2 weeks Ago By James Paul
There are over 800 languages spoken in New York City, the most densely populated city in the United States, which hosts an estimated population of 85 lakhs. Established in 1624 by the Dutch colonists as New Amsterdam, the thriving megacity is also home to the world's largest foreign-born population. In 1664 it was renamed as New York by the English colonists, and between 1785 and 1790 the city was also the capital of the United States of America.
The fintech center of the world is also home to the largest population of billionaires and multi-millionaires. The melting pot of the world through Dutch rule, the English imperialism, the American revolution, and the advent of AI, the Big Apple is a true cosmopolitan city, and it is only fair if the electoral infra depicts the same. Hence, besides the official (and native) English, the ballot papers for the presidential elections in New York City have four foreign languages.
Chinese, Spanish, Korean, and *drum rolls* Bengali or Bangla! The list of languages was confirmed by Michael Ryan, the executive director of the board of elections for NYC. The megapolice is home to an estimated 1 lakh Bengali speakers of Indian or Bangladeshi origin. The city is legally obligated to provide ballot papers printed in Bengali at certain poll stations.
#USElections2024 | #Bengali makes the cut as the sole Indian language on New York's ballot papers #KamalaHarris2024 #DonaldTrump #USElection2024 https://t.co/l8vg6c4Hzq — The Telegraph (@ttindia) November 5, 2024 New York's linguistic diversity shines, with over 200 languages spoken—truly a melting pot! Yet, US Presidential ballots feature just five languages, English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish and remarkably, Bengali is the sole Indian language represented. pic.
twitter.com/cHcocbGwZl — Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay (@SanghamitraLIVE) November 4, 2024 #Bengali is the sole Indian language on New York’s ballot papers #USAElections #USDemocracy pic.twitter.
com/DOIOKQErgG — Subhamoy Chakraborti (@csubhamoy) November 4, 2024 #USElections2024 | How Bengali became the only Indian language on NY ballots — ‘they settled on...
’ Read here: https://t.co/IR0SZvWKmk — Mint (@livemint) November 5, 2024 More than 200 languages are spoken in New York, according to the Department of City Planning. However, the ballot papers in the #USpresidentialelections will have only four other languages apart from English.
https://t.co/m5w60jRc22 — The Hindu (@the_hindu) November 4, 2024 For tomorrow's US Presidential election, New York City ballots will feature Bangla, making it one of the four Asian languages available alongside English. #USElection2024 https://t.
co/lqBToxxySB — The Daily Star (@dailystarnews) November 4, 2024 Speaking about how Bengali was listed besides the other foreign languages, Michael Ryan explained that there was a lawsuit over language access; however, it was tricky for India, owing to several languages spoken in the country. The lawsuit settlement mandated that an Asian Indian language be used within a certain population density. After some negotiations, according to Ryan, the committee settled on Bengali.
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