An apprenticeship is the job of being an apprentice, or the stretch of time you spend as one. An apprentice learns a skilled trade by working under someone who already knows it well — a baker, an electrician, a carpenter — usually for months or years, often with low pay at first. It is not the same as an internship, which is often shorter and more common in offices, hospitals, and companies. And it is not the person: the person is the apprentice; the period or the arrangement is the apprenticeship. In some countries there is a formal system with exams and a certificate at the end. In Taiwan you may also hear 建教合作 for school-and-work programmes, which is related but not always the same thing.