ようになった — does this always imply real effort/practice was involved?

Question

日本語が話せるようになった (became able to speak Japanese). Does ようになった always frame the change as the result of effort or practice, or can it describe a change that just happened naturally/passively too, like 最近よく雨が降るようになった (it's started raining a lot lately)?

Accepted Answer

Good catch — ようになった is broader than 'earned through effort'. Your own example proves it: 雨が降るようになった has nothing to do with practice, it's just marking a gradual change in a recurring state (weather patterns shifting). With ability verbs like 話せる it OFTEN implies effort because that's usually how ability changes, but the grammar itself is neutral about the cause — it just marks 'this wasn't the case before, and now it is, gradually'.