"My dream to study in China finally came true": a Swedish student's semester of Chinese

The experience

This student attended Shanghai Normal University for one spring semester in 2025 to study Chinese, supported by the Swedish School in Beijing scholarship. Their interest in China and the language began at seventeen, and the scholarship is what made the trip financially possible.

The classes were described as intensive and fast-paced, heavily focused on advancing language proficiency, with thorough teachers and classmates who were equally diligent. What strikes them in retrospect is how much practice happened outside the classroom: they and their classmates persisted in using Chinese in real situations despite struggling, because they all shared the same goal of having China in their futures.

What it changed

Beyond the language itself, the semester enriched their knowledge of China and opened new ideas about what the language could mean professionally. They describe wanting to use the experience to bridge the two countries, on the basis that a great deal of information and culture is lost through language barriers.

Their summary: the semester improved their Chinese, deepened their understanding of China and sparked new interest — and after being there, the interest only grew.