Will

Matsutani-san passed the Eiken Speaking Test, which is very good news for me because I don’t want to practice with him again.

Just kidding. Haha.

While walking home from work, Inari-san talked about it and he said something like many Japanese “think it’s very, very hard to pass the test” and “unless we go abroad, we can’t do pass.”

I didn’t say anything to that because I like to think about things before talking, but I don’t know if I can agree. I wondered if the people who think it’s “very, very difficult” to pass the test have actually tried to take the test; and, if they had, if they put in the amount of effort needed to be able to pass the test.

I wondered if the people who think that the only way to get better at a language is to go abroad have actually tried to expose themselves to that language enough to be able to pick words, expressions, cultural references, pronunciation, etc.

I’m not saying that Matsutani-san isn’t great for passing or that the Eiken 1 is easy, but I believe in determination so it’s hard for me to agree when people assume an outcome when they haven’t tried or did their best to get to that outcome. After all, “where there’s a will, there’s a way.”