Abu Dhabi: Customer service employees at Abu Dhabi Judicial Department can now help customers in Urdu after undertaking a 30-hour training course in the language this month.
According to a statement by Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD) these employees, who deal directly with customers, were trained for a month to acquire most spoken words and expressions used by Urdu speakers while at the ADJD, and were provided with a specially developed textbook containing frequently used Urdu vocabulary.
The statement said the training would help ADJD customer service employees improve performance levels at the government department and enable them to reduce waiting times for Urdu-speaking customers.
M.R., 25, a construction worker from Pakistan who has been in the UAE for two years and is only conversant in Urdu was very happy to hear the ADJD will now be more accessible to people like him.
"I can only really communicate in Urdu, and this is the case with many of my fellow workers. So I am really happy to hear that language will be less of a barrier if we ever need to approach the court with labour troubles," he said.
Lot of cases
When contacted, Qasim Mohammad Jameel, manager of the guidance department at the Ministry of Labour (MOL) said the ministry sees a lot of cases filed by people only familiar with Urdu. "Urdu is a common language for numerous workers from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. So this training for the ADJD employees will really benefit many workers in the emirate," Jameel added.
Majeed K.M., a legal consultant at Al Jabri and Associates, said his firm comes across about 50 cases a year in which clients can only speak Urdu.
"Workers from the subcontinent are afraid to approach government departments with their labour issues or financial troubles. They fear missing an important court date or not being able to communicate. The fact that ADJD employees can now speak the language these workers are comfortable in will definitely remove some of this fear," K.M. said.
