In association with
Omrop Friesland
NOS News•today, 5:33 PM
ING employees are now allowed to speak Frisian to customers. The company decided this after a discussion with the province, writes Omrop Fryslân.
The Frisian ‘language ban’ at the company’s call centers became known in February, after interpreter Fedde Dijkstra discovered that an employee was not allowed to speak Frisian to him. “I heard someone with a Frisian accent, so I said: do you also speak Frisian? She said: ‘Yes, we do. But we are only allowed to speak English or Dutch to customers here.'” The bank had that policy because conversations are recorded for training purposes. .
That was not well received by many Frisians. Two members of the Jong Fryske Mienskap then hoisted the Frisian flag at the ING head office in Amsterdam. As a protest action, Frisian students and members of the Frisian movement decided last Monday to call en masse in Frisian with bank employees for an hour. After the action, the bank promised to reexamine its language policy.
‘Respect for the language’
“We have listened to the feedback from our Frisian customers and understand the reactions. ING would like to show its human side and show respect for the second national language in the Netherlands, Frisian,” the bank wrote in a statement today.
“We have therefore decided to make it possible that Frisian customers, when they receive a Frisian-speaking employee on the telephone, can be spoken to in Frisian. This means that the monitoring of those conversations (for training purposes) is done by colleagues who manage the master the Frisian language,” said ING.
Not everyone speaks Frisian
The bank emphasizes that customers cannot derive any rights from it. “Speaking Frisian is only possible if an employee also speaks the Frisian language.”
Frisian-speaking Rabobank employees already spoke Frisian to customers. According to the Frisian language institution Afûk, most companies and organizations are positive about the Frisian language.
