How to Stay Safe in New York City if English is Your Second Language February 13, 2018

Living in any area of the country (or the world, for that matter) can have the potential of being dangerous—depending on the time of day (or night), the location, or the people you surround yourself with, danger can essentially be anywhere. New York City has the reputation is being more dangerous than other large cities, but as long as you’re careful and mindful, you can avoid common mistakes and deter potentially dangerous situations. If you’re still a bit new to the English language, you might feel this nervousness a bit prevalently due to the barrier, but I’ve broken it down a bit here to make it easier for you so you can still enjoy the city and all the wonderful things it has to offer.

1. Always have a full cell phone battery

Technology is a wonderful enhancement to our daily lives of course, so it’s important to try your best to maintain a healthy battery life while you’re out on the town. You never know what might happen and when you may need to contact someone or use one of your apps—you never really know when you might need your phone until you’ve lost your battery life, right? A very smart and worth-it investment is a remote battery pack for your phone—when I travel or when I know I’ll be away from an outlet for a long period of time, this little guy has saved me more than once. I highly recommend getting one of these—they’re cheap and easy to carry. And since English is a bit newer to you, you’ll be able to continue using your translation apps in the case of an emergency.

2. Be wary of the subway

One of the best pieces of advice I received upon moving to New York City was to avoid the subways after 11 pm. It’s not that terrible things happen underground after this time, but there are simply less people traveling at this hour. This means people tend to be braver when it comes to stealing or harassing people, and if you’ve spent enough time in New York City, you know that we have our fair share of eccentric individuals. I told myself that if I find myself still out after this hour, I’ll shell out the extra money to get a cab or another car service. Plus, being new to English also means that you can avoid talking to these subway people!

3. Lose the headphones

When I’m commuting to and from work during rush hours, I feel fine keeping my ear buds in because I’m surrounded by hundreds of people during these time periods. But again, if you find yourself out past 11 pm, I suggest losing them so your hearing is at its best. Walking at night will automatically heighten your senses, but you want to be extra alert when it comes to your hearing since your vision won’t be as strong and you’ll have to rely on your hearing to listen to footsteps around you, oncoming voices, or even wavering vehicles. This is a “better safe than sorry” instance. If you’re still practicing your English, I’d also recommend having a speed dial on your phone in the event you feel something is off just so you can talk to someone during this feeling of unease.

4. Stay with the lights

As a petite female, I find that my levels of fear are pretty high in comparison to others just because my ability to physically defend myself is pretty low. So I realized that another detail that helped lessen my anxiety was to stay close to pockets of the city that are well-lit. Think about walking around Times Square at night—you feel pretty safe not only because of all the people and security but also because of the lights, right? So if you find yourself feeling a bit worried or concerned about getting around at night, be sure to stay in these areas with lots of people and plenty of light then hail a cab from there. They say that people can smell fear, and if there are bad people out there and can sense your discomfort, you can become an easy target. Plus, as I’ve said before, New York City is a huge melting pot, so if you need help with translation, there’s bound to someone in this area that can help you out!

New York City is a magical and wonderful city, so don’t let others make you feel paranoid or afraid of living here—as long as you’re careful and mindful, you’ll be just fine!