Communication
New York City is a very large and perhaps the most diverse metropolis in the world with reference to ethnicity. This very large ethnic background is caused by the very long history involving international immigrants moving into the city. Melting pot was a term coined in the description of the very densely populated neighborhoods consisting mostly of immigrants in the lower eastern side of the city (Hanrieder, 2010). The population of New York is very culturally diverse with over eight hundred languages being actively spoken in the city thus making New York City indeed the most diverse city in the modern world with reference to linguistics (Priest, 2003). The city has a population of over eight million people, and English remains the most widely spoken language in the city. The cultural diversity of the city and its population density remain the key and most notable demographic features of the city. Over thirty-six percent of the population of New York City consists of people who are foreign born. The nations constituting some of the largest immigration sources to the city include china, Guyana, Dominican republic, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, el Salvador, Haiti, Russia, Ecuador and Colombia (Priest, 2003). The city also plays home to a very large Jewish community perhaps the largest outside of Israel as well as Indian, Korean and Asian in general. The 2010 census showed that New York City was at the time home to over a million Asian Americans. The largest groups in the city in terms of ethnicity are wet Indians, African Americans, German, Irish, African or Caribbean, Italians, Russian, Chinese, Italians and Puerto Ricans.
This very diverse demography in terms of culture in new york city has led to a lot of cultural interactions as well as cultural manifestations in the city. Example is the development of particular sections of the city which have been built to resemble china itself. These small imitations of China are called China towns and New York City play host to over nine of them (Kotkin, 2005). These are areas where the Chinese immigrants can openly practice their Chinese culture just like it is done back in china. This gives visitors and other immigrants a very insightful and informative perspective of Chinese culture and architecture from thousands of miles away. Another example is the springing up of neighborhoods known as little Italy’s. These are places where Italian immigrants find solace and seek a continuation of the way of life they experienced in Italy by modeling the neighborhood’s architecture to mimic that of Italy itself (Hanrieder, 2010).
Personally, I was amazed at the concept of one city playing host to almost all of the major cultures available in the world. This concept creates a mental picture of cultural beauty where multiple cultures interact peacefully and share their vast diversity with each other. I was also amazed at the concept of so many cultures creating their own home away from home in a single foreign city. How they managed to pull that off still amazes me, but clearly, New York City is representative of the world.
The city is a hub of intercultural communication opportunities and perhaps the largest in the world. While in New York one can communicate and interact with almost every major culture available in the world. For example, interaction with Africans is normal and interactions with people of German origin can only be described as the day-to-day norm. Surprisingly, most of New York City’s population is well conversant in the English language with only a very small percentage of the immigrant population being able to communicate in only their native dialect.
References
Hanrieder, B. (2010). Demographics of New York City elderly as of 1976. New York, N.Y.: New York City Dept. for the Aging.
Kotkin, J. (2005). The city: a global history. New York: Modern Library.
priest, l. (2003). A brief profile of today's city and trends for the future, addressing demographics, the economy, land use, infrastructure, and quality of life. New York, N.Y.: The Dept..
