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In my native language there's an idiom "as practice shows" which means that your statement is based on some experience (practice).
Sometimes it's used to emphasize the difference between theoretical expectations and practical results.

For example: the manufacturer states that their device is water-proof, but as practice shows it gets broken if you use it in the rain.

I've come up with these variants, but I don't know how they sound for native English speakers:
- as practice shows
- in practice
- according to practical/live experience
- experience teaches that

Could you please tell me how would you say?

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  • I don't understand what you mean by according to [the] standard practice in this context, or why your example says even if you use in the rain. Usually, even in such contexts would be used to introduce some possibility that superficially seems extremely unlikely to be associated with problems. Idiomatically, in practice would be "standard English" here, but this usage has no real connection to standard practice. Oct 28, 2015 at 19:02
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    "in practice" is good or "in the real world" or "realistically" or "practically". Oct 28, 2015 at 19:12
  • @FumbleFingers I removed "even" and "standard practice" => I agree with you, they are not appropriate here Oct 28, 2015 at 19:22
  • agreed with AlexT..."in practice" is the common-usage idiom.
    – dwoz
    Oct 28, 2015 at 19:30

2 Answers 2

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For example: the manufacturer states that their device is water-proof, but as practice shows it gets broken if you use it in the rain.

One such expression that would fit your sentence is "in reality":

The manufacturer states that their device is water-proof, but in reality it gets broken if you use it in the rain.

(A synonymous expression would be "in practice", as suggested in comments by @AlexT.)

I also think you are on the right track with the word "experience". Let me suggest experience shows:

The manufacturer states that their device is water-proof, but experience shows it gets broken if you use it in the rain.

You can emphasize the difference between expectation and reality even more:

Real-world experience shows this phone is not as waterproof as the vendor says it is.

(This excellent suggestion was offered by @Sven Yargs in comments.)

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  • +1 for in reality- it’s what immediately came to my mind too.
    – Jim
    Oct 29, 2015 at 1:56
  • Idiomatically, real-world experience is often used as a contrast to theoretical expectation.
    – Sven Yargs
    Oct 29, 2015 at 6:46
  • @SvenYargs Thanks, that is spot-on.
    – A.P.
    Oct 29, 2015 at 7:33
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If this is purely anecdotal, the most natural way to say this, IMO, would be "the manufacturer states that their device is water-proof, but many find it gets broken if you use it in the rain." You could also say, "... but it has been shown to break if used in the rain." As you suggest, many say "Experience teaches us that..." or, perhaps more colloquial, "it's been our experience," but often the first-person pronoun is not appropriate.

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