Introduction
Avenue U, located in the vibrant borough of Brooklyn, New York. Avenue U is on the right of Brooklyn. On the contrary, Avenue U has a variety of different languages, which further demonstrates its linguistic and cultural diversity. I know Avenue U because I moved here from Eighth Avenue. When I first came here, I didn’t see many people on the street, but there were all kinds of languages surrounding it. Over the decades, this neighborhood has been a home for the diverse communities, including Eastern European Jews, Italians, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and more recently, Asian and African immigrants. Each group has left its mark on the area, contributing to a rich tapestry of languages and cultural expressions. For me, who has lived on both Eighth Avenue and Avenue U, comparing the traffic on these two avenues, I found that Avenue U is not as prosperous as Eighth Avenue, but its excellent language diversity is a good research object. Therefore, in this article, I will delve into the study of the linguistic composition of Avenue U and analyze the relationships and interactions between languages, cultures, and characters.
Background
In the article “AVENUE U, GRAVESEND”, the author wrote “Avenue U is the main shopping street in Gravesend, the seat of a very old town founded in 1643 by an English expatriot, Lady Deborah Moody (1583-1659). It was one of 6 original towns in colonial-era Kings County, each of which became part of the city of Brooklyn (Gravesend in 1894) before its consolidation into Greater New York in 1898.” It’s not hard to be shocked to learn that Avenue U first originated in 1643 and has been around for 381 years. In the article we can also see some of the old buildings pictures that the author posted in this neighborhood, confirming its long history. From the article “NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: SHEEPSHEAD BAY”, it said “A growing Chinese population is slowly transforming Sheepshead Bay.” More recently, Asian and African immigrants have brought languages such as Mandarin, Korean, and various African languages, further diversifying the neighborhood.
Language Structure
Starting from E23rd Street and walking along Avenue U, the first thing you will see is three stores in different languages close to each other. The three stores’ names are written in Georgian, English and Chinese. Although the Georgian store has closed down permanently, its existence confirms the diversity of languages spoken on this street. In Figure 2, all three stores use different colors for their exteriors: with the Georgian store, it used black as its main color; the English store uses red; the Chinese store uses blue. The different colors of the three stores and the different languages on the signs show the diversity of languages and cultures. From this picture (Figure 2), we can also see that the Georgian and Chinese stores have signs in the language of their country along with English translations.
As we continue walking, you will see a lot of Chinese shops. From Figure 3 and 4, we see that the shop signs and texts are mainly in red and yellow. Store would use bright, outstanding colors in wanting to catch more attention from pedestrians. Comparing Figure 3 and 4, all of the store names have English translations. Meanwhile, in Figure 4 , the specialties dishes are only written in Chinese, without any English translations. The reason is because the name of the dishes represent their unique cultural characteristics, which can’t be accurately translated into other languages. In Figure 3, the shop is decorated with lanterns, a unique Chinese specialty. From the article “Chinese Lanterns: Their History and Modern Uses”, it explains “Each of the various types of Chinese lanterns comes with its own set of meanings, but generally speaking, all of the lanterns signify a wish for a better and brighter future.” And in this case, it means they believe that this will bring the shop luck thus doing good in business.
There are also many restaurants from different countries on Avenue U. For example, I found three restaurants (shown in Figure 5 and 6) with their own characteristics. The three restaurants were listed as Vietnamese, Mexican, and Italian cuisine. All three restaurants had unique decorations that made it easy to distinguish one from another. Since I am not very familiar with foreign languages, I had to check on the internet to find out what language is the name of the restaurant in, in order to get a brief idea of what kinds of food they are serving. In the case of the Vietnamese restaurant, the signage was printed in three different languages: Chinese, Vietnamese, and English. This serves an important role in attracting customers of different ethnicities to the restaurant and promoting culture exchange through food. In the Mexican restaurant signage, it is written in Spanish and English. “Mexico” written in English, allows customers to acknowledge this is a restaurant serving Mexican cuisine when passing by, and accurately targeting those who want to have a taste of Mexican Food. For the Italian restaurant which is located next to the Mexican restaurant, the first thing that attracts customers is its beautiful, clean and simple storefront. Neither pictures nor menu are being posted at the front door. This is a good way to maintain a sense of mystery and curiosity to the customer, so that customers are thrilled to discover their menu.Three restaurants of different ethnicities provide the street with a full range of languages and cultures, promoting linguistic and cultural exchanges through spreading the food culture of their own countries.If you search “The Best 10 Restaurants near Avenue U” on Yelp, you will find that the top ten restaurants are from different countries, including Jewish, Sicily, Italy, Russia, Mexico, Japan, Thailand, Uzbek, Turkey, and the United States. The ten restaurants are different but they coexist on this street, spreading their respective food culture and communicating with each other.
Linguistic Landscape in daily life
In our daily life and needs, we can also find different language services for our daily life in Avenue U.For example, from what we can see in Figure 7 and 8, there are two different pharmacies that share the same name, same banner design with blue background with white fonts. Additionally, both pharmacies have signs in Chinese, English and Russian.This analysis leads to the conclusion that the drugstore is accessible to a wider range of people and promotes language communication on the street.
Not only that, but the street offers different languages on cultural institutions. In Figure 9, there is a Jewish school. Although I couldn’t understand the language text on the sign, I was able to confirm that it was Hebrew from Judaism by checking the information, which is the common language of the state of Israel. From this picture, it shows that the school provides the educational needs of the Jewish people, promoting bilingualism and cross-cultural understanding. In Figure 10, when I first passed by, the unique font of the headline catches my attention. My first impression is that this must be an expatriate store, but I wasn’t sure what kind of store it was.When I walked up to the door, I noticed that the poster listed on the door said “Автошкола”. I immediately scanned the text with a translation site, which means driving school in Bulgarian.This is a language that not many are familiar with, but its existence shows that there is an ethnic group of people who speak this language is living around this area.The fact that these cultural institutions have been established on this street is a further indication of the diversity of cultures and the promotion of cultural exchanges.
Conclusion
Although many different ethnic languages can be found on Avenue U, English is still the dominant language. The linguistic landscape of Avenue U truly showcases the rich cultural and linguistic diversity of the area. Even though there are multiple races of people on this street, the races coexist peacefully and engage in cultural exchanges with each other, creating a vibrant environment on the street. In a Brooklyn crime rate report (Figure 11), the Gravesend community where U Avenue is located was rated as the safest community. As the neighborhood continues to grow, I believe that Avenue U will become even more culturally and linguistically diverse and will become the most linguistically and culturally diverse neighborhood in New York City.