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I have visited Brighton Beach in Brooklyn this summer and have really liked it!! I speak Russian and it was such an amazing culture shock just people speaking russian all over!!
For the first time in nine years of living in America I did not feel "different" when speaking Russian in public. It felt great in my opinion. Plus hundreds of people where just mingling at the beach boardwalk! Resturants, priests, children, couples holding hands.. nothing i've ever seen living the west in that special regard. . Lol
Now knowing that even though it was such a great culture shock for me I only stayed there for an hour and a half at night. So I have not seen the full Brighton Beach community.
I want a realistic perception on what people think of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. What are its pro's and con's.
The pro's I found was .. besides thousands of native russian speakers. Brighton Beach was right by the ocean. There was a boardwalk, and Coney Island is about a mile away.
So what are the pro's and con's?
What is your critique about this area???
Brighton Beach is awesome. Especially for us russians
I think it's wrong to have store signs printed in Russian--that's kind of like saying nobody else is welcome. And let's face it: this is Brooklyn, not St. Petersburg. But other than that, a vibrant immigrant community--it's the story of the U.S. in miniature! Thumbs up to Brighton Beach.
Brighton has some good food and it's pretty safe, but also dirty and loud. I can speak Russian so it's a comfortable environment for me.
It's more of a little Soviet Union than little Russia, because people from all former Soviet-occupied countries live and work there. Except Ukrainians, there's a Little Ukraine neighborhood in Manhattan, but they're completely Americanized over there. Newly arriving Ukrainians often can't afford to live in Manhattan and group in with the other ex-commies in south Brooklyn.
The reason why Russians expect everyone to speak Russian is because that's how they act in Europe too. When Russians move to Latvia or Ukraine, or whatever, they don't ask their children to start learning the native language, but rather expect the host country to make Russian official. In fact they often encourage their children not to learn local languages.
Brighton has some good food and it's pretty safe, but also dirty and loud.
The reason why Russians expect everyone to speak Russian is because that's how they act in Europe too. When Russians move to Latvia or Ukraine, or whatever, they don't ask their children to start learning the native language, but rather expect the host country to make Russian official. In fact they often encourage their children not to learn local languages.
Brighton can be shady at night. It is generally safe but once in a while, crime can happen over there. One time I had this russian lady talking to russian to me. I told her I don't understand russian. She got mad at me because I didn't understand russian. I said " this is America". IMO, I think English should be the only language spoken in the U.S.
When my parents immigrated to the US in 1989 Brighton was a Russian Jewish enclave. It is not anymore. Most of the Jews who immigrated before the mid to late 1990's have since assimilated (more so their children) and moved out to the suburbs or to other states.
What's left of the Jewish community are the business owners and senior citizens who long for the non existent golden Soviet days. All the while contemplating this while being supported by American tax dollars. Funny, ain't it?
The rest are relatively new immigrants of the non Jewish persuasion. There's a difference and it mostly lies in the reasons that Russian Jews like my parents came to the US and the reasons why the newer immigrants come. Not all immigrants are cut from the same clothe.
My family was never to fond of Brighton to begin with. My father always had a disdain for it actually. He said that if he felt like being amongst Russians and Russian culture then he'd have stayed in Russia. We never lived there and haven't visited in over 15 years even though we've lived in Brooklyn since coming into the US.
Brighton can be shady at night. It is generally safe but once in a while, crime can happen over there. One time I had this russian lady talking to russian to me. I told her I don't understand russian. She got mad at me because I didn't understand russian. I said " this is America". IMO, I think English should be the only language spoken in the U.S.
You're right, but immigrants always mostly speak their native language. When Germans came here en masse there were huge areas in Manhattan where you couldn't hear a word in English. Let's just hope they don't repeat their traditional practices in eastern Europe where they tried to force the locals to learn their language instead, lol.
Last edited by AstroTimeless; 06-22-2011 at 04:20 PM..
Brighton can be shady at night. It is generally safe but once in a while, crime can happen over there. One time I had this russian lady talking to russian to me. I told her I don't understand russian. She got mad at me because I didn't understand russian. I said " this is America". IMO, I think English should be the only language spoken in the U.S.
when anyone talks Russian to me, I answer in Greek.....because I speak Greek fluently
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