Mandarin Voiceover Accents and Talent Selection

CHINESE VOICE TALENTS: The Mandarin Chinese language is evolving more rapidly than any other language on earth. Hong Kong, for example, is currently making a fusion between Cantonese and Mandarin, with a different accent and dialect of Mandarin, a Mandarin that is in dramatic flux. Taiwanese Mandarin has a strong variation in both accent and word usage. And Chinese spoken inside the United States has also become a dialect. Below you can audition Mandarin voice talents for Beijing, Mandarin voiceover talents for Taiwan, plus other Chinese voiceover talents, including Cantonese.

The Mandarin voice-over talents offered by @International Sevices, for example, include not only professional Mandarin voice talents for advertising, but also the most prized talents with the most coveted of all performances - the anchors of Central Television. That company offers literally the most coveted style of Mandarin voice recording in the world. Rare, rare, rare. And, because of the economy, plus the fact that @International Services was the first company permitted to record unsupervised in China, the costs of these recordings are extremely affordable, even inexpensive and well worth the investment.

Beijing has a very limited experience in lip sync, because of the previous tight control of all media by the Chinese government, but will find good support for the following:

• Mandarin voiceovers, Cantonese, Taiwanese recorded directly in the target country
• Telephone voice prompts with Mandarin voice talent, Czech voice talent, and other
• Commercials for international television, radio and internet advertising with Mandarin voice talent, Czech voice talent…
• Mandarin voice-over narration and other narration for Power Point presentations
• Excellent Mandarin voiceover talent and others for product demos that make an excellent impression
• Chinese, Czech and Mandarin voicing and narration for internet television and intranet podcasts

Part of the secret to a good performance from fine Chinese voice-over talents, or Malay or Norwegian, is correct adaptation of the talent script. After translation, scripts are some 15% longer than an original language script. This is simply due to the differences in human language. Therefore, the talent script must be correctly adapted in order to be spoken in sync within the timing of the original guidetrack.

About Russian and East Block languages

RUSSIAN
Both neutral Russian translation (for Moscow) and expatriate Russian translation (for the United States) are provided for documents, technical papers, human resources and marketing. Neutral Russian is the target market Moscow and the Russian federation areas. “Expatriate” Russian is generally for Russian populations living in the United States, who may have come from the country of Russia or other Russian-based areas, and whose use of Russian language has been adapted to living in an English-based culture, and whose children are often educated in English, speaking Russian at home.

Translation for documentation, software, marketing materials and web sites in Cyrillic are surprisingly easy to handle when client and translation company work closely together. Voices are recorded in Moscow and also Russian anchors for CNN and BBC. The Russian culture does not respond well to marketing hype, but does respond well to modernity, cutting-edge applications, and technical teamwork. For web sites and web work, once the browser has been properly set to Cyrillic Russian characters, the site will appear in lovely Russian for viewers properly equipped for Russian.

POLISH
Translation for both Polish for Warsaw and expatriate Polish for the United States are provided for documents, technical papers, human resources and marketing. Polish translations for Poland are translated in Warsaw, and voices are recorded in Warsaw. The Polish language has changed immensely in the recent years, due to technology and the break with the Russian block . “Expatriate” Polish is generally for Polish populations living in the United States, whose families have come from Poland, and whose use of Polish language has been adapted to living in an English-based culture, and whose children are often educated in English, speaking Polish only at home.

Translation for documentation, software, marketing materials and web sites in Polish are surprisingly easy to handle when client and translation company work closely together. Although Polish is based upon A-B-C letters, there are very special accented letters that are not available in English based graphic systems and font choices. Thus, compatibility for fonts and character sets is an important issue to be handled quickly at the beginning of any project. Or, @International Services can provide all documents as PDF, or artwork as bitmap files to avoid preparing the client’s machine for Polish compatibility. For web sites and web work, once the browser has been properly set to each language set, the site will appear with proper text and accents for properly equipped viewers.

CZECH, SLOVAK, HUNGARIAN AND EAST BLOCK
The East Block languages include Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Rumanian, Lithuanian, Estonian and Latvian. Translation and localization is provided for documents, product and software localization, marketing, and human resources. Professional voice talents are recorded in Hungary, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.

Although these languages are based upon A-B-C letters, most have very special accented letters that are not available in English based graphic systems and font choices. Thus, compatibility for fonts and character sets is an important issue to be handled quickly at the beginning of any project. Or, @International Services can provide all documents as PDF, or artwork as bitmap files to avoid preparing the client’s machine for compatibility. For web sites and web work, once the browser has been properly set to each language set, the site will appear with proper text and accents for properly equipped viewers.

UNDERSTANDING THE TRANSLATION INDUSTRY

Whispered stories abound of client catastrophes related to trashy translations. Yet the bottom line begs use of the cheapest proposal. Below is a clear explanation of how the translation industry works.  An insider’s view.

“FACTORY” – TRADITIONAL TRANSLATION AGENCY
The least expensive translation service is also the most prevalent. 95% of all translation services are “factory” business models. The United States, Europe and Asia are dominated by this type of agency. Traditional (“factory”) translation agencies generally offer hundreds or even thousands of low-end translators, and have franchise-style business models. Using Burger King as an example, Burger King has a few outstanding people at the top and thousands of low-wage, low-skill replaceable workers who perform the grunt work of the company. This is the model of the traditional translation agency. Agencies pay translators $.02 to $.06 per word ($12,000 to $24,000 annually). The translations are reviewed by other of the same type for $.01 per word. Because the pay scale is 50% or less of the value of the job, the translators who accept work for such agencies are lower qualified and grind out uninspired work almost mindlessly day after day, week after week, in a machine-like manner, often peppered with typos, mistranslations and odd grammatical word order. An example in English of “factory translations” are the Japanese to English electronics user’s guides that accompany Japanese products and cause such confusion to the purchaser.

TOP LEVEL TRANSLATORS - DIRECT TO CLIENT
Just as any high skill level employee, truly excellent translators cost double and even triple the payment to low-end translators ($60,000 to $75,000 per year). They tend to work directly for clients and never for traditional agencies, both for payment reasons and for the lack of creativity involved in the agency process. These translators are the client’s “eyes”, and are on high alert for every nuance and fact. Such translators have deep knowledge of the law, engineering and marketing, and will write “red flag” reports during a job to assist the client. Such reports may contain items such as:
•    “The process covered in page 3 of the document is against the law in France. See Governmental Regulation xxxx… Client may wish to investigate.”
•    “The expression used on page 4 translates as “prostitute” in South America. Client may wish to reword, then retranslate”.
•    “Have noted that client has not translated the xxxx. The shipment may be halted at the border and returned.”
•    “The client requested that we review its in-house translation for quality. There is serious trouble with syntax, and was obviously translated by a person of the wrong dialect. How would the client wish to proceed?”
•    In the original English copy, there are typographical errors and a word missing on page 5. Please warn client before goes to print.

ADVERTISING AND MARKETING COPYWRITERS
Writing copy for advertising and marketing is a professional skill, often inconsistent with translating. The word “translation” means a direct replacement of one word for its exact equivalent in another language in the same word order, whether or not the entire concept or approach works in the target language. Advertising copywriters are experts in their own language and in knowing what attracts their audience. They spend their business life massaging words to improve impact. Quality marketing and advertising writers will write and rewrite copy for maximum impact, putting the draft aside and reviewing with a fresh mind. Improving the overall effect to make “tight” copy. Even if it is a translation from one language to another, the word order of that translation, its “readability” or “hook” comes from sentences translated “just right” for the audience. For example, top level translators will translate correctly, but for advertising the copy will be “heavy” and “drag” compared to the rewording of the same translation by an advertising copywriter. Because of the executive level experience involved in good advertising translation, the monetary value of an overseas professional marketing/advertising copywriter is generally $150 to $250 per hour. But if using a copywriter increases overseas sales by up to 30%, then the hourly cost becomes a drop in the bucket.

Do it yourself subtitler

Q:  What about the software Subtitle Your Video?

A:  Subtitle Your Video is an on-line web software for creating any type of subtitling you need, at less cost. Anyone can create subtitles - or replace expensive captioning - with quick, easy, inexpensive subtitles for the Web, Flash or DVD. This Do-It-Yourself on-line subtitling software for Web subtitling, Flash movie subtitles and DVD authoring contains all the features you need for script transcription, subtitle breakdown, translation control, and creating the finished product - either a Flash movie ready for the web with language selections, or your choice of XMLs and edit lists for Flash, Media Player, or DVD, plus graphic files for your authoring software. Whether you are an amateur or a professional, whether subtitling corporate multimedia, training, or a web television channel, Subtitle Your Video is the ideal solution. There is even On-line Vendor method to calculate translator costs.

Subtitle Your Video is an innovative new way to create and manage subtitles for the web and DVD.   You can use it yourself, or invite your vendors to use Subtitle Your Video to subtitle your digital movies.   The subtitler can cut the cost for subtitling, and speed the process dramatically.

Web subtitles appear below the image for easier reading, unless you set the preferences for on-image subtitles.   The length of web subtitles is recommended to be longer than the usual short movie subtitles due to latency, slow loading, and digital “freeze”.

Creating subtitles that are full sentences will give people more time to receive the subtitles than traditional subtitles that are only a few words.   Because the subtitles appear below the image rather than on the image, this approach works well.   But if you prefer to create short subtitles, you are in control.

For DVD, the subtitles can appear below the image or directly on the image.   Subtitle Your Video will provide the edit list of time codes.   That edit list can contain the corresponding text for the screen, if you choose that style. The on-line subtitler can also provide the graphic subtitle files as tif or png, that correspond to the edit list.

For Flash, Subtitle Your Video creates usable XML for import and subtitle generation live at runtime. Or, press a button to create a completed turnkey Flash movie, with drop-down list of language selection, or buttons for language choice.

About some European languages

ENGLISH: BRITISH, IRISH, SCOTTISH
If the original document is in American English, the document should be “adapted” for the target English: British, Irish, Scottish. There are, indeed, word differences between American and the three for England, Ireland and Scotland, plus major spelling differences. Also, the British are much less loosey-goosey with grammar and verbs, more of a stickler for accuracy, preferring less hype and exhibitionism in their marketing and training materials, and having a “soft spot” for humor. For technology, there are very important word usage differences, such as “hash key” for the telephone’s “pound key”.

For the spoken word, each of the 3 areas (England, Ireland, Scotland) have both a broadcast accent and a “street accent”. The broadcast accent is the smooth accent accepted for advertising, multimedia and videos. The “street accent” is that which is often use in specialty commercials or comedy to lend personality to a marketing piece. In general, “street accents” are never used in business multimedia or products. Additionally, British corporate marketing pieces usually have a different “feel” from American, tend to be more modest, and materials written in the U.S. expanded to the U.K. market will often benefit from some rewrite.

ITALIAN
Italy is divided into 3 basic regions: Milan, Rome and the Boot/Sicily. Milan has a reputation of being the international business area of Italy, Rome the trade and tourism center. For translation of documents, technical papers, human resources and marketing materials there is one generic Italian language in writing and speech for all regions. Although there are spoken “street accent” differences between the 3 regions, there is one single broadcast accent used by voice talent for all multimedia, videos, training, advertising and other materials.

@International Services, one of the sponsors of this site,  translates in Milan and Rome according to the project requirements, has consulting Italian engineers, doctors and other specialists, plus records voices for videos, CD Roms, DVDs and other uses directly within Italy. The Italian language is straight A-B-C with no special accent marks to cause computer software incompatibility.

The laws in Italy are quite different from the laws in the U.S. and translated documents with legal or risk impact will often be accompanied by notes clarifying the differences in the laws involved in the document. These legal differences affect many technical documents, contracts, financial papers and marketing translations.

PORTUGUESE
There are two main Portuguese languages: European and Brazilian Portuguese. The two are not simply a difference in pronunciation. There are major word usage differences between the two, and verb endings (such as “ing”) are not the same. Thus, a document from one or the other is immediately identifiable. Because of the grammar and word differences, translators from the target region must be used. The spoken accent between the two regions is as marked as the accents in the United States compared to Australia or England.

Translations from Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and  Lisbon, Portugal will differ especially with technical and marketing translators of highest caliber, and review services by engineers, doctors and other professionals. Additionally, professional voice talents are recorded in Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro and Lisbon for use with multimedia, DVDs, video and voice products. Full lip sync recording services are also available, performed by the same voice actors who replace the voices of American hit movies into Portuguese.

Tips on Korean and Vietnamese

KOREAN
Korean translation is provided for documents, technical papers, human resources and marketing. There are 3 main dialects of Korean: South Korean, North Korean and expatiate Korean for persons living in the United States or other English-speaking countries. Between the South and North Korean dialects there is a variation in word usage, but most obviously a significant difference in spoken accent. Because of the political climate between the two areas, it is recommend that the utmost care be given to identify the exact Korean target market, and use only translators and voice talents from the proper region.

Koreans living in English-speaking countries pepper their speech with anglicized words, particularly for financial applications such as banking, training or human resource materials. Expatiate Korean will be a bit more simplified and have many daily support-words in English.

Unlike Chinese or Japanese, Korean characters are becoming quite computer-friendly as computer operating systems around the world prepare for localization. Korean characters are actually an alphabet, and can therefore be read if the alphabet is known by the reader. @International Services, for example,  assists clients to become Korean-compatible, or delivers documents and translations as PDF files that can be read on any computer or used by any professional printing company without Korean fonts or capability.

VIETNAMESE
Vietnamese translation is provided for documents, technical papers, human resources and marketing. There are 4 main dialects of Vietnamese: South Vietnamese, North Vietnamese, a “Central Vietnamese” (based upon centuries-old Chinese), and expatiate Vietnamese for persons living in the United States or other English-speaking countries. Between the South and North Vietnamese dialects there is a variation in word usage, and significant difference in spoken accent. Because of the political climate between the two areas, it is recommend that the utmost care be given to identify the exact Vietnamese target market, and use only translators and voice talents from the proper region.

Vietnamese living in English-speaking countries pepper their speech with anglicized words, particularly for financial applications such as banking, training or human resource materials. Expatiate Vietnamese for the U.S. will be a bit more simplified and have many daily support-words in English. Vietnamese voices for videos, training and U.S. voice applications often have a light American accent, rather than the pure “mother country” sound. This light American accent is accepted by all expatriate Vietnamese speakers in the U.S. Heavily English-accented Vietnamese is not as classy for multimedia.

Although based upon A-B-C alphabet, Vietnamese text has totally different accent marks for letters from all other major world languages. There can be several special accent marks for one single letter. The hidden computer code for Vietnamese characters often causes difficulties in web work by designers with incompatible software. @International Services, as another example, assists clients to become Vietnamese-compatible, or delivers documents and translations as PDF files that can be read on any computer or used by any professional printing company without Vietnamese fonts and settings.

German voice over dialects and translation

Q:  Looking for a bit more information on German dialects

There are 3 main dialect groups of German, with a few subgroups: neutral or “high” German, Swiss German, Austrian German.

NEUTRAL or “HIGH” GERMAN
This is the main and acknowledged “proper” German, also called “High German”. It is the German translation of choice for documents or recordings that will be sent to multiple countries, and also the language for legal and other official translated materials throughout the German speaking world. There is also one single, correct broadcast accent for German recordings. There are stringent rules for German grammar, spelling and usage, all emanating from Germany itself, and accepted worldwide. German spelling rules have undergone a major change in the last few years, and documents written in the “old style” have an outdated appearance. Translations in any other German dialect are not acceptable for doing business in Germany, and undereducated written German or grammatical and spelling mistakes will seriously damage a client’s image. A dialect German voice talent recorded in any other country for sales or training multimedia will miss its mark in Germany. Thus, it is not applicable to use a Swiss voice or an American-accented German voice on a product destined for Germany. The effect is rather like recording a voice in Mississippi for a New York commercial. On the other hand, excellent German translations created in Germany, and recordings with voice talent in Germany are received with pride and joy.

AUSTRIAN GERMAN
Austrian German is charming with a powerful personality. Their accent is distinctive, their word choice delightful and there is a very strong nationalism. Much of what today is educated Europe was part of the Austrian Empire, thus a great percentage of artistic and cultural heritage is directly related to Austria and its people. Many products sold across German-language borders, such as telephone systems, electronics, and manufactured goods, are translated only into High German for expediency and return on investment. The Austrians certainly understand High German. They hear it on television every day, and read it in literature, their magazines, and learn it in their schools. But for advertising and sales it is good to understand that their hearts will follow Austrian German.

SWISS GERMAN
One of the world’s dialects with the most individualism is Swiss German. With an accent that is as unique as it is strong, Swiss German is quite different from High German, and is beloved by its speakers. Swiss German translation is more prevalent for advertising than for business documentation. Notwithstanding the acceptance and correspondence always in “high” German, the heart for sales is in Swiss German.

POCKETS OF GERMAN
German is the 2nd language in Poland, Czech Republic, Rumania and Hungary. And there are a few pockets where German is the first language within a country of a different tongue. For example, in Brazil there is a renowned area in the mountains with German villages. In the United States, there are German pockets in Pennsylvania and other states, often associated with religious beliefs.

Japanese simplified basics

Q:  Possible to get a bit of guidance on Japanese - general guidance?

English to Japanese language services are best performed in Tokyo, and Japanese to English are best translated in the United States or London then reviewed in Tokyo. Written translation provided for documents, technical papers, human resources and marketing are quite different than the style for voice recording (scripts). Although there are other Japanese dialects that have different spoken accents, such as Kyoto Japanese, there is one clear, undisputed Japanese language for use worldwide. For expatriates (persons living in the United States or other English-speaking countries), a Japanese document or project may have English words scattered periodically throughout, particularly for words and items that are used in daily living, technology or banking and therefore are more recognizable in the English language form.

Japanese grammar is completely backward from English grammar. And there are 9 completely different number sets in Japanese. The Japanese grammar structure and number sets strongly affect computer applications such as XML web sites, telephone applications, software and other.

For voice recordings, there is a breathtaking difference between the quality of voices recorded directly in Tokyo compared to those recorded outside of Japan. Tokyo voices and studios are some of the finest in the world. Talents are fully versed in narration, lip sync, advertising and recordings for DVDs, videos, telecom and web.

Japanese characters are becoming quite computer-friendly as computer operating systems around the world prepare for localization. Japanese is what is called a “2-byte” language. That means, that each Japanese character uses two letter-spaces (example: takes the space for “ab” rather than just “a”). To create new text in Japanese requires special operating system and Japanese-compatible software, although most computers can read-only if they have certain elements installed that are found on the user’s system installation CD. @International Services assists clients to become Japanese-compatible, or delivers documents and translations as PDF files that can be read on any computer or used by any professional printing company without Japanese fonts or 2-byte capability.

Telecom and language

Q:  Looking for more information on the telecom and technology services provided by @International Services, a sponsor of this blog, more specifically in IVR

Here is the basic marketing patter for this @International Sevices in the telecom arena:  @International Services is a provider of “internationalization solutions”, a one-stop-shop for language localization of IVR, software, kiosks, web and interfaces. @International Services supports product developers and marketers through translation and localization to help ensure success in global markets.  From prompt translation to code localization, marketing translation to voice prompt recording, web site translation to product demo voicing, @International Services brings 20 years in linguistics and technology in 90 countries to the table. @International Services is also the inventor of the localization library, GlobalConcat System Localizer, an approach to internationalization that ensures that your IVR plays/displays flawlessly in all languages with one single code base.  Products localized with @International Services, generally play more naturally, smoothly and attractively in other languages. than with traditional translation approaches.  The @International Services localization team support you during your internationalization process. Professional voices rare ecorded in 90 countries around the world to give your product persona and identity for the global market. @International Services uses the System Localizer to organize translations of voice prompts and concatenated sentences. This method achieves more natural results than the usual “translate this prompt script” approach, and results in the particular naturalness of speech that is the hallmark of @International Services. Small projects receive the same attentive service and outstanding results as larger applications. All work by @International Services comes with a 100% quality guarantee. Everything you need is available to internationalize your product, voice prompts, the order in which the voice prompts play, plus customer training and marketing materials into 150 languages. — Does this cover the territory?  If not, feel free to visit the site at http://www.internationalservices.com

Mandarin language tips

Q:  Can you clarify a bit more about Chinese, their dialects and changes?

The most popular variations of Mandarin Chinese are Beijing, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Mandarin Chinese language is evolving more rapidly than any other language on earth. Hong Kong, for example, is currently making a fusion between Cantonese and Mandarin, with a different accent and dialect of Mandarin, a Mandarin that is in dramatic flux. Taiwanese Mandarin has a strong variation in both accent and word usage. And Chinese spoken inside the United States has also become a dialect.

From the heaviest of technical content to the warmest of multimedia, Mandarin subtitling or web site translation, there are  cultural differences and nuances, requiring adaptation in your Mandarin Chinese translation with a subtle touch to enhance your image in the eyes of your Chinese prospects and employees.

English to Mandarin Chinese translations destined for China should be translated by true professionals located inside China itself, with impeccable English and 20 years experience. Translations need to have a look and feel of naturalness, as though originally created in China, without the heaviness, errors or stilted feel often associated with a translation. Multimedia script translations should be properly adapted to the “spoken Chinese word” (as opposed to the “written word”), and adapted to the proper length to be spoken within the allowed timing. Mandarin Chinese voice recordings should sound smooth, have credibility, and flow perfectly to the timing of the original English, and the most popular voice talents ae not “professional voice talents” but rather television news anchors.

In China, the appropriate Mandarin Chinese translated words to be used in screen prompts and voice prompts for software and IVR are not a mirror reflection of their counterparts in American English. Your tranlsation team needs to know exactly when to vary your words just slightly to meet the modern standards for this new audience. Mandarin Chinese translators inside China understand software, have first-hand experience in development, and offer Mandarin Chinese translation services for the text elements within code as XML, C++, .NET, Java and similar.