Chinese

Chinese is a subject for you who want to learn to speak, write and read Chinese. At the same time, you will learn about the country's long history and what is happening in China today, read about its exciting culture and immerse yourself in its rich literature, and much more.

Why is it a good idea to learn Chinese?

China is the world's most populous country, and with over a billion speakers spread across much of the world, Chinese is the world's largest language. As the world becomes increasingly global, China has become more important in the world economically, politically and culturally. Knowledge of China's language, society and culture is an important prerequisite for understanding developments in China and for having contact with China and Chinese people in various contexts, both professionally and privately. Career paths for those who know Chinese are, for example, analyst and administrator at various authorities, organisations and think tanks, diplomat, journalist, teacher, researcher, interpreter, and translator, in the business world as a consultant and advisor to Chinese companies in Sweden and Swedish companies in China, work in museums and libraries, in tourism, etc.

What is special about the language?

Chinese is a language with a long history and a rich culture and literature. Chinese is very different from Western languages, for example, because the words do not have inflectional forms. Chinese is also a tonal language – a word can have different meanings depending on its tone. The writing system consists of characters developed from pictures. To be literate, you need to know about 2 500 characters.

How is the education structured?

We offer Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral degrees in Chinese. The courses are designed as a programme, with a clear structure and progression courses that build on what has been taught in previous courses you have taken.

First cycle, courses leading to a Bachelor's degree

In the course Chinese A, you learn to speak, read and understand simple everyday dialogues and texts. You will also take a module on Chinese history and culture. In Chinese B, the difficulty increases slightly with more complicated dialogues and texts, both with more everyday content and factual texts. You also take a module on the current state of Chinese society. In Chinese C, you read factual texts, newspaper texts and Chinese literature and have the opportunity to talk about these topics in Chinese. You will also take a module on the history of Chinese literature. To obtain a bachelor's degree in Chinese, you need to take the course Chinese D2 with Independent Project. In this course, you will write an independent project, gain an in-depth knowledge of factual texts and start to learn classical Chinese.

You can also take our two other D-level courses: Chinese D1, Studies Abroad, where you study at a university in China. In China, you will hear and speak Chinese all day long and take a big step forward in your practical language skills. In the course Chinese D3, Internship, you have the opportunity to do an internship at, for example, an authority, organisation or company that has a connection to China or the Chinese-speaking area. Once you have completed the internship course, you will have gained work experience and your chances of getting a job will increase.

If you want to concentrate on studies about the country instead of the language, we offer courses on Chinese History and Culture, China Today and History of Chinese Literature.

Second cycle, courses leading to a Master's degree

To obtain a Master's degree in Chinese, you need to study 120 credits of which at least 60 credits must be in the subject of Chinese at second cycle. You can choose between different courses:

In the course Chinese in Professional Life, Internship you do an internship at the Stockholm China Center at the Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP) in Stockholm and get to analyse texts, write reports etc. You can also choose the course Chinese Academic Text, where you read academic texts in Chinese, a good practice for choosing and reading source material for your Master's thesis.

We also have three courses that focus on history, culture, society and literature instead of language: Chinese History and Culture, advanced level, China Today, advanced level and History of Chinese Literature, advanced level. Finally, you take the compulsory course Master's Thesis in Chinese, where you immerse yourself in a subject and write a thesis.