Deerawn, who more often does translation of fiction, discusses learning Chinese:

I thought doing the foreigner-in-China study program would be some straight bullshit. I pictured myself finger painting characters, dressed as a Qing eunuch, learning to write my new Chinese name. I thought it would be like that unless I did the HSK and started regular undergraduate Chinese courses, but, I was already done two years of an undergraduate degree and my image of studying Chinese literature at a Chinese university wasn’t exactly flattering.