ニューヨークに来てから、友達になる子たちは大体ESLで出会うのですが、なぜか母国語の他にもう一言語喋れる人がすごく多いんですよね。日本人に限らず、韓国人や台湾人、ベトナム人もです。逆に私のように母国語しか話せない方が、私の友達の中では少数です。自分自身がこちらで働いている子もいますが、大体は旦那さんの仕事の都合でニューヨークに住んでいる子たちです。やはり旦那さんが将来を見据えてそういう人を選んでいるのか、海外に住んでみたい願望がある人同士がくっつくのかは分かりませんが、やはり普通よりも断然海外志向の強い人が多いように感じます。第二言語を習得する大変さを実感しているので、母国語以外の言語（しかも英語以外）を喋れるなんて、本当に尊敬でしかありません。
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Since I came to New York, I often made friends in ESL class, but surprisingly, most of them can speak another language besides their mother tongue. It applies to not only Japanese, but also Korean, Taiwanese, and Vietnamese. On the other hand, someone who can speak only his/her mother tongue like me is minor among my friends. Some are working here themselves, while most of them are living here due to their husband's job. Although I don't know if their husband had chosen such wives who are interested in living abroad or people who have desires to live abroad become a couple, They seem to be more interested in overseas than normal people. As I tried to learn English as a second language, I know how tough it is, so I really respect those who speak a second language especially other than English besides their mother tongue.