Languages of New York City

Click on the image to explore the interactive map

New York City’s linguistic diversity is astonishing – the relatively small area is home to speakers of over 700 different languages and dialects. The Languages of New York City map documents over 1200 distinct “neighborhoods, community institutions, restaurants, and other locations where there is, or was, at least one speaker” of a language. The original language of the area was Lenape, spoken by the indigenous people who occupied what is now New York City. That language is still spoken by the descendants of those original New Yorkers, and there are ongoing initiatives to teach the Lenape language to more people. While Lenape is the language that has been spoken in this area the longest, there are hundreds of other languages brought to the city by immigrants from every corner of the globe. Within walking distance of Daryanani Law Group’s office, the Language Map pinpoints more than a dozen locations where someone speaks languages from Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, and the Americas. This is a map is a fascinating portrait of New York’s diverse immigrant communities, “our greatest and deepest asset.”

EL DORADO – The New Forty Niners by Cecile Chong

New York City is “the most linguistically diverse urban center in the world, probably in the history of the world.” The New York Metropolitan area is home to nearly twenty million people, who speak a total of over 800 languages. Forty-nine percent of households in New York City speak a language other than English. Artist Cecile Chong, originally from Ecuador and now living and working in New York, is interested in how and where world cultures overlap and interact. She created this installation, “EL DORADO – The New Forty Niners,” as a tribute to that forty-nine percent of households. The installation consists of one hundred “colored “guagua” (Quechua for baby) sculptures,” forty-nine of which are painted gold. It is a visual representation of the linguistic diversity of the city, and an endorsement of immigration and community.

Truest Words

"Like all immigrants, he seemed to have an unerring instinct for the oldest, truest words in his new language."

- Richard Flanagan
The Narrow Road to the Deep North

NEW YORK TIMES: "TA-TA LONDON HELLO AWESOME"

Sarah Lyall's time in London as foreign correspondent to The New York Times has ended, and she writes about the British:

Why did rain surprise them? Why were they still obsessed by the Nazis? Why were they so rude about Scotland and Wales, when they all belonged to the same, very small country? And — this was the hardest question of all — what lay beneath their default social style, an indecipherable mille-feuille of politeness, awkwardness, embarrassment, irony, self-deprecation, arrogance, defensiveness and deflective humor?       

Not that Americans get off easy:

After years of using pound and euro coins, I find dollar bills cumbersome and idiotic. After years of living happily among Britons who by New York standards would be considered functioning alcoholics, I now find my old friends’ tendency to order wine by the glass, not the bottle, unnecessarily Puritanical.       

It's an excellent and amusing piece.

Along these lines, in an effort to help the two countries better understand each other as well as examine the cultural divide, Guardian's New York newsroom has a very informative tumblr called English to English. Especially helpful is their link to this brilliant chart.