Today we share with you another edition of our series – Chat with our Alumni.
This time we meet Adél Kéri, who interned with ITL Marketing in 2022. Clare Chiusano, trainee in ITL Marketing in 2023, moderated the meeting. The meeting was supervised by Irene Pepe, Marketing and Communications Manager for ITL Group.
Adél, When did you start learning Italian and why?
I actually started learning Italian when I was in highschool. One important fact is that I went to a French high school which gave me the advantage and opportunity to learn other Romance languages. I definitely wanted to take advantage of this and started learning Portuguese and Italian at the same time.
I learned to communicate very quickly and very efficiently. In 2019, I applied for a B2 language exam which was very helpful because I studied translation at Ca’ Foscari University (Italian to Russian and vice versa).
Honestly, I have always been attracted to Italian culture and it has always amazed me. For Hungarians, Italy is seen as a country of paradise so this was a very internal attraction.
How was Italian useful during the internship and how does it continue to be useful now?
I think it was useful with Irene and a big part of the team. I found it fascinating that all of my Hungarian colleagues, or 95% of them, spoke perfect Italian. It was very motivating because I had the chance to ask for help, for example, when it came to legal translations.
When it comes to my teammates who were mostly Italian, it was a huge advantage to communicate with them. For example, when you translate something from Hungarian to Italian and vice versa, you have to keep in mind that usually the translations also require a different mindset. It was a huge advantage to have Italians by my side because I could always ask them for help when it came to cultural differences.
It continues to be useful as I am finishing my M.A. at Ca’ Foscari. Of course, my whole MA degree course was on Russian-Italian translation so Italian was definitely useful.
What was your favorite project at work?
My favorite project was contacting embassies and conducting interviews with them. That actually requires a lot of patience and good communication skills. I am glad that I had Irene by my side to ask for help or review what I was writing because it is very important to get a good review on your work.
Also, because I work in the diplomatic field, it’s very important to keep in touch with your partners and to always practice this kind of communication because diplomatic communications can be very tricky. You have to learn how to put the words in order to achieve your goals. This task helped me a lot to practice my communication and foreign language skills.
What can you tell us about your project of interviewing Hungarian businesswomen in Italy?
That was a very interesting project, definitely, and I was so happy that I received a huge help from Irene and the rest of the team for this project. Basically, I had in my mind a few names that I wanted to contact and realize an interview with. I knew these names for quite a long time. They were quite famous in Hungary and Italy. They all had blogs and published regularly about their daily life in Italy.
The first thing that caught my attention years ago was how hard it is as an Eastern European woman, when you are definitely subject to a lot of stereotypes, to find a job in Italy and especially with a university degree. When I talked to them about their experiences, I had in mind an idea about helping the Hungarian community, especially people in my situation who are studying in Italian universities and speak Italian but have no idea how to find a job in Italy. So I thought it would be a mutually advantageous experience for us to interview them and their point of view and for them to get to know us because in this way, they might contact ITL Group in the future if they have any inquiries.
I am very glad when it comes to this project because I think that we did quite an extensive chat and we gathered a lot of experiences. I hope it will be useful to members of the Hungarian community abroad.
What are you doing now and what are your plans for the future?
I have decided to come back to Budapest because I think the city is absolutely fascinating in all respects. It doesn’t matter when you come because the city is always so beautiful.
I would like to stay in the diplomatic field, that’s very important to me. Right now, I hold five civil international language certificates which helps a lot in the diplomatic field because you have to communicate with partners all over the world.
I’m actually thinking about getting a job at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary. But I would also like to work with several international organizations including UN, UNICEF, and the IMO (the International Immigration Office) which helps mainly refugees who have been coming to Hungary since the start of the Russian Ukrainian war. I have also been volunteering as a teacher and as an interpreter for Ukrainian and Russian speakers and I think it’s very important to help them, especially in such a situation.
You did an internship at ITL Group? Join our Alumni page on LinkedIn!
Recent posts
