Help! Interview in another language advice???

I got along through some interview at a global AM firm. Most of their operations/investments are actually overseas primarly Asia and South America. I told them I am a novice speaker of spanish and italian in my initial conversations. I have another interview tomorrow but was told part of it would be in spanish. They said expect a mix of technical and behavioral questions already.

I've been practicing but there are so many words for technical I don't know in spanish. Also, I'm positive if it is a question that actually requires thinking in conjunction with technical info. I'm screwed.

8 Comments
 

How do you have it down on your resume/application. If under languages you just wrote Spanish and Italian then you probably deserve to be embarrassed. If you explicitly stated that you were a beginner you might be able to get out of it. When they told you your interview would be in spanish, why didn't you correct them and say that you were only a beginner and couldn't hold a conversation in another language? To be honest, unless I was fluent or very very good at a language, I would never proclaim any sort of language proficiency. Banks love to test people on their language skills and I've heard so many horror stories of people who have gotten "caught with their pants down" when it comes to knowing another language.

 
Best Response
bhollowaHow do you have it down on your resume/application. If under languages you just wrote Spanish and Italian then you probably deserve to be embarrassed. If you explicitly stated that you were a beginner you might be able to get out of it. When they told you your interview would be in spanish, why didn't you correct them and say that you were only a beginner and couldn't hold a conversation in another language? To be honest, unless I was fluent or very very good at a language, I would never proclaim any sort of language proficiency. Banks love to test people on their language skills and I've heard so many horror stories of people who have gotten "caught with their pants down" when it comes to knowing another language.

It said Spanish (Learning) & Italian (Learning)

Italian is my native language though.

They told me they get a lot of foreign professionals coming to their office and they travel abroad a lot. Hence I guess they want to test my fluency. I'm f*cked.

 

First of all its your mistake that you have written in your resume that you know Spanish language. If you don't know the language then talk to your interviewer and clear the misconception and apologize for your fault.

 
SirTradesaLotI guess you can try to fake a Catalan accent or something and pretend you don't understand their regional dialect. But, really, you are fucked.

That is funny but Catalan is actually a completely different language than Spanish much in the same way that Gaelic is a different language than English. The language commonly refereed to as" Spanish" is actually more properly called "Castilian" aka the Kingdom of Castle which was one of several kingdoms in Hispania before Spain was unified.

Too late for second-guessing Too late to go back to sleep.
 

Explicabo rerum ducimus suscipit commodi ut. Ut a necessitatibus voluptas placeat quas. Minus delectus aut possimus optio placeat numquam. Ea eum omnis eligendi culpa aut assumenda. Modi veniam vel aliquid dignissimos. Rerum nisi fuga delectus ut numquam molestias quos harum.

Est nulla reiciendis aspernatur et ut fuga in. Non cupiditate quibusdam vel nostrum. Doloribus fugiat est unde sed. Sit libero voluptas sint magni qui occaecati. Rerum sed est dolor aliquid explicabo ratione dignissimos. Distinctio autem quo vel qui.

Perferendis sit aut impedit at tempora rerum aperiam. Aut explicabo dolorem quis et. Dolores beatae ex vero iste molestias est.

Fuga blanditiis enim nihil totam sint cupiditate amet rem. Magnam dolorem occaecati enim quo. Quia molestiae nesciunt consectetur doloribus soluta dolores modi nobis. Corrupti blanditiis repellendus nihil qui. Tempore quasi cupiditate molestias voluptatibus ut deleniti. Aliquid autem omnis vero velit dolores ut. Quam ut quod laboriosam cupiditate quis.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (47) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (83) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (74) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”