I agree that #USA is an #American melting pot, and I would also prefer to call #NYC a tossed or mixed salad.
A new study from Word Finder X analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data in order to find the most spoken language in each NYC neighborhood. Unsurprisingly, English and Spanish are the most commonly spoken languages in households across the city, but which tongues get top marks if you take both of those languages out of the equation?
According to published reports, Chinese ranked as the most spoken language in 15 neighborhoods—more than any other language—including Sunset Park, Brooklyn, Flushing, Queens, and Manhattan’s Chinatown, home to the largest population of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere.
Russian took the top spot in eight other NYC neighborhoods, including Brooklyn's Brighton Beach, long a haven for Eastern European immigrants who moved to the area in the late 1960s. Italian was the top language in three neighborhoods, including Howard Beach in Queens, "where half of the population is either Italian or claims Italian ancestry," reads the study. Haitian-dominated areas like Flatbush in Brooklyn, the largest Haitian community in New York City. Bengali, French, Korean, and Yiddish also popped up throughout several neighborhoods in the city.
NYC has the data to back it up: According to the Department of City Planning, New Yorkers speak over 200 different languages. "Nearly one-half of all New Yorkers speak a language other than English at home, and almost 25 percent, or 1.8 million persons, are not English Proficient," the city says.