3 Essential Qualities of an Accented English Voice-Over Talent

Requests for accented English voice-over recordings are increasing. Why? Because there are millions of second-language English speakers around the world – including in the United States. Naturally, multimedia productions have to reflect that diversity, as well as reach out to these demographics. Now, more than ever, it’s necessary to understand the qualities that are essential in an accented English voice talent.

This post will list what multimedia localization professionals must look for when casting non-native English-language talents.

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What exactly is accented English voice-over?

For the purposes of VO accented English is specifically what you would hear from non-native speakers – that is to say, speakers for whom English is a second or even third language. This is a critical distinction to make from native English accents like the ones found in Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, South Africa and the United States. Native speakers in each one of these regions have very different accents, but they are still native speakers – for that reason, for example, UK English voiceover isn’t considered accented English.

Non-native speakers, on the other hand, have an accent that comes specifically from their mother tongue. For more fluent speakers, it’s a lighter accent; for less fluent speakers, a heavier one. Moreover, non-native English speakers from the same region tend to have similar accents – for example, English speakers whose native language is French generally have an identifiable accent, and one that can be distinguished from that of English speakers whose native language is Hindi.

For more information on how to record accented English – and the reasons for its ubiquity – read our previous post, How to record accented English voiceover successfully.

So – what qualities should multimedia localization professionals look for during the casting process?

1. A non-native accent – a real one, and on a talent’s resting voice.

Again, this is the defining quality of an accented English talent, and critical to get right. Therefore, make absolutely sure that your talent’s non-native accent is authentic. There is a long history of performing accents in the voice-over industry – and of course in entertainment content overall. Performing accents is still a standard practice around the world, so it’s very important to make sure that you’re getting a talent who actually speaks English with this accent in his or her normal, day-to-day conversations. Be especially careful with talents who grew up hearing the non-native accent but don’t actually use it in their own normal speech – for example, a second-generation speaker who grew up in the States with foreign-born parents, and who can imitate their accent closely.

JBI Studios, of course, tests all of our over 2500 foreign-language voice talents rigorously for native accent, including on accented English voiceovers.

2. An accent that is understood by your target audience.

Your non-native talent’s English needs to be clear enough that he or she can be understood. And of course, it’s difficult to find talents who have an audible accent and whose English is still completely comprehensible. For this reason, it’s good practice to ask the talent to record a piece of text with tricky content, then ask someone from your audience to listen to it without any script reference, and make sure they can comprehend the VO easily. 

It’s also critical to keep your target audience in mind. For example, if you’re recording accented English for an e-Learning course to reflect your workforce diversity, you’ll want to make sure it’s comprehensible to native English speakers, as well as non-natives from various parts of the world. If you’re recording accented English for a local market – for example, for India, where there are millions of non-native but relatively fluent English speakers – you’ll want to make sure your VO is comprehensible to that audience specifically.

3. Reading facility with English & overall fluency.

Your talent will be reading a script in his or her non-native language, so their overall English fluency is critical to ensuring that your sessions run on time, and that you avoid pick-ups – especially if you’re recording a relatively large amount of content. Make sure not only that your talent speaks the language fluently, but also that he or she can read it fluently. Remember also that a person’s fluency with an acquired language decreases as he or she gets tired – and talents are no exception, especially if they’re dubbing to video, which adds an additional layer of difficulty. If possible, test your talent on a longer text to see if their fluency and facility with the language decreases over time.

Allow more time for casting – and for your overall project

Professional voice-over artists who can sight-read scripts – all while sounding natural and making very few mistakes – are very rare. They are even more rare when they’re recording in an acquired language. For example, a native French voiceover talent who’s completely fluent in English may sound terrible when recording in this language. The same goes for most other languages, so that it takes much longer to cast talents for projects in accented English. On top of the general casting difficulty, it really is crucial to build in reviews from members of your target audience – whether employees at a multilingual locale, or in-country managers, or a test audience. These reviews will guarantee that your final audio is comprehensible, as well as engaging to your audience. In short, because casting is critical to this kind of project, make sure to get it right – that, more than anything else, will guarantee project success.