In the context of Indigenous erasure, the global collapse of traditional ecological knowledge, language suppression and revitalization, our hope is that this map will lead to more accurate cultural representation and recognition of unextinguished Indigenous land tenure.
When the map is published on Oct 9, 2023 (Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the U.S.), it will be publicly available for free on our website. Anyone will be able to download and print the map. We're hoping to fundraise to print and ship free posters to Indigenous schools and cultural centers, but we absolutely welcome these maps being hung in other spaces as well because we all need maps that can help us better understand the world and our place in it.
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New York City is often regarded as the world's most linguistically diverse urban center, boasting around 700 of the world's 7,000 languages spoken on its streets. But most languages in NYC are spoken by communities making up a small fraction of the population. To understand urban linguistic diversity on a larger scale, we created this map, as larger communities represent a barrier against assimilation. Many cities lack comprehensive language demographic data, particularly for languages spoken by less than 1% of the population. The absence of official data necessitates estimates from language communities themselves, underscoring the need for cities to collect and evaluate demographic and linguistic data for better understanding.
Toronto claims the title of the world's most linguistically diverse city, with 17 languages spoken by more than 1% of the population according to the 2021 census. These languages include English, French, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog, Spanish, Portuguese, Tamil, Italian, Farsi, Urdu, Russian, Arabic, Korean, Bengali, Vietnamese, and Gujarati. Notably, Indigenous languages are absent from this list. For urban Indigenous linguistic diversity in the Americas, Guatemala City, with its many Maya languages, leads the way.
Cities with linguistic diversity have a duty to provide government services, forms, and information in multiple languages, especially for vital services like healthcare, housing, and emergency response. San Francisco's Language Access Ordinance in the U.S. stands out as a strong local language law, ensuring accessibility for residents with limited English proficiency through translation and interpretation services.
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