"Praktikum machen"?

[Carj]

I looked up the word „Praktikum“ in the dictionary and found a lot of possibilities:
- traineeship
- internship
- placement
- work experience
- training …

I wonder if all these words have exactly the same meaning. Are there differences in using them? For example for different branches, target groups or periods or whatever. Which of them is most used?

I also wonder which verb goes together with “Praktikum”. I did a traineeship, I made a traineeship, I had a traineeship?

I don’t need the information for an application I’m just curious.

[SanDiego]

HiCarj,
I don´t have a good solution for you but maybe we can find some good explanations together.
A traineeship in my opinion would be when you are newly employed in a company but you are not fully trained. You are still in the learning phase of the specific job. Maybe you could compare it to the German “Ausbildung” as you have no experience in the job but you are being trained by a professional person.
An internship is for students ( in school or collage) who want to gain some work experience during summer vacation or after school.
I think that the difference between an internship and a traineeship is that during a traineeship you are being trained on the specific job you want to do later on but in an internship you won´t necessarily be working in the job after you have completed it…. I hope this makes sense
The word placement is not used without a specified word in front of it. With that I mean with that is that for example if you are doing an internship in the industy. You could say that you are doing an industrial placement.
It could be that the word work experience is used in British English for “Praktikum”.
Maybe someone else will post some answers or help us find some more good solutions. 

[Carj]

Thank you for your suggestions.

Perhaps my question is not only about vocabulary but also about working life in general. For example: in Austria exists* some kind of "Praktika" which are necessary for specific professions. You can’t become a judge without "Gerichtsjahr" or if you want to become a physician you will have to do "Turnus". I think we can use the German word "Praktikum" as an umbrella term** for different kinds of "Praktika". That’s why I have started to think about how to use it in English.

(* I’m not sure whether “some kind of…” demand(s) a plural or singular verb?)
(** What a nice allegory!)

[Duckduck (Contributor)]

Hey there!

Why not check these:

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.c ... experience
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/traineeship
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/internship
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/training

http://www.dict.cc/?s=praktikum+machen

Duckduck

[tiorthan]

For example: in Austria different kinds of "Praktikum" exist which are necessary for specific professions.

Zunächst einmal stimmt in deinem Satz die Wortstellung nicht, denn das Subjekt dieses Satzes ist "Praktika" und deshalb muss exist dahinter stehen.
Außerdem bedeutet "some kind of" = "irgendein". Es wird also nur für eins aus mehreren Verfügbaren genommen. Nach dem "of" das eine Kategorie einleitet steht das Kategeoriewort im Singular und nicht im Plural, daher hier auch Praktikum.