Foreign voice over talents roster
10.03.2021
How to order a recording with a native speaker? What to look for when choosing a voice over company and what to ask about? Click and learn more.

Voice over recording with foreign voice talent

Recording a voiceover in several languages

should not be a problem for a good online voice over company. At PICK A VOICE, we make recordings with native speakers voice talents within 48 hours.

The needs of recording studio clients have long since grown worldwide. Today it is a very common situation for the same advertising film to be produced in English and several other languages. Additional versions with an English, French or German voice-over are standard.

Recently, there has been an upward trend among teachers from the East. The voice-over recording in Slovak, Czech or Estonian does not surprise anyone anymore.

A good voice over company should be able to meet these needs and offer voice-talents selection in any necessary language. It is much more convenient to order a voice-over recording in one recording studio than arrange all the details of the recording 3 times.

British or American voice talent?

When ordering a recording in a foreign language, remember about nuances such as an accent.

When looking for a native speaker voice talent who will make a recording in English, let’s first find out whether we need British or American voice talent.

Recording in Spanish or Portuguese also needs to be clarified in terms of accent. The Spanish voice talent can speak with either a European accent (the most popular and universal) or a Mexican accent. Recording in Portuguese requires you to specify whether you want to hear a European or Brazilian accent. These are quite significant differences as in Portuguese, not only the pronunciation but also some words differ.

There are voice talents who, due to their origins, are fluent in both forms, but it is worth asking about it before ordering the recording.

Mikrofon w banku głosów dla lektorów angielskich i brytyjskich

What should a voice-over talent be?

MAKE SURE YOU GET THE CORRECT ACCENT FOR ENGLISH, SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE VOICE RECORDINGS

English voice talents record with a British or American accent. The Spanish voice over can make a recording with a European or Mexican accent. Portugal is divided into a European and a Brazilian part.

A native speaker is a person who was born and raised in a given country. The accent and the knowledge of the language are acquired over the years by absorbing the culture and surroundings.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to get the perfect accent through education. The microphone has no mercy and subtle flaws in the accent, which we would not pay attention to in the conversation, will surely be heard on the recording.

That is why it is important to make voice-over recordings always with proven and professional voice talents whose nationality matches the language in which they are recording. It happens that, for example, professors of a certain language say that they use it “at the level of a native speaker”. Unfortunately, it is not always associated with the correct accent, which is so important in the recording.


Another advantage of working with a voicebank that works only with native-speaker voice talents is their native knowledge of the language. A good voice over talent will certainly help you improve the translation if it turns out to be not entirely correct. Most often, these will be stylistic errors that can be corrected without additional charges during the recording. Unfortunately, sometimes the entire text needs to be corrected. Then a native speaker, before recording, may propose an additional fee for proofreading the script.

By applying the above tips in cooperation with a voice over company, you will speed up the order fulfillment process and simplify your and your clients’ lives 🙂

The author of the article is Marcin Gontarz, who produces voice-over recordings (from commercials to training). Ask him a question!

Any questions?

phone:

+48 509 993 164

email:

info@pickavoice.com

email:

info@pickavoice.com