Chiara Pacella, Lead of the Facebook/Meta Language Management team in Dublin, graduated from UniTS in Interpreting and Translation. 

She has been working for about 20 years on localisation, an essential activity to support the internationalisation of technological products, with a path that began as a vendor at SDL, a multinational company currently absorbed by the RWS group, a leader in the development of software for assisted translation and a provider of translation services to the major players in the technology sector. She then moved to Facebook/Meta, where today she coordinates the adaptation of content to the various languages, regions, references and cultural preferences of the reference markets. 

While waiting to meet her at the 2025 edition of Homecoming - Success Stories UniTS on 10 December https://amm.units.it/placement/evento-54169 at the former Military Hospital, we interviewed her. 

Chiara, can you tell us exactly what your job is? 

I currently handle translation quality by managing the infrastructure behind Meta controls. I make sure that all the content that we and localisation service providers adapt for the more than 150 markets in which we are present is of excellent quality. To do this, I carry out several activities: first of all, I am a people manager who manages quality managers for several key markets. For areas where we do not have such linguists, I manage a team that detects quality through data analysis.  

What is the role of AI in your business? 

Unfortunately, from my experience, I have to say that translation, understood as the art I studied twenty years ago at UniTS, no longer exists in its original form in the field of localisation due not only to machine translation (MT), but also to the advent of AI, as these technologies have led the output to reach very high quality in different language combinations and types of content. 

That said, these systems do not stand alone. I believe that the role of the translator should evolve into that of a full-fledged linguist. It is necessary to start accepting the reality that, at the moment, the most requested services are those of editing, annotation and basically training of the models that are used for machine translation. 

In general, AI has a predominant role not only for actual translation, but also for other activities that we carry out in the area of localisation, such as cultural checks. I would like to share in this regard a fairly well-known anecdote in the world of translation. This is the unfortunate launch in the 1980s of a Fiat car in the United Kingdom, La Rustica, which, in English, was dangerously reminiscent of... a rusty car!  

All tech companies that launch products obviously try to prevent this type of epic fail to the detriment of their brand. We realised that this is a task that artificial intelligence can do efficiently. But I want to remain optimistic: I am sure that there will be job opportunities in the future that are certainly different but perhaps even more stimulating. 

What was the added value of your UniTS degree to get such a prestigious job? 

I studied at the Advanced School for Translators and Interpreters in a time of change. I was part of the first year of the much-feared university reform: a new shortened curriculum, a path that combined translation and interpreting in the same degree course, with less time to devote to the third language. We were all a little disoriented but it was still an extremely positive experience. 

After graduating in Trieste, I moved abroad, a choice that allowed me to recognise the value of the years at UniTS. What I learned in Trieste both in terms of language and translation allowed me to acquire unique skills: I do not believe that any other university offers this level of education. 

I think it was a perfect combination between a very traditional hardcore base in linguistics obtained in the Trieste and the advanced technical knowledge in my subsequent specialisation.  

In general, to get the place of dreams a lot of factors are needed: cultural background, training, personality and... being in the right place at the right time (or being ready to go to the right place!).