Speaking the Customers' Language

In New Jersey, where-according to the U.S. Census Bureau-129 languages are spoken, communication can create such crises that the Red Cross offers translators. But one local bank has virtually eliminated language barriers with its customers.

At Investors Savings, employees are equipped with a

booklet containing the phrase, "Point to your language. An interpreter will be called," in 28 translations. When the customer points to the page with his or her language on it, the bank employee phones one of the coworkers listed on thai page as being able to translate. The employee who can speak the customer's language talks directly to the customer and finds out what is needed, Then the interpreter tells his or her co-worker what sort of transaction to complete. The employee doing the translating may work at any of the bank's 46 branches or may be a senior employee in the corporate office.

For years, Investors Savings had a list of employees who could translate for non-English speaking customers. However, until recently, the foreign languages were fairly common, e.g., Spanish, French, and Italian. As ethnic diversity in New Jersey increased, so did the number of languages spoken. Jeanette Muldoon, second vice president and assistant training director for Investor Savings, realized the extent of the situation as she waited in a hospital emergency room recently for her son's injury to be treated.

"I heard a lot of people speaking languages that I couldn't even recognize," Muldoon said. "If I couldn't even recognize the language, how would I put them in touch with the right people [if they came into the bank]?" So she began surveying the bank's 472 employees and found that they collectively speak 28 languages other than English. With the help of those employees, she created the booklet to be used when a customers language is not readily identifiable.

Although the banks employment application asks prospective hires if they are fluent in any languages other than English, Investors Savings docs not actively recruit individuals who can speak more than one language, nor does it train employees in second languages. It doesn't need to. Reflecting New Jersey s diverse workforce, about one third of the bank's employees are multilingual.

"A lot of them come from other countries or have families in other countries, so they are fluent [in a language other than English]," Muldoon explained. Only those who can converse fluently in multiple languages participate in the program. Among the languages bank employees speak are Albanian, Bengali, Gujarati, Macedonian, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tagalog, Tamil, Telegu, and Urdu. Arabic is the most recent addition. If anyone has ever come into the bank speaking a language that could not be translated by one of the employees, Muldoon has not heard of the case.

It is too early to tell whether the translation service has drawn more customers to the bank, but Muldoon says, "It possibly could-absolutely. New Jersey is so diversified now, and people need a place to bank. It would be nice if they knew we had this many languages spoken by our staff."

Investor Savings Bank is headquartered in Short Hills, N.J., and has assets of $5.5 billion.