Financial multilingualism in the South African banking system: an analysis of discrepancies between language policy and corporate practice

This study investigates the implementation of multilingualism and plain language in the South African banking sector, focusing on the discrepancy between language policy and corporate practice. While the Constitution, the National Credit Act, and the Consumer Protection Act mandate equitable language use and understandable consumer information, the findings reveal major implementation gaps in the financial private sector. Where indigenous languages are accommodated, they remain secondary or poorly integrated. English persists as the absolute de facto language for legally binding agreements and complex financial instruments within the corporate and banking industries. Thus, this article introduces the concept of multilinguonomics to examine how linguistic hegemony and the neutral language myth protect corporate convenience at the expense of consumer rights and procedural fairness.Footnote1