ING backtracks on language ban: employees are now allowed to speak Frisian with customers

After a conversation with the province of Fryslân, ING bank now allows employees to speak Frisian with customers. Previously that was not allowed.

The bank’s language policy was in the news after an employee refused to speak to a customer in Frisian, even though they could both speak the language.

That customer was Fedde Dijkstra. He is an interpreter by profession, and the story surprised him so much that he published it.

“I heard someone with a Frisian accent, so I said: do you also speak Frisian? She said ‘jawol’, or actually: ‘Yes, we do. But we are only allowed to speak English or Dutch to customers here.'”

The bank says it was not possible to speak Frisian because conversations with customers are recorded for later review. The bank is now backtracking on this.

“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.

“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.”

The bank emphasizes that customers cannot derive any rights from it. “Speaking Frisian is only possible if an employee also speaks the Frisian language.”

“We therefore count on the understanding of our customers and assume that we are meeting their wish to speak Frisian with our employees, as is customary in Friesland.”

ING’s decision comes two days after a campaign by Frisian students, who called the bank en masse in Frisian to draw attention to the Frisian language. The bank already said at the time that the language policy would be scrutinized.