Question: There are two common uses for the English word **experience:**

* the specific sense, as in "skydiving was an interesting experience"
* the more general sense, as in "I have the job experience you're looking for"

The former is a description of the immediate process of living through something, perceiving it, etc. Where as the latter is typically more focused on the knowledge or expertise gained by having participated in something. They're not cleanly separate, of course, since the former typically leads to the latter.

Whenever I've looked up *experience* in an English-Russian dictionary, they always give **опыт** as the translation—often the only one. My sense is that that word is the best translation for the *second* usage above. Is it also the proper term for the *first* usage, or would **переживание** be better for that?

I've also noticed, on [Linguee](https://www.linguee.com/english-russian/search?query=experience) for example, that *переживание* is indicated to be less frequently used. Is that because *опыт* meets the same need, or because the second usage above is a more common topic of conversation among Russians? I wouldn't normally wonder that, but in this case it does conform to my sense of the cultural differences between, say, America (whence I come) and Russia. But perhaps I'm reading too much into it.

Answer: 
*Переживание* (literally, "living-through") is quite a set way to translate the English phrase "emotional experience". I can't think of any other way for it to be used to translate "experience" outside this context.

However, your gut feeling is right, Russian *опыт* usually only applies to knowledge and expertise indeed. "Skydiving was an interesting experience" is best translated as *прыгать с парашютом было очень интересно*.
Можно сказать `опыт работы` и `любовные переживания`, но не `переживания работы`, а `опыт любви` звучит пошло, если не сказать скабрезно.