专业背景= technical background?

[Kenny同志]

As I understand it, a person with 专业背景 is one who has underwent formal training in any subject or field; we can say a person specializing in language has 专业背景, so does a MBA or veterinary science major, but is it right to say such people have a “technical background”? if not, what is the equivalent of 专业背景？

[abcdefg]

if not, what is the equivalent of 专业背景？

I think "professional background" would probably be what fits your examples best.

[gato]

Either "education background" or "specialist training", depending on the context.

[jbradfor]

I'm not sure there is a single perfect translations.

To me,

• "technical background" is appropriate only for technical fields, e.g. engineering.
  
• "professional background" is appropriate only for what we call "professional" fields, e.g. lawyer, doctor, business. [bad use of the word "professional", IMHO, but it's standard.]
  
• "specialized training" does not imply a degree, more likely certification. Maybe that's closest.
  

You could say the person has "experience" in that area. It's more general, and includes both degree and work experience.

[SiMaKe]

I agree with jbradfor. No single translation. The specifics of the situation would dictate the proper term to use.

Looking at definitions of 专业 in several dictionaries does not turn up "profession" as a definition. So I would avoid that word unless it actually means "profession" as I describe below. Of course, one could use the term and very few people would even question it.

Permit me to expand on jbradfor's "bad use" reference. At one time, the "professions" were reasonably well defined and included physicians, dentists, lawyers, engineers (e.g., mechanical, electrical, nuclear, structural, acoustical, civil, but not train engineers) and others I don't recall at the moment. I believe there used to be certain criteria for designating an activity or a person as "professional". For example, specific, thorough and advanced (in the sense of beyond a BA/BS degree) education in a particular field of applied knowledge, the existence of recognized societies (e.g., AMA, AICPA, ADA) which maintained principles and standards of conduct, some type of legal standing (e.g, only a CPA can sign an audit report, only a certified civil engineer can sing off on the completion of a construction project, only someone admitted to the bar can plead a case in court for someone else), a recognized body of knowledge that is advanced by the profession through research and peer review. There may be some other criteria that I'm missing.

The ambiguity of the term "profession" may relate to evolving egalitarian concerns. The term has become almost meaningless today because it is applied to just about everyone. It no longer serves a useful purpose in everyday conversation. We now have "professional" waiters and waitresses, counter clerks, assembly line workers. We also call skilled workers like electricians and plumbers professional. And while some of their activities involve many of those identifying characteristics of a profession, some important ones are missing. All of these activities are extremely important to society (and the people who do them) but they are not, in my mind, professions. I could even believe some Nobel laureates are not "professionals". So not being a "professional" does not denigrate the person. But my view is probably way out of date.

And I could, of course, be all wrong.:wacko:

[Edit]

It just occurred to me a way of describing my impression of today's use of "professional". In a nutshell, whatever job XXX you do, you are a "professional" XXX. The term is used for nothing more than to say you earn your living by doing XXX.

[anonymoose]

specialist background

[xianhua]

But my view is probably way out of date.

Not at all. One who manages something (such as their job), is deemed a manager. One who engineers something is deemed an engineer. There also seems to be an upward trend for calling oneself a 'director' if one directs something - such as a short-term project.

[Kenny同志]

非常谢谢同志们，这两天有点忙，所以没及时回复，望见谅。

I don't have time to reply in detail for the moment; I'll come back later to discuss with you.