Many households are struggling to make ends meet. Fortunately, people can speak with their suppliers and debt advisors to get help with budgeting, repayment options and practical steps that build financial resilience. However, among the most financially vulnerable are individuals who have a limited grasp of English. So, is language a barrier to financial resilience?

Are Language Barriers an Issue?

Approximately 5 million UK residents have a main language that is not English. However, the majority of these speak and understand English fluently or very well. Data suggests that only 2% of the population struggles with English. Therefore, you might assume that language barriers are a minor issue when communicating with customers.

However, research conducted by the Institute of Money Advisors* found that half of all UK debt advisers are working with non-English-speaking clients. What’s more, 11% were doing so daily and 39% weekly. This is likely to be typical of other customer support services. Does this represent your experience?

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has identified that low English language skills are a driver of vulnerability. This explains the high percentage of interactions that you may have where language is a barrier. What’s more, financial terms are difficult for many English speakers to understand.

Communication barriers are frustrating for you and your customer. It is likely to limit the advice you give and the actions they take. As a result, it is harder to avoid financial difficulties and associated harms.

How to Increase Consumer Understanding

Across many regulated sectors,  you must ensure customers can understand the information they receive and access the support they need. However, with over 300 languages spoken in the UK, it’s hard to give advice and check understanding. Unfortunately, a GCSE in French is not going to solve the challenge! So, what can you put in place to increase consumer understanding?

Online Translation & Accessibility Tools

Integrating Recite Me into your website design enables customers to instantly translate online information into one of over 100 language options. This includes text-to-speech and other accessibility features. You might use Google Translate to understand the core request and then direct clients to relevant, translatable online information.

Many people in the Deaf community use sign language as their primary language. Therefore, it is also advisable to incorporate Signly in your website design.

Slow Your Pace and Look at the Customer

In conversations, there is a simple way to help people who are not fluent in English or are hard of hearing. That is to slow your pace and look at them. Enable them to pick out key words, see non-verbal signs, and read your lip movements.

Interpreters for In-Person Communication

You, along with people within your organisation, network or community, may be fluent in the languages spoken by some customers. Be proactive in finding out who has the language skills that could support customer understanding. In some cases, it can be beneficial to provide consumer advice sessions in community hubs. They may have access to a greater diversity of multilingual or signing support workers.

For in-person meetings, you can access interpreting services via video using Language Line Solutions. This organisation can also support translation over the phone and via apps, as well as the translation of documents into different languages and Braille.

Reducing Reliance on Family Members

Equally, customers may attend a meeting with someone from their family who will translate for them, in some cases, their child. In these situations, it is important to use translated information where possible to aid the conversation and reduce reliance on the third party.

In addition, you need to make the third party aware of core values, such as confidentiality. And, you have to read the non-verbal signs that the customer understands the information and is making the decisions, rather than being coerced.

Use Plain English

We all find it easier to understand written information if the message is short, simple and accompanied by visual icons.

It’s important to remember this when preparing any customer communications, information documents or tools.

• Share essential points or options in plain English.
• Accompany the words with recognisable symbols.
• Provide numerical examples or calculators to aid comparisons, such as the monthly cost when extending the repayment term.

This approach aids clients with low financial knowledge or poor literacy skills, as well as non-English speakers. It also makes it easier to translate documents into the main languages spoken in your community.

To support this, you may be interested in ISO 24495 Plain Language Principles & Guidelines.

Clarifying Understanding

Clarifying understanding is an effective way to reduce customer distress because of a mismatch between what they expect and what they receive. It also saves your colleagues from handling repeated calls or complaints.

If you simply ask customers if they understand, they may be embarrassed to admit they don’t or feel there is no point in you repeating it. So, they nod or say yes. A better option is to ask customers to explain what they’ve understood in their own words. They might need to use a tool or interpreter to do this.

In addition, be aware that financial terms are unfamiliar, confusing, and not often easy to directly translate. Therefore, you can ask open questions, such as “Which points would you like me to explain?”, rather than questions requiring a yes or no answer.

Also, check with the customer that they know what will happen next. That includes actions that both you and they need to take to move their request forward. It is good practice to follow the conversation with a summary of key points and follow-up actions. Remember to use their communication preference for this.

Breaking Down the Language Barriers to Improve Consumer Outcomes

In our diverse society, English is not the main language spoken by many people. To ensure that everyone can access advice and support that builds financial resilience, we have a responsibility to design inclusive communications and use tools that aid understanding. This is key to breaking down the language barriers and providing fair services to all customers.

* https://www.i-m-a.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Supporting-foreign-language-speakers-in-debt-advice-Oct-2021.pdf

Related resources:

https://www.csa-uk.com/signposting-language-barriers

https://www.helenpettifer.com/resource/consumer-understanding-guide-for-businesses/