A Bengaluru resident's social media post about a bank providing vehicle loan documents only in Hindi and English, without Kannada translation, has sparked debate on linguistic accessibility in banking. Syed Aleem noted that it took him approximately 90 minutes to fully comprehend the document due to its complex language. He raised concerns about how native Kannadigas, who may not be proficient in English or Hindi, are expected to understand and agree to such contracts.
The agreement contained critical details about car parts, servicing requirements, penalties, and default conditions, all embedded in technical jargon, making it difficult for non-English speakers to navigate without a translation in their native language, Mr Aleem said.
"I recently applied for a vehicle loan in Bangalore. The entire loan agreement was only in Hindi & English. It took me about 1.5 hr to understand it properly. How is a local Kannadiga who is not familiar with English expected to understand & sign?", he wrote.
See the tweet here:
Mr Aleem chose not to name the specific bank or branch, emphasising that the issue is broader than a single institution. He suggested providing loan documents in both Kannada and English would be ideal, but noted that even requesting Kannada alongside Hindi is often perceived as language politics.
"Ideally, it should be Kannada and English. But asking for Kannada to be included along with Hindi in itself will be seen as language politics. And not naming the bank & branch, because this isn't bank-specific. This change should be uniform across banks," he added.
The post resonated with many social media users, who shared similar concerns about linguistic accessibility in banking services. Others responded dismissively, suggesting that since he understood English, the lack of Kannada documentation shouldn't be an issue.
One user wrote, "The bank should print documents/form as per customers preferred language. Problem solved. Imposing local language on a central government employees with help of political goons is not the solution."
Another commented, "It's a waste of your education if it took you 1.5 hours to understand a loan agreement in English, while you're able to write a post in English just to seek attention."
A third said, "Hindi and English are two official languages of India, i.e. used by the government for official purposes. That's why there is only English and Hindi on agreement."
