As someone who recalls watching the Tiananmen Square rebellion on CNN during my high school years. I've been gripped by the news coming out of Hong Kong. And if there's one figure who's caught my attention more than any other, it's Agnes Chow Ting (周 庭; shuu tei). Chow has stood out, not just for her bravery, but her linguistic prowess – not only in Cantonese and English, but in her Japanese speaking as well.

The Struggle for Democracy

Chow has earned the nicknamed the “Goddess of Democracy” (Japanese: 民主の女神; minshu no megami) for her role in the fight against Hong Kong's proposed extradition law. The law, had it been enacted, would have allowed Hong Kong (at China's behest) to extradite prisoners to the mainland. Dissidents, who rightly saw this as a first step toward cracking down on pro-democracy voices, took to the streets. While the extradition treaty has been rescinded, protesters have pushed forward with demands aimed at increasing political liberty in Hong Kong. The result has been months of escalating confrontations with the Hong Kong police.

Chow is part of the pro-democracy party Demosistō. She, plus other Demosistō members such as Joshua Wong, were barred from participating in Hong Kong's recent District council elections. But it didn't matter: pro-democracy forces scored a huge victory on election day, netting some 80% of available seats.

Agnes Chow Ting and the Japanese Media

As part of their fight against Beijing, the members of Demosistō have repeatedly made their case to the international media. Agnes Chow Ting has aimed much of her media activity toward one country in particular: Japan. Chow maintains a Twitter account solely in Japanese, which she uses to communicate vital information and striking images about the Hong Kong protests to the Japanese-speaking world. In one recent post, she shared an image of masked and armed police officers strolling past schoolchildren.

And, sometimes, she just uses her account to profess her love for Japanese culture. Take this post, where she shows off her disastrous attempt at making takoyaki. (“I thought I'd challenge myself, but it's as tricky as I figured.”)

Lest you think Chow's Japanese is limited to the written word, she also works the television and radio circuit in Japan. She's been a guest on multiple programs, including liberally-inclined radio host Ogiue Chiki's Session 22. You can see her skills at work in this interview with TV Tokyo. Chow's Japanese is fluid and confident – the obvious product of someone who's spent many, many hours practicing and honing her third language.

In Anime, Parallels to Hong Kong

People in language learning communities often debate the meaning of the word “fluent.” But there can be little doubt that the description applies to Agnes Chow Ting's Japanese. Which probably leaves many language learners asking: How the dang heck?!

You might assume that Chow spent years studying at a Japanese university. The truth is, she started learning Japanese for the same reason many of us did: to understand anime and Japanese pop culture better. Chow is reportedly not just a fan of anime but has also been a lover of idol and J-POP culture since elementary school. According to Chow, the first anime she ever fell in love with was Kirarin Revolution (きらりん☆レボリューション), back in 2008.

Chow is also a Fate/Zero fan. In an interview, she discussed how the story's theme of the sacrifices required to ensure peace resonates with her. “It's a story that's critical of the social structure,” she says. “That relates to what's happening now in Hong Kong.”

Chow is a self-taught Japanese learner who always preferred studying Japanese over Mandarin. As of 2018, however, she had only ever been to Japan five times. In interviews with Japanese media, Chow relates that her listening ability always outpaced her speaking ability. That began to change in 2014, as her participation in Hong Kong's pro-democracy Umbrella Movement grew.

At first, Chow relates, “I could only say ‘Ohayou.'” For the most part, she relied on an interpreter during her early interviews. But as time went on, her skills (and confidence) grew, and Chow found herself speaking directly to Japanese media. The need to speak Japanese in a real-world setting, in other words, helped her improve markedly.

(JP) Link: Why is Agnes Chow Ting's Japanese So Good? It's Because She Likes Anime and Studied on Her Own!

The Power of Speaking in Your Own Voice

There are three things I take away from Agnes Chow Ting's Japanese prowess.

First, I've always maintained that pop culture is underrated. That's especially true when it comes to second language acquisition. Pop culture might seem “simple” and “trivial” to educated people in their native language. But when you're learning a second language, you want to hear simple and trivial examples of the language repeated over and over again!

Second, there's a lot of debate about when you should start practicing speaking a second language. Chow undoubtedly practiced speaking before she stepped into the spotlight. But it's also clear that the forcing function of speaking to the Japanese press has been instrumental in improving her skills.

My takeaway: If you want to get better at speaking, put yourself in situations where you have to express yourself. If you don't have native speakers near you, services like Preply can connect you with tutors for a wide variety of popular languages – including Japanese.

Third, there's a lot of blather these days about how AI is killing translation. Translators post almost daily on Twitter about how people ask them why they have jobs when Google translate exists. The truth is that machine translation is way worse than most people think.

But, even if it were to advance to a point of near perfection, there's a certain power in speaking directly in your own words in a way that your listener can immediately understand. Why Agnes Chow Ting speaks in Japanese, she's speaking directly to the people of Japan. There's a gravitas to that that no machine will ever be able to emulate.

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