Adding voice-overs to your eLearning lessons can increase the interaction a learner has with your content, often boosting the lesson's overall effectiveness.
Providing high-quality voice-overs is a tremendous feat in only one language or accent. It can grow into a monumental task when including regional dialects or alternate languages. Here are some facets to consider when casting cross-cultural voice talents.
- The desired voice-over role. A voice talent may function as a narrator, instructor, spokesperson, or actor in a storyline.
- The preferred demographics. This includes the age and gender being portrayed.
- The language, dialect and accent. This may go without saying, but the voice talent must be fluent in whatever language your eLearning materials will be provided in. Beyond the language requirement, there are also dialects and accents that may impact how your message is received by your intended audience. For example, English voice-overs may be provided in English (language) for the United States (dialect) with a southern twang (accent). It is valuable to identify how important accent accuracy is to your project. Many people may impersonate accents that seem acceptable to an unfamiliar listener but are entirely inaccurate (and even offensive) to recipients from that area. For example, a poorly executed fake accent may decrease receptivity from your target audience. Additional dialect and accent examples include:
- Chinese in Mandarin (commonly referred to as "Northern dialect") perhaps with a Beijing accent.
- Portuguese for Portugal.
- Spanish for Latin America.
- The desired tone. The voice may be conveyed in a playful manner, factually, formally or informally.
- Localization of the voice-over script. Depending on your content, it may be valuable to localize the script for the target location, changing phrases or vernacular to be more conducive to that area. This can be done formally before the script is provided to the talent; or you may simply allow the talent discretion to make minor changes (such as changing "pop" to "soda") directly as they see fit.
- Voice-over experience. Ideal voice talents have multiple years in the industry and in providing the type of voice-over services necessary for your project.
The key for casting cross-cultural voice-over talents is to include appropriate requirements in your initial project scope. You should also allow time for your language service vendor to gather demos for approval as a part of the overall project timeline. Keep these facets in mind and you can rest assured that you will find the perfect talents for your project.
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If you would like to learn best practices for managing translation projects, contact Jen at Carmazzi Global Solutions.