English Terminology in German Interview

Question

So I’m a foreigner but might be interviewing at a firm here in German, my language level is C2 (so mother tongue), but I never studied business or read (or worked for a long time) in German the most content I consumed was in English. So is it passable to use terminology like idk “return on investment” in a consulting interview if the German word doesn’t come to my mind? Or would it get a straight rejection?

Answer 1

Hi Hassan,

Good that you think about that in advance!

It would definitely not lead straight to rejection, evaluation is much more nuanced than that.

An English term won't get you rejected

If you communicate solidly in German and just use English for specific terms, it would from my perspective not be too detrimental. However, judging if your language skills are “client-ready” depends on interviewer peception.

Avoid “Denglisch”

The most important thing to watch out for and the true enemy (and yes, it can lead to significantly increased chances of a rejection) is “Denglisch”, as this is considered unprofessional and not “client-ready”.

Example (in German):

- “Als nächstes möchte ich prüfen, wie der Kunde den Umsatz erhöhen kann” - GUT
- “Als nächstes möchte ich prüfen, wie der customer den Umsatz increasen kann” - SCHLECHT

Good luck with your interviews!

Best,

Gero

Answer 2

Hey Hassan,

You would not get rejected because of using terminology or English words every now and then.

Certain words, e.g., your example on ROI would be the same in English or German. Similar to things such as break-even, and payback period. No candidate or interviewer I know would translate these key phrases or words into German!

Cheers,

Florian

Answer 3

Hi Hassan,

Consultants in Germany are somewhat notorious for throwing around English “business terms”. You will not get rejected for using an English technical term in an interview in German whenever it fits the context. However, continually mixing English and German would seem pretentious, unprofessional and annoying. In your case, though, I wouldn’t lose sleep over it.

Best

Answer 4

Yes, that is perfectly acceptable. It is very common within consulting to use a lot of English terminology.

Of course, you can explain that you are more comfortable with using English technical terms (and that you'll quickly learn the German terms as you get more work experience), although that's probably not necessary, self-evident, and perfectly acceptable.