In a recent revelation, an Indian engineer Shantanu Goel shared a remarkable experience during his visit to China. Goel took to X to share his discovery that machines in China adapt to the language preferences of international travellers, speaking Hindi upon detecting an Indian passport.

Accompanying his post were pictures capturing the machines at the Foreigner Fingerprint Self-Collection Area and the instructions displayed in both Hindi and Mandarin. Goel’s caption read, ‘Landed in #China These machines speak in Hindi on detecting my Indian passport.’

The post quickly went viral, sparking curiosity among social media users. One user inquired about the language options, to which Goel responded, ‘Was using the language of the country (eg spanish, german, french etc). For India, defaulted to Hindi. Not sure if other languages were an option, didn’t see a choice in interface.’

The viral post prompted further discussions on the welcoming nature of China towards tourists and business travellers.

Surprisingly, another user revealed that China has been implementing this language adaptation feature for at least four years. This technology was already in place at the Shanghai airport as early as 2019, integrated into the fingerprint collection equipment at immigration points.

Further insights from users indicated that these multilingual machines are not limited to airports, but are also present throughout China, even at entry points by road. Users shared examples of encountering similar machines when entering China from Nepal, emphasising the widespread and inclusive nature of this technology.

(This article was first published in The Tribune, India.)