربية اليهودية الجزائرية
In addition to the substantial Moroccan Jewish community with several centers around the city, there are Jews from elsewhere in North Africa (Egypt, Libya, Algeria, and Tunisia) living in and around the larger "Syrian" Jewish community of central and southern Brooklyn and speaking at least traces of the distinctive Judeo-Arabic varieties from their earlier North African homes. Ahaba Ve Ahva is a long-time Egyptian congregation by Ocean Parkway, and there are reports of at least scattered individuals with backgrounds from Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia (including the island of Djerba). As an illustration of even more local variation, one woman originally from Benghazi (Libya) reports that the Jewish community there spoke a distinct variety versus those from Tripoli.

American Sign Language

American Sign Language
A significant portion of New York City's estimated Deaf population of over 200,000 use American Sign Language, as well as a number of CODAs (children of Deaf adults). Worldwide there exist up to several hundred other sign languages, often little documented and highly endangered, and at least some are likely used in New York, particularly by those who may have attended Deaf school in other countries — though it's likely they shift to ASL or at least codeswitch with ASL once in the city. While ASL signers live throughout the city, there are key hubs for the language, including the few remaining Deaf Clubs, important social clubs; religious institutions like St. Elizabeth's Deaf Church in Manhattan; and Queens' Lexington School for the Deaf, memorably described in Leah Hager Cohen's book Train Go Sorry.

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.

Judeo-Shirazi

J̌udi
Judeo-Shirazi is a Southwest Iranian language spoken by the Jewish community of Shiraz, even while most of the non-Jewish population shifted to Persian. The large Jewish Shirazi population in New York may number as many as 4,000, especially in the heavily Jewish area of Midwood, Brooklyn where they have several synagogues. An estimated 1,000-plus Shirazi Jews also live in the suburb of Great Neck near other Persian Jews. In New York, Judeo-Shirazi appears to be a largely moribund language, spoken only among the elderly and in the most intimate situations. Speaker Manuchehr Kohanbash, for example, speaks his mother tongue only with his brothers, but not with his wife, who is not from Shiraz, nor with his children. Persian has become the principal language of communication, with literacy in the Persian script, and the younger generation shifting to English. Religious literature in the community, as in other Persian Jewish communities, was formerly in Judeo-Persian, a variety of Persian (not the Judeo-Shirazi vernacular) written in Hebrew script. According to 2015-2019 American Community Survey data, there are roughly 6,693 Persian speakers in Great Neck and surrounding towns, the overwhelming majority of whom are probably Jewish, and a small number of whom are probably speakers of these quite different languages spoken by regional Jewish communities in Iran. Read more here.

Kalasha

Kal’as’amon
An endangered language of northern Pakistan, Kalasha represents a unique link to the region's pre-Islamic past, with the small community that still speaks it maintaining aspects of traditional polytheistic religion and tracing its ancestry to Greek commanders under Alexader the Great. At least one speaker and community leader was living in Brooklyn as of 2019.

Kashmiri

كأشُر
At least a small number of Kashmiri families are reported as living in the Pakistani hubs of Midwood and Jamaica, but there may be many others living around in the metropolitan area. Many Kashmiris have left the continuing unrest and political struggle in the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmiri, where Kashmiri is the most widespread language.

Libyan Judeo-Arabic

اللهجة الليبية اليهودية
In addition to the substantial Moroccan Jewish community with several centers around the city, there are Jews from elsewhere in North Africa (Egypt, Libya, Algeria, and Tunisia) living in and around the larger "Syrian" Jewish community of central and southern Brooklyn and speaking at least traces of the distinctive Judeo-Arabic varieties from their earlier North African homes. Ahaba Ve Ahva is a long-time Egyptian congregation by Ocean Parkway, and there are reports of at least scattered individuals with backgrounds from Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia (including the island of Djerba). As an illustration of even more local variation, one woman originally from Benghazi (Libya) reports that the Jewish community there spoke a distinct variety versus those from Tripoli.

Moldovan

Moldovenească
Moldovan is sometimes described as a form of Romanian spoken in Moldova, or as a language variety very closely related to Romanian. Some differences (including the use of Cyrillic for writing before 1989, and still today in Transnistria) may be attributable to Moldova having been part of the Soviet Union. A few Moldovan restaurants have opened in Brooklyn and Queens, reflecting that multilingual Moldovans may be in interaction with both Romanian- and Russian-speaking New Yorkers.

Pashto

پښتو
Multiple distinctive varieties of Pashto are spoken both among Afghan New Yorkers (especially in eastern Queens but also in Hicksville), many of whom came fleeing the cycles of violence in Afghanistan in the 1980s and '90s. There are also speakers of potentially different Pashto varieties among Pakistani New Yorkers living in the Pakistani area along Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn.

Persian

فارسی
A wide range of New Yorkers across the metropolitan area speak some form of Persian, including Bukhori (Uzbekistan), Dari (Afghanistan), Tajik (Tajikistan), and Hazara (Afghanistan). The largest centralized Iranian community in the region may be the Iranian Jewish community in Brooklyn and Great Neck which formed after the 1979 Revolution, where there are several other Jewish languages spoken but standard Persian (based on the Teheran variety) is a lingua franca. Although Iranian Muslims, many of them middle-class professionals who came after 1979, are not concentrated in any particular neighborhood, there are hubs in eastern Queens (where the Imam Al-Khoei is a religious center for some), Manhattan, and elsewhere.

Pothwari

پوٹھواری
Sometimes also called Pahari, Pothwari is a region language of Punjab (from the far north, bordering on Kashmir) which is closely related to forms of Punjabi. Some speakers are reported to be part of the Punjabi- and Urdu-speaking Pakistani community centered in Brooklyn, though a much larger and long-resident diaspora speaking the Mirpuri variety exists in UK cities such as Bradford and Birmingham.

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.

Saraiki

سرائیکی, ਸਰਾਇਕੀ
Saraiki, a widely spoken language of southwestern Punjab in Pakistan (and related to Punjabi), is spoken by some within the larger Pakistani Punjabi communities in the city. Professor Hamad Khan, who teaches at Bronx Community College, has published three books of poetry, including two in Urdu and one in Siraiki. Other Saraiki speakers are Afghan Sikhs or Hindus, of whom some came in the 1980s and 90s and now worship at the Afghan Hindu temple in Flushing or the Afghan Sikh gurudwara in Hicksville.

Sindhi

سنڌي, सिन्धी
Sindhi speakers from both India and Pakistan are spread out throughout the city, with significant numbers in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and elsewhere. Muslim Sindhis from Pakistan may worship at Makki Masjid in Midwood, while many Hindu Sindhis have been part of the Satya Narayan Mandir in Elmhurst. Reportedly New York's first Sindhi restaurant, Kailash Parbat opened a few years ago in Manhattan's "Curry Hill", bringing chaat and other traditional Sindhi delicacies to the city.

Tunisian Judeo-Arabic

اللهجة التونسية اليهودية
In addition to the substantial Moroccan Jewish community with several centers around the city, there are Jews from elsewhere in North Africa (Egypt, Libya, Algeria, and Tunisia) living in and around the larger "Syrian" Jewish community of central and southern Brooklyn and speaking at least traces of the distinctive Judeo-Arabic varieties from their earlier North African homes. Ahaba Ve Ahva is a long-time Egyptian congregation by Ocean Parkway, and there are reports of at least scattered individuals with backgrounds from Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia (including the island of Djerba). As an illustration of even more local variation, one woman originally from Benghazi (Libya) reports that the Jewish community there spoke a distinct variety versus those from Tripoli.

Urdu

اردو
Joining earlier South Asian Muslim communities in the city, Urdu speakers from Pakistan and India began arriving in New York in large numbers in the 1960s, with the community doubling in size in the 1990s alone. Though there are significant clusters of Urdu speakers today in every borough, the largest and most visible community is Brooklyn's Little Pakistan in Kensington and Midwood, roughly centered along Coney Island Avenue from Avenue H to Foster Avenue. As the national language, Urdu is a lingua franca, but many are speakers of Pashto, Punjabi, Balochi, Sindhi, Saraiki, and Pothwari as well as smaller languages including Wakhi, Burushashki, Balti. After 9/11, the community faced significant pressure from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, with many deported and others leaving voluntarily. Many have also moved south towards Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, and Coney Island. Other significant Pakistani communities, including many mosques and community organizations, can be found in Astoria, Jackson Heights, Jamaica, Concord, and Parkchester.
Additional languages spoken in this neighborhood:
  • Hasidic Yiddish
  • Hebrew
  • Jewish English
  • Litvish Yiddish
  • Uzbek
SearchExploreDataCensusInfo

© Mapbox © OpenStreetMap Improve this map

Midwood

Brooklyn

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.