"In the office, I work quietly, and now I'm about to take a short break.
Long ago, I aspired to be a licensed tour guide. I believe I was short by 2-3 points in my English score based on my own assessment.
After studying considerably, I learned that I could be exempted from the English requirement for the tour guide license
if I had a certain TOEIC score.
So, I shifted my focus to the TOEIC and decided to take the exam. My daughter also wanted to know how good her English was, so we took the test together (though we live in different places, so we were at different test centers).
I thought I had studied quite a lot, but I was 5 points short for the English exemption for the tour guide license. My daughter, who took
the exam rather casually, easily cleared the passing mark.
Unlike me, who had fallen behind, my peers aiming to be tour guides all had wonderful English abilities. In TOEIC, they scored either perfect or in the high 900s.
Gradually, I found it difficult even to understand Japanese and realized that this job was not for me. I gave up definitively.
As I was free, a family member asked me to help out at his office. Now, I serve as the chairman of the office, handling various matters.
It's great to be of help to my family member but when I travel abroad or converse with foreign friends
or English-speaking business associates, I feel frustrated at not being able to fully express my thoughts.
Agatha Christie's English is easy to read. Kazuo Ishiguro's English is refined and beautiful. (It's especially challenging in English,
but I like the beautiful expressions.) I can say that much, but it's not enough.
As an overseas trip approaches, I sometimes think I should have listened more to CNN or BBC... (I only think that at such times)."