When we take out a loan, whether it is a car loan, school loan or a mortgage on a home, there is always a loan agreement in place that lays out the terms of the loan. For many people, these agreements are full of lawyer speak that is difficult to understand. Understanding how applied linguistics can be used to simplify this process can make learning easier for educators and students. The Center for Applied Linguistics website has a wealth of information that shows how language can be used in everyday instances, such as seeing use of language in business transactions, like a loan agreement. Language education is for everyone, especially those who need to gain simple knowledge about important documents and agreements.
Asking someone to read the fine print on a loan agreement is to ask them to fulfill an impossible task. You have to understand the legal word meanings and the ways they are used to connect them with something you can understand. Language education has a place in all types of society and business, especially in creating understanding about financial documents.
A loan agreement contains a mass of information known as “paralegal lingo”. Even if you have read it prior, you may not comprehend the information to understand what you are signing. Just look at the research that has been done on the wording of contracts. Lawyers aimed at simplifying the “legal lingo” create documents with clearer contracts, reducing the chances that someone may not understand the terminology and could be signing an “unexpected liability”. What can be done to help you understand what these documents explain? What can educators do to help students understand these agreements? These are just some of the questions that can be answered by examining the linguistic challenges of these documents.
An analysis of linguistics is important to explain the complexities of legal documents and agreements, such as loan agreements. These words can be simplified even more than a lawyer has done for their meaning. By simplifying the information, you allow people from all walks of life to understand the information they are signing. For example, use a glossary of terms for the lawyer speak used in the documents.
If you are an educator, you may want to examine the role your education programs play in teaching students about financial documents. While language education is used for all types of things, including helping immigrant families better communicate in society, financial documents are just as important to know. A department of education can offer a “Financial Documents 101” class to help teach these skills to students. If they can learn how to read a loan agreement, they can learn how to read other documents, such as bills and other paperwork they may encounter. An understanding of the terminology allows them to know what they are signing and be aware of what they are agreeing to.
A deeper look at the use of language in loan agreements will allow you to better understand how to comprehend these documents now and in the future. Consider how the language research methods utilized for defining these documents can show the counting of words and syllables and create a thorough understanding. Explore how the Department of Education of many states, such as Massachusetts, have shown the significance of linguistics research methods. They utilize these documented methods to help educate students and adults on the comprehension of loan agreements and other financial documents. Understand the importance of including a senior program in the education of these documents to prevent elderly citizens from being taken advantage of by predators and scams. Although there are scams that target the elderly, but any age group can be targeted as well, so let your programs teach about “lingo” used in loan agreements.
There is a real significance for offering a loan agreement in education programs. It creates opportunities for people of all backgrounds and situations to understand the documents they have to sign. If you don’t understand what the documents state, take the time to adopt educational programs that will create understanding for yourself and others.