The 15 Chinese students who began their studies in Hungarian at the University of Debrecen three years ago thanks to international educational cooperation are already close to obtaining their Hungarian basic diploma as the second graduating year of the Faculty of Humanities, writes unideb.hu.
The story began years ago, in 2015, when the Beijing International Studies University (BISU) started a seven-year special course with the participation of 20 high school students, in which the students, having mastered the Hungarian language in three years, could later pursue university studies in Hungary.
BISU contacted the University of Debrecen and the Summer University of Debrecen with the cooperation of the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Beijing. The institutions developed the foundations of the joint training, so the students could start the program in China with the help of Hungarian instructors.
Finally, in September 2017, the first 20 Chinese students who took part in a one-year Hungarian language and culture course arrived in Debrecen. Most of the classes were held by the teachers of the National University of Applied Sciences, and then the written and oral admissions followed with the help of the staff of the Hungarian Linguistics Institute of the Faculty of Humanities of the German Academy of Sciences.
Those who successfully overcome the obstacles got into the Hungarian basic course, and finally, 12 Chinese students obtained a Hungarian degree in 2022.
The current 15 graduate students – including Adél (Zhang Anyuan), Andi (Xu Jianing), Csenge (Liu Yichen), Tünde (Yang Xi) and Vali (Liu Yonghan) – made their choice at home, in China, at the beginning of their Hungarian studies, just like the previous year give yourself a Hungarian name.
They arrived in Debrecen in 2016 to further deepen their language skills and began their higher studies at the Faculty of Humanities in the 2020/21 academic year.
Most of their work in the past three years was primarily studies and learning the Hungarian language as accurately as possible, but it was also an important aspect during the training that they should develop as thorough a knowledge of the Hungarian language system as possible, and get an idea through the content of the literary and linguistic subjects. also about the culture of the Hungarian people.
Since our first meeting, they have come a long way, most of them have become responsible, purposeful adults in front of our eyes in a foreign country, far from their homeland
– Edit Dobi, coordinator of the training of Chinese students majoring in Hungary, told.
The associate professor of the Institute of Hungarian Linguistics of the Faculty of Humanities emphasized: learning the Hungarian language at such a level that they can work on professional – literary and linguistic – topics and give an account of their knowledge in Hungarian is not an easy task, the Chinese students worked a lot so that at the end of the academic year – and then after defending their thesis – to receive their diploma.
The 15 Chinese students majoring in Hungarian have already completed their thesis – in Hungarian, of course – at the end of their bachelor’s degree. The topics include, among others, the comparative analysis of the disaster stories of Greek and Chinese mythology, the European Art Nouveau poster art of the turn of the century, and literary education in kindergartens in China and Hungary.
The students also had the opportunity to get to know Hungarian culture in addition to the language: they went to concerts, festivals, summer camps, Budapest, and Lake Balaton, but also visited Eger and Sárospatak.
In order to keep their customs, they joined the Chinese Scholars Association of the University of Debrecen, which has been operating since 2018. In addition to providing assistance to more than 350 Chinese students studying here, “CSAD” is committed to cultural exchanges between China and Hungary. In addition, they are regular participants in the courses and programs organized by the Faculty of Humanities Confucius Institute, as it is important for them to get to know the Hungarian language and culture as well as the Hungarians to get to know China.
After obtaining the diploma, there are those who will continue their studies with a master’s degree at the University of Debrecen, there are also those who will continue their studies at other European universities, but their plans include literary translation and interpreting, and among the graduates, there are also those who at BISU would like to teach the Hungarian language in China as part of a training course.
As in the previous year, the Faculty of Humanities organized a special end-of-year ceremony for the graduates. In addition to BISU teachers, family members and friends of the Chinese students will also participate virtually in the ceremony planned for June 15 thanks to the online connection.
