社会实践(shè huì shí jiàn) - work experience in Mandarin

社会实践 (shèhuì shíjiàn) is the term AQA glosses as "work experience", though it covers more ground than the English phrase suggests. 社会 (shèhuì) means "society" and 实践 (shíjiàn) means "practice, to put into practice", so the compound reads literally as "social practice": any structured spell of practical, hands-on activity outside the classroom, from a fortnight shadowing an office to a volunteering placement.

Chinese schools and universities build 社会实践 (shèhuì shíjiàn) into the curriculum, often over the summer holidays, and students write it up afterwards, so the phrase turns up constantly in study and employment vocabulary. An English speaker's first instinct is to translate it narrowly as "work experience" in the British schools sense, a week in a local office, but 社会实践 (shèhuì shíjiàn) is broader: it can mean community service, a research project, or a factory placement just as easily.

Watch the word order: 参加社会实践 (cānjiā shèhuì shíjiàn), "to take part in work experience", uses 参加 (cānjiā), "to take part in", not 做 (zuò), "to do", though 做社会实践 (zuò shèhuì shíjiàn) is also heard informally.