New York's Mayor Speaks Bengali, Mandarin, and Spanish to Promote Free Broadway Tickets

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani found a surprising way to spread the word about free Broadway tickets for high-school students. He recorded videos in three different languages — Spanish, Mandarin, and Bengali — to reach as many young New Yorkers as possible. The videos were posted in August and quickly went viral on social media. People across the city and around the world praised Mamdani for his language skills and his effort to connect with New York's many communities.

The free-ticket program was announced by Mayor Mamdani together with a non-profit group called the Theatre Development Fund, also known as TDF. The program offered 2,100 free Broadway tickets to New York City high-school students through a lottery. Students who were chosen could claim up to two tickets each, and the tickets could be used for seven different Broadway shows. The lottery opened on August 13 and was set to close on August 17, with winners announced on September 1.

The Spanish video came first and set the tone for everything that followed. Mamdani had spoken Spanish before during his time running for office, so viewers were not totally surprised. But the reaction was still very warm. Actress Rachel Zegler, known for her role in Snow White, commented online: "ur spanish is so good my guy." Language-learning app Duolingo jumped in too, joking: "how do you know every language."

The next video was in Mandarin, and it may have impressed people even more. Mandarin is known as one of the harder languages to learn because tiny changes in the pitch of your voice can completely change the meaning of a word. Journalist Bethany Allen called Mamdani's Mandarin "extraordinary," saying that many people study Chinese for years and still can't get the tones right. She also pointed out that Mamdani could even pronounce a difficult sound called a retroflex, which trips up many learners.

It turned out that Mamdani had studied Mandarin at the Bronx High School of Science, which he attended from 2006 to 2010. However, a spokesperson for the mayor said he had not seriously studied or spoken Mandarin since his high-school days. That made his performance even more impressive to many viewers. Comedian Francesca Fiorentini joked online that he had now given Chinese mothers yet another impossible standard to hold their kids to.

The Bengali video may have made the biggest emotional impact of all. Mamdani opened the video with a warm, familiar greeting — "Kemon acho, New York City high schoolers?" — which means "How are you?" in Bengali. He closed by saying "Thikachey, tahole dekha hobe show te," meaning "Alright then, see you at the show." One viewer wrote that they hadn't been around Bengali speakers in more than ten years, but understood every word Mamdani said — and started crying. The response showed how much it meant to people to hear their language spoken by the city's leader.

Mamdani's background helps explain his comfort with so many languages. He was born in Kampala, Uganda, to Indian parents — his mother is filmmaker Mira Nair, and his father is academic Mahmood Mamdani. He spent his early childhood in Uganda and three years in Cape Town, South Africa, before moving to New York City at age seven. Throughout his political career, he has spoken Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, and Spanish when talking with voters from different communities.

Social media had a lot of fun with Mamdani's language skills throughout the campaign. Duolingo kept popping up in the comments, at one point writing: "Stop tagging me...I AM NOT HOLDING THE MAYOR HOSTAGE." Korean-American singer Audrey Nuna simply wrote: "I love this man." And one user summed up the whole thing perfectly: "Bro's collecting all the languages like Pokémon." The videos reminded many people that New York City is home to millions of people who speak dozens of different languages — and that speaking someone's language can be a powerful way to show you care.