The BBC has reported that Barclays Bank is moving away from “the arcane language that has be-devilled bank customers for generations”. The bank said it wants to move away from confusing acronyms and jargon, using “more colloquial” terms instead. Jim Hytner, Barclays’ marketing director, said: “We will be using language that everyone knows and understands”.
We think that’s a great idea, but we’re not sure that the new words and phrases will make things clearer.
On Radio 5, they said Barclays were going to replace “cash machine” will “Hole in the wall”. We don’t see what’s wrong with “cash machine”; surely everyone understands that phrase?
“Customer service” will have new signs asking “Can I help?” (good), while the “Bureau de Change” will simply be called “Travel Money” (not good). Not every one who buys foreign currency uses it for travel.
The press release stated, “the new style of communication showed far better that Barclays understands it’s (sic) customers.”
A colloquialism is “an expression not used in formal speech or writing”. It may be informal, but often it isn’t language used and understood by everyone.
Just another example of marketing rhetoric. In this case, it’s being used to try and convince us that banks are interesting and friendly places to spend our time and, of course, our money. Do they really care how usable their English is? No. They care about the effect the informal phraseology will have on new and existing customers.
Cynical? Me?
The goal of language is to communicate meaning. Barclays, like everyone else, should be trying to understand their audience, and then use language in such a way as to communicate most effectively with them.
“Can I help?” is really a bit non-specific in my book. Can you help with what? Do Barclays only have one kind of help in their branches, or do they have a cashier, a ‘customer service’ desk, maybe mortgage advice….
“Travel money” is, as you point out, excludes everyone who doesn’t want currency for travel (or hasn’t associated their need to change currencies with travel).
The aim, as Andy says, is probably more to do with the effect of informal language on making the bank seem cuddly, rather than actually communicating more clearly.
“Hole in the wall” does not compute for a South African – someone will have to make the association with “cash machine” clear to anyone who doesn’t ‘get’ the colloquialism. (Admittedly, in South Africa cash machines are referred to as “ATMs” – automatic teller machines, I think.)
Any move to translate jargon into clear language understandable by the layperson will definitely have a detrimental effect on the bank’s ability to confuse people. I have spent half an hour on the phone once to a Natwest customer adviser who insisted that a “one-off” charge for an unauthorised overdraft can also mean a recurring charge levied every month. She argued that that a consultant who had previously mentioned the words “one-off” to me was in the right. Kindly enlighten me. How can a one-off charge morph into a recurring charge? Do these two phrases not imply something very dissimilar? What I infer from this is that banks can create a whole new set of phraseology from words that are currently in use. We take them to mean something vastly different from what they would like us to accept as their correct meaning. I doubt very much if any bank is altruistic enough to blow away the smokescreen of words that is quite convenient whenever they want to say “we have conveyed to you in so many words”. I think banks have a long long way to go until they truly become agents of change and lose the narrow focus they seem afflicted with. Until that occurs, whatever they say or do will only have one bottom line – their profit margin.
Kris Weylo
I closed my Barclay’s Acct. November 15, 2007 and was given a close out amount. I paid it and went merrily on my way.
6 MONTHS later my credit rating has dropped 100 points! For Non-payments.
The Reason, we learned… There was an additional $28 dollars in fees assessed that close out month. I NEVER received any mail or phone calls from Barclays. Instead they assessed monthly late charges and accrued interest.
After multiple calls we were told to write to the address below.
Executive Office
C/O Office of the President
PO Box 8885
Willmington DE, 19899
By a Manager. Our “Manager’s” customer service number is:
36476
He told us we were out of luck and he had the power to make our life hell. Even though we had in “Good Faith” closed the account and paid off the balance that their customer service person gave us.
My personal advice based on my personal experience is to beg you for your own sake…. Don’t do Business with these people!