So you go to an ATM machine to take out money and you are provided with a range of options with regards to languages – great….but why is it limited to Mandarin and Japenese (that’s all I’ve noticed – but let me know if there are more).
The 2006 census shows that following English Maori is the next most commonly spoken language in New Zealand, folllowed by Samoan. Infact – in Auckland, Samoan is the 2nd most commonly spoken language (with English of course being the number 1 language).
Wouldn’t it be great if a bank actually valued the business from their Maori and Samoan customers enough to provide these two language options at their ATM machines? Is there research to show that Maori and Samoans use ATM machines less than any other ethnic group? Or is due to the fact that perhaps Maori and Pacific don’t have the same sums of money sitting in their coffers? This is just one of those little day to day things that gets me wondering…
I agree, I mean even phone booths have Maori and pacific languages, I hope they add them, that would be cool
I agree that it would be cool. I would think that the reason they have Japanese and Mandarin are that fewer of the speakers of those languages also speak English than speakers of Maori and Samoan.
I think that analysis might be a little simple.
Sure there are more people who speak Maori and Samoan than those that speak Mandarin and Japenese, but it would be interesting to compare the level of English language skills amongst those users.
Might it be possible that Maori and Samoan speakers have better English skills than speakers of Mandarin and Japanese?
If that were the case, and I’m certainly not going to make that assumption, would the expense of providing additional languages be best targetted at people who have lesser understanding of the ‘default’ language these machines use?
Have you actually spoken to the banks to understand how they make the call of which languages to provide?
You read my mind Patrick – I’m going to write to the banks and ask for their rationale and see whether or not they might be considering including other languages. Maori seems like an obvious choice – given that it is an official language of this country, but if they were making a decision around languages most commonly spoken – Samoan would be a front runner as well.
I will keep you posted.
I think other commentators have hit the nail on the head Ms Sepuloni. Banks have obviously identified a need to ensure that bank users understand what they’re doing when they’re withdrawing money. Samoan and Maori speakers are generally able to understand what they’re doing in English. Chinese and Japanese speakers may not.
It’s good that you’re thinking about the big issues though. Perhaps you could introduce a private member’s bill compelling banks to display screens in Maori, Samoan, and Sign Language.
Wouldn’t it be great if everyone just spoke English, or Maori? Samoan isn’t one of our official languages.
I agree that it would be great if everyone spoke English or Maori, just so that they can easily communicate with everyone here. Your idea is practical, for me personally I like languages and I like seeing different ones on machines
I think it’s good for tourists, but I do think that immigrants should make an effort to become fluent in English or Maori.
But I do like the idea of subgroups who speak pacific languages, I think they should be embraced and kept alive.
Yes, we have two (well actually three – sign) languages, but there are many people who speak Samoan with limited Eng, so it actually makes sense – esp in Ack and Chch. I wonder if its about the cost of doing so, ensuring tourists are catered for and the assumption that most peoples speak eng. I can imagine there are not that many banks that embark on ‘diversity and cultural’ awareness training – but I could be wrong.
Oh, and they may not have ever thought it was an issue. Sometimes, you don’t know what you don’t know.
I’m all for tourism related language options (German, Japanese etc), but Samoans aren’t tourists, so I don’t see why we should put effort into making it easier for them to not bother learning the official languages.
@Paul – agreed. NZSL is ok, but I prefer informal sign language, usually associated with driving
It would be a great idea for the banks to provide all sorts of languages – just as long as I dont have to pay part of the cost for the banks to have the ATMs equipt with all the stuff needed to make them available.
This would mean a charge to use these various langages – its called user pays. the principle here is that people who do not want a service do not have to pay for it.
Supply and demand Carmel. If the banks thought that providing Maori and Samoan on their ATMs would significantly increase their customer base – the’d be quick to do it. The fact that they haven’t suggests that there is not significant demand for it. Don’t forget the banks are providing a service – not a public service (unless of course your talking about kiwibank).
I think BNZ offer Maori, but I don’t think they offer Samoan. I think the limitation on the number languages is the number of buttons available.
@The Gnat Exterminator-
Well you saved me with your comment. I was about to assert that I recall seeing the Maori option, after reading your comment however I remembered that I saw this on a BNZ machine, as opposed to an ANZ one.
Greg I think the time of supply and demand economics is over. Ms Sepuloni is right. Banks should respect the human right of all people to be able to withdraw their own money from an ATM in their own native language.
If banks don’t move to add Maori and Samoan to their ATM language options voluntarily then the government should force them to do it.
Mr Ellis, while I often disagree with your views, I do appreciate the civility with which you engage in these forums.
Other commentators, from both (all) sides of the spectrum(s), could take a leaf from your book.
With this in mind, I was very disappointed by your comment on this thread. I think with reflection you will agree, with the nasty undertone you really let yourself down.
Tim Ellis says:
November 5, 2009 at 5:45 pm
“It’s good that you’re thinking about the big issues though. Perhaps you could introduce a private member’s bill compelling banks to display screens in Maori, Samoan, and Sign Language.”
Actually Harry he is doing a favor. It was even identified by Mr Geoff that one of the reason Labour got so heavily defeated in the last election was because they got sidetracked by the little things. This is an example of that.
The practical reason for not putting Maori on these machines is that it costs money to adapt the software to allow for translation to each language. You also only have a limited number of button options for languages. When all Maori can speak English well enough to understand the prompts on the screen then there is no practical reason to have a Maori option. This leaves only a PC reason. Now that is not necessarily an unwarranted reason however it does push it into the realms of not a major issue.
Samoan probably use a similar reasoning but I think that is less reasonable as there are many Samoan people who are either new to the country and still coming to grasp with the language or are only here visiting and so may speak no English what so ever.
Is there actually anyone in New Zealand that speaks only Maori but not English? Also using an ATM really isn’t that complex I suspect they could just about put in some little graphics for balance, withdraw, transfer etc and hand out a brochure with a legend to each new customer which would do away with the need for any language at all.
It’s not really a big thing to have Maori and Pacific languages, we can all speak it, but most of us can’t read or write (I’m lucky I can)