Neighborhood

Sunset Park

Brooklyn
In the Census-defined PUMA including Sunset Park & Windsor Terrace, according to recent Census data, (in descending order), Mandarin, Cantonese, Russian, and Yiddish each have more than 1000 speakers. Varieties of English, Spanish, 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:

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.

Chakhar Mongolian

Цахар
Byaambakhuu Darinchuluun of the Mongolian Heritage Foundation estimates that there are some 50 people from Southern (or Inner) Mongolia, in what is now China, living in New York. Some live in Sunset Park and speak the Chakhar variety of Mongolian. The Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center advocates for the rights of Southern Mongolians, who live primarily in China's Inner Mongolia province and are currently struggling for the right to use their mother tongue in education.

Classical Arabic

الفصحى
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.

Danish

Dansk
Danes were among the earliest settlers of New Amsterdam, with up to 100 already arrived by 1675 and many coming together with Norwegian New Yorkers in 1704 to build a small Lutheran church in lower Manhattan at Broadway and Rector. Peak Danish immigration came in the second half of the 19th century, with many passing through the city on their way west, and others settling within the port-oriented world of Scandinavian Brooklyn that stretched from Red Hook to Bay Ridge. Until 2020, the Danish Athletic Club in Sunset Park continued as a point of focus for both those who remain and for the many who have moved elsewhere.

Finnish

Suomi
Finnish immigration to the U.S. hit a peak between 1910 and 1925, forming a strong community within the wider Scandinavian matrix of Sunset Park, near port and dock areas of Brooklyn. This "Finntown" grew around the 8th Avenue Alku and Alku Toinen, two co-ops built by Finnish socialists in 1916. Known as the first non-profit housing cooperatives in the U.S., these experiments inspired dozens of other (Finnish and non-Finnish) cooperative houses, restaurants, stores, and garages around Sunset Park. By the 1970s, most Sunset Park Finns had moved out to Long Island, New Jersey, and Connecticut, but a Finnish church remains in Greenwich Village, and there are scattered speakers throughout the New York area. In the early 20th century, another major community, now gone, was in Harlem, concentrated east of Lenox Avenue in the 120s.

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.

Kaqchikel

Kaqchikel
Along with other speakers of Indigenous Mayan languages of Guatemala, more and more Kaqchikel speakers have been arriving in the United States, to the point there the language has become one of the most frequently encountered by Border Patrol at the U.S. southern border. Together with K'iche' and Mam speakers, Kaqchikel speakers may constitute the most numerous Mayan group in the metropolitan area, with speakers within the Guatemalan communities in the city as well as in New Jersey and on Long Island (a community from San Raymundo now in Riverhead). In Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, one soccer team from the town of Pajoca is reported to speak Kaqchikel to each other in the fields.

Mandarin

普通话, 國語
Although it was not widely spoken in New York until recent decades, Mandarin today is probably today the city's third most widely spoken language and a lingua franca connecting Chinese New Yorkers from a variety of linguistic backgrounds—though not all speak it and in certain neighborhoods Cantonese or Fujianese, for example, remain important. Numerous, largely mutually intelligible Mandarin varieties are spoken in the city, from the originally Beijing-based standard "Putonghua" promoted by the mainland government to the Taiwanese Mandarin most widely used there. Particularly in Flushing there are also many speakers of Northeast Mandarin (from the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang) as well as of Southwest Mandarin (particularly those from Sichuan), as well as a growing community of Hui (Muslim) Chinese who speak forms of Northwestern Mandarin related historically to Dungan.

Mexican Spanish

Español Mexicano
NYC's Mexican population tripled in the 1990s, with the largest numbers arriving from Puebla and later Guerrero, south-central states with large Indigenous communities, though today there are more from the Mexico City area and the entire country. One informal survey found that up to 17 percent of Mexican New Yorkers may speak an Indigenous language, with Mixtec and Nahuatl varieties the most widely spoken, possibly by tens of thousands—some of whom learn Spanish in New York. Mexicans have largely settled throughout the metro area, usually in Spanish-speaking neighborhoods first settled by Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, but there are signs now of distinctly Mexican areas and a host of institutions created by the community.

Mixe

Ayuujk
Mixe refers to a cluster of related Indigenous languages spoken by approximately 100,000 people in the eastern part of the state of Oaxaca. In the widely-cited classification of Wichmann, these Oaxacan Mixean languages are divided into the Lowland, Midland, South Highland, and North Highland subgroupings. An undetermined but likely small number of Mixe speakers now live in the New York area, apparently coming from San Juan Juquila and speaking ëyuk, or Midland Mixe. One speaker reported living Sunset Park and knowing just one other speaker, in New Brunswick. Read more here.

Mixtec

Tu'un Savi
One of the largest Indigenous Mexican communities, including many Mixtecs, is in and around the hub of Sunset Park. One is the Church of the Good Shepherd in Bay Ridge, where pastor Juan Carlos Ruiz leads the congregation and is a lightning rod for social justice and community relief. Another local organization, based in Greenwood, is La Mixteca, established in 2000 "to address critical needs in health, education, social and legal issues facing the burgeoning Mexican and Latin American immigrant community in Brooklyn."

Nahuatl

Nahuatl
Nahuatl speakers from Brooklyn live across a number of neighborhoods stretching at least from Sunset Park to Coney Island. A network of as many as 100 people from San Lucas Atzala (Puebla) are in Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst, while others are from Teopantlán (Puebla) or from San Francisco de Tetlanohcan (Tlaxcala), living in Coney Island — all communities with representation in the Red de Pueblos Transnacionales. Across Brooklyn (and elsewhere in the city) there are also reported to be speakers of a distinct Nahuatl variety from Zacapoaxtla in the highlands of Northern Puebla.

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.

Sami

Sámi
An undetermined number of Sami speakers were at least for certain periods of time part of the wider Scandinavian world of Sunset Park and Bay Ridge in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, though most Sami-Americans ended up settling in Minnesota and elsewhere in the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest, as well as Alaska, where Sami reindeer herders met and had a unique period of exchange with Alaska Natives.

Swedish

Svenska
Swedes were among the earliest settlers in New Amsterdam, which was not far from the short-lived colony of New Sweden. According to one theory, among them was farmer/settler Jonas Bronck, after whom the Bronx was later named; others were involved in the clearing of what became Harlem. An early Swedish Methodist congregation formed on the ship Bethel on Pier 11 on the Hudson. A much larger wave of Swedish immigration began in the mid-19th century, first in Manhattan and Cobble Hill around Atlantic Avenue, with Sunset Park and Bay Ridge soon after becoming the major Swedish-American hub by the end of 19th century, as Swedes joined Finns, Norwegians, and Danes in a pan-Scandinavian neighborhood with a rich communal life, where many were visiting seamen or worked in the shipyards. By 1930, as many as 40,000 Swedes lived in the city, though the community ultimately scattered and assimilated and most Swedish New Yorkers today (for whom Midtown's Church of Sweden is one important center) are recent arrivals.

Taiwanese

臺語, Tâi-gú
Flushing emerged as a distinctively middle-class, Taiwanese alternative to Cantonese-dominated Chinatown in the 1980s, but many Taiwanese have since moved elsewhere in Queens or the metropolitan area, as the neighborhood became home to a wide variety of immigrants from mainland China. A significant number of Taiwanese New Yorkers speak Mandarin Chinese, being 外省人 or "outsiders to the province" (with parents or grandparents who came from the mainland before 1949). Others (being 本省人 or "insiders to the province") speak Taiwanese, a form of Southern Min (related to Fujianese and other forms of Min Chinese in the city) variously known as 臺語, 台語, Tâi-gú, and Tâi-gí. With roots on the island going back at least to the 17th century, Taiwanese has been reviving in recent years along with the concept of a distinctive Taiwanese identity. A small number of other Taiwanese New Yorkers may have some knowledge of or connection to other languages of Taiwan, including the numerous, now endangered Austronesian languages which are indigenous to the island.

Tz'utujil

Tz'utujil
Speakers of Tz'utujil, a Mayan language of Guatemala, are among the Indigenous Guatemalans who have come to New York and New Jersey in recent decades — and there are also significant communities a little further afield, such as in western Massachusetts.

Wenzhounese

温州话
The area in and around Wenzhou, in China's Zhejiang Province, is home to a highly distinctive Wu language (a branch of Chinese) that today is spoken all over the world, with large concentrations in France, Italy, and the U.S., especially New York City, where there are at least tens of thousands originally from the city of Wenzhou and neighboring Qingtian county. The Wenzhounese community is known for entrepreneurship, and there are a large number of Wenzhounese-owned businesses (restaurants, groceries, clothing factories etc.) across New York's many Chinese-speaking neighborhoods in Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. The densest concentration of Wenzhounese speakers is thought to be in Queens neighborhoods like Flushing and Whitestone, where there are gatherings of the Chinese Wen Chow Association (温州同乡会) and Wenzhounese-language church services, although a strong shift to Mandarin among the younger generation is underway both in Wenzhou and in diaspora centers like New York.
Additional languages spoken in this neighborhood:
  • Ecuadorian Spanish
  • Mixtec
  • Puerto Rican Spanish
  • Taishanese
  • Vietnamese
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Sunset Park

Brooklyn

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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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