科班出身

kēbānchūshēn

idiom #68,602

Meanings

1 to have had formal professional training
2 to be a trained specialist (as opposed to self-taught)

Characters

category; branch of study

class; training troupe

body; origin; background

Examples

她是科班出身的钢琴家,基本功非常扎实。

Tā shì kē bān chū shēn de gāngqínjiā, jīběn gōng fēicháng zhāshi.

She is a formally trained pianist with very solid fundamentals.

这位导演不是科班出身,却拍出了经典作品。

Zhè wèi dǎoyǎn bù shì kē bān chū shēn, què pāi chū le jīngdiǎn zuòpǐn.

This director had no formal training, yet produced classic works.

公司更倾向于招聘科班出身的工程师。

Gōngsī gèng qīngxiàng yú zhāopìn kē bān chū shēn de gōngchéngshī.

The company prefers to hire formally trained engineers.

Tips

culture

科班 originally meant the Peking Opera training troupes of the Qing era, where children received rigorous classical drama training. It generalized to mean 'formal training' in any profession.

usage

Commonly negated — 不是科班出身 ('not formally trained') is used to praise a self-taught person who nonetheless excels, or to dismiss a pretender.

Stroke Order

科 kē

班 bān

出 chū

身 shēn