熟能生巧

Pronunciation: shú néng shēng qiǎo Literal meaning: Familiarity can produce skill

Origin & Usage

Ouyang Xiu tells of an old oil seller who watched a celebrated archer at practice and nodded, only slightly impressed. Challenged, he set a gourd on the ground, laid a coin over its mouth and poured oil through the square hole without wetting the metal: 无他，但手熟尔 — nothing to it, my hand is simply practised. Familiarity (熟) is able (能) to produce (生) skill (巧), and the story has a point to make: the archer's gift is being deflated by a tradesman, and repetition turns out to be doing more of the work than anybody wants to admit.

Examples

English: "Through constant practice, she became an expert."

Chinese: 通过不断练习，她熟能生巧，成为专家。