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Best US cities for language lovers? | ||
Tags: Place of Residence | United States | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| bjornbrekkukot Newbie United States Joined 4517 days ago 25 posts - 58 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 27 01 May 2012 at 4:22am | IP Logged |
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I'm having a heck of a time trying to decide where to move. I just received an MA, and work as a translator from
home, so I can live practically anywhere in the US. I love the languages, density, walkability, seasons, and history of many cities in Europe. However, without a job/visa, I have no options abroad. I've lived in both San Francisco and NYC, both amazing cities for language lovers, but I'm no longer interested in moving back to either of them, mainly because of the high rent. So my question is: What are other great US cities for language lovers? By this I mean a place where I can hear languages on the street every day, buy books/newspapers in them, see films, go to cultural events, and so on. Thanks for any feedback! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 4925 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 2 of 27 01 May 2012 at 4:42am | IP Logged |
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Chicago's a pretty awesome city for language lovers. Good public transportation and very walkable, too.
Much like San Francisco, the city is based around neighborhoods, each with their own distinct feeling. You'll also find plenty of language-centric cultural activities. I constantly see pamphlets for various groups and/or lessons & workshops. I've attended events from the Instituto Cervantes, the Italian Cultural Institute and the Turkish American Cultural Alliance. I know there's also a Polish Cultural Institute (of course there is - it's Chicago!) and a German American Cultural Center, although I've not taken advantage of their services. There's a great bookstore in the River North area (just within walking distance north of downtown) called Europa Books that has all sort of books, magazines and newspapers in many languages - similar to Cafe de la Presse in SF but without the restaurant. They also organize and host a lot of language-related activities. There are also some culturally specific neighborhoods, such as Greektown, Little Italy, Chinatown (although it's pretty sad compared to San Francisco's Chinatown) and Little Village, among others. I moved from San Francisco to Chicago and never thought I would find an American city as great as San Francisco. Chicago is now my favorite US city, by far. R. == Edited by hrhenry on 01 May 2012 at 5:09am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Michael K. Senior Member United States Joined 5524 days ago 568 posts - 886 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto | Message 3 of 27 01 May 2012 at 4:54am | IP Logged |
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Try the state capitals (or the largest city) of any midsized state. There's bound to be a lot of immigrants in those cities. I used to volunteer in an ESL classroom in Akron, Ohio, (not the state's largest city, but still pretty big by Ohio standards) and there were 10-12 students in the class.
I'm sure there are probably more in Cleveland or Columbus. I hear there are a lot of speakers of other languages in Memphis, but that's probably true of any big city in the US. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| nway Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Vic Joined 5210 days ago 574 posts - 1707 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean | Message 4 of 27 01 May 2012 at 6:17am | IP Logged |
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For a significantly less high-profile city, I humbly suggest Irvine, with just under a quarter of a million people, 40% of which are Asian. Naturally, there are hundreds of Asian restaurants (I'm not talking Panda Express—although we have that too, yum) and stores (no less than three Korean supermarkets, two Chinese supermarkets, and one each of a Japanese and a Persian supermarket within ten minutes' driving distance from my house). It's also home to one of the largest Buddhist monasteries and Buddhist temples in the United States (catering to Chinese and Vietnamese), as well as an Islamic Center that probably caters to a substantial Urdu and/or Farsi-speaking population.
There are also numerous international student agencies centered around here, and my family has personally housed dozens of students each from South Korea and Japan, as well as a handful from China, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Brazil, Poland, Vietnam, Taiwan, Russia, Spain, and Thailand. There are furthermore plenty of cultural events here, especially with all the schools and especially the University of California, Irvine. Basically, you can think of this as a Chinatown/Koreatown, except with a much younger and wealthier population, and more multicultural (lots of South Asians and still 50% white). And just for some general all-purpose advertising: - In 2008, Irvine was chosen by CNN Money as the 4th best place to live in the United States. - In June 2010, the FBI reported that Irvine had the lowest violent crime rate of any major city in the United States. - In September 2011, Businessweek listed Irvine as the 5th best city in the United States. That said, rent in Irvine is quite expensive, though probably not as expensive as San Francisco or NYC. My neighborhood is pretty dated, as it was built in the 1970s, but many of the new apartment complexes are extremely ritzy and luxurious (unfortunately, I'd have to say this city's society is extremely materialistic—think Hong Kong or Newport Beach). I should also note that this city isn't very walkable, although it can certainly be done if you don't mind walking long distances, and the scenery is quite pleasant... Edited by nway on 01 May 2012 at 6:33am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5351 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 5 of 27 01 May 2012 at 6:30am | IP Logged |
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Honolulu, Hawai'i! Not only is this city hugely multicultural with a high level of tourism to boot, but it also has 2 official languages (English and Hawaiian) along with Hawaiian Creole English, which is the native language of many residents. Edited by Teango on 01 May 2012 at 6:31am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| zerrubabbel Senior Member United States Joined 4395 days ago 232 posts - 287 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Mandarin | Message 6 of 27 01 May 2012 at 6:30am | IP Logged |
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I think most university areas have a good variety of languages spoken in the area,
because of exchange students... back in high school near Michigan State University, I went to school with about 14% koreans, a bunch of russian, and smaller pockets of people from all sorts of other places 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| bjornbrekkukot Newbie United States Joined 4517 days ago 25 posts - 58 votes Speaks: English* | Message 7 of 27 01 May 2012 at 6:49am | IP Logged |
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I can't believe it! nway--I live in Irvine! I've been been doing an MA degree at UCI for the last two
years. While I agree that there are a lot of interesting things here in terms of culture and language, the dependence on cars and cost of living is just too much for me. You're probably talking about Wholesome Choice and so on-- really cool places! What do you do in these parts? Edited by bjornbrekkukot on 01 May 2012 at 7:00am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| nway Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Vic Joined 5210 days ago 574 posts - 1707 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean | Message 8 of 27 01 May 2012 at 7:31am | IP Logged |
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Nice! I read your post about a local Vietnamese FM radio station in Southern California, so I figured you might live somewhere around here (106.3, right? Glad to know I'm not the only non-Vietnamese person to have ever listened to that..). Anyway, I've lived in Irvine since 1993, except for when I went to UCSB (graduated last year), and have since been working in Costa Mesa while living in Irvine.
I actually haven't been to Wholesome Choice in the past couple of years, but I drive through there all the freakin' time! I actually drive down Michelson (which intersects Culver where Wholesome Choice is) everyday after work whenever the 405 from Culver to Jeffrey is going too slow (basically, almost always). For my favorite "multicultural spots", I was actually thinking the stretch of Culver from Irvine Center Drive to Deerfield (where the big 99 Ranch Market is), and then from Walnut to just before Trabuco (where the new Mitsuwa just opened up, though I haven't been there yet), and then at the intersection of Jeffrey and Walnut (where the other 99 Ranch Market is, along with dozens of restaurants), and then finally Diamond Jamboree, a couple of minutes away from The District. Though, to be honest, my favorite location is still Costco (all three of them)... 1 person has voted this message useful |
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