Astoria, New York, is synonymous of Brazilians!

There are two main areas of New York where Brazilians are found. Astoria, Queens is the main residential area for Brazilians in New York City, however there is a small section in Manhattan rich in Brazilian commerce, located on West 46th Street, in between Fifth and Sixth Avenue. "Rua 46" as Brazilians call, it was officially named "Little Brazil," as the street sign on Fifth Avenue demonstrates. Along this bock we found Brazilian restaurants, a travel agency, a pharmacy, and a small department store call "Brasil Way." The sign boasted the colors of the Brazilian flag, even the carts selling hot dogs were green and yellow.

The commonwealth located in Astoria, Queens, around 36th Avenue and 30th Street is the primary focus of the Brazilian community, who are native speakers of Portuguese. What we found there however, was not simply a community of Brazilian Portuguese speakers, but an ethnically and linguistically diverse community that included significant numbers of Bengalis, Pakistanis, Indians, Mexicans, and Arabs, as well as many Japanese, Koreans, Greeks, Dominicans, and Italians. This was evidenced by the variety of business establishments that catered to different ethnic groups, both in language and in content, in the makeup of the local elementary school, and the very people whom we observed and spoke to in the neighborhood.

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