News

Wells Fargo puts 'multi' in multi-lingual ATMs

May 3, 2004

EL PASO, Texas - Though most financial institutions offer English and Spanish language options at their ATMs, some also feature more uncommon choices like Portuguese or Chinese in neigborhoods where heavy concentrations of residents speak those languages.

(See related stories PNC adding multiple language options to ATMs and Fleet adds foreign language options to more ATMs)

Several ATM users were recently puzzled by an option reading "Hmoob" at a Wells Fargo webATM n El Paso, reported the El Paso Times.

"Is it Jewish?" asked Albert Montes, an El Paso Community College student. "Maybe Middle Eastern?" suggested Pat Smith, another UTEP student.

It turns out that Hmoob is the English transliteration of the language spoken by the Hmong tribe of Laos and other parts of Southeast Asia. It is one of four language options offered on Wells Fargo's 25 webATMs in El Paso.

While the 2000 census turned up no indications of any Hmong in far West Texas or Southern New Mexico, Wells Fargo said there is a concentration of Hmong speakers in the Fresno, Calif., and Minneapolis-St. Paul areas. It is easier to offer multiple language options at its new Windows-based webATMs, according to Wells Fargo.

According to the U.S.-based Lao Human Rights Council, about 300,000 Hmong live in the United States.