Best materials to prepare for case interview in Italian?

Question

Hey all,

Slightly odd question - but I have a case interview at MBB coming up soon for an office in Italy. However - while my first language is Italian - I have been predominantly speaking English for the past 10 years (lived abroad throughout high school and university). I was wondering if anyone had any advice on materials I could consult to build up the consulting jargon (Top-down, bottom-up, framework, etc) in Italian?

Answer 1

Hi there,

If you want only to practice the consulting jargon in Italian, I would say the best thing is to do peer interviews with other Italian speakers.

The process in MBB in Italy is pretty much the same as in other offices (with the exception of Bain which is more biased on market sizing than other offices), so the traditional material in English would work well.

If you need additional help please feel free to PM me, I helped a lot of candidates for MBB in Italy and know 100+ real questions asked there.

Best,

Francesco

Answer 2

Hi there,

It's an interesting and important question. A lot of candidates encounter the same problem after having studied and/or worked abroad.

Since Italian is your native language, it won't be so hard for you and I am positive that you'll do well at the interview.

However, there are some methods that will help you to feel more at ease during the interview.

First, I'd suggest you freshen up your Italian consulting vocabulary by checking up Italian magazines on business and consulting. It'll help you pick up the terms that you're missing.
Second, we all know how valuable experiences abroad and English knowledge are. Even if you can't recall a word an Italian, you definitely will know an equivalent in English, and the interviewer will, most probably, too. Turn your "weakness" into a strong point!

Hope it was helpful and good luck!

GB

Answer 3

Hi there,

What an interesting "problem"!

So, of course, you need to make sure your business vocabularly is up to scratch. To do so, I recommend the following:

Write down all key terminology you see across cases (both current and past). I.e. Breakeven, NPV, Costs, Revenues, FCF, etc.
1. Make sure you know these words/terms in Italian
Start reading financial news in Italian. This means the local Italian financial papers, the Italian versions of major news sizes (financial times, the economist, etc.) AND read some cases in Italian.
Finally, case in Italian! Lucky for you, Francesco is a world-renowned coach and happens to speak Italian :)

Answer 4

Ciao!

Possiamo parlare per PM se vuoi anche :)

Usually, even in offices in which the local language is present in the interview (e.g., Milano, Madrid, etc). docs are in English.

Do you mean for practicing like in the case delivery, or purely materials?

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara