E-learning voice over, paced for the screen
A learner hears the narration while looking at something else: a slide, an interface, a diagram. In another language the sentence is longer or shorter, and the screen has to wait for the voice or the voice for the screen. That is decided in the script, not in the edit.
E-learning voice over at a glance
- Family
- Training and e-learning
- Languages
- Every language we cast, with the native variant of each market
- Our availability
What it is
E-learning narration is the voice that guides a learner through a course: explaining a slide, walking through a software screen, reading a scenario, giving feedback on an answer.
In translation the text changes length, the order of ideas can change, and technical terms may stay in the original language or take a local one. If the animation was timed to the English narration, every other language either runs late or has to be re-timed.
A course is also rarely finished. Regulations, products and screens change, so the useful question at the start is not only who records the course but how the next change will be recorded in the same voice and style.
Decide before the booth.
What to settle for e-learning voice over before anyone records.
Terminology
Agree a glossary before recording: which terms are translated, which stay in the original language, and how product names are said. One approved list saves a second session.
Narration against on-screen text
Decide whether the voice reads the text on screen or adds to it. Reading it word for word is rarely the best choice, and in a right-to-left language the layout of the screen may change as well.
Timing
Build the animation after the narration, or leave room in it. A language that needs more words will not fit the timing of the original without cutting content.
Examples and names
Scenarios with names, places, currencies and dates should be adapted to the market, not only translated. The learner should recognise their own working life.
Updates
Keep a list of the lines most likely to change, and number the slides in the script. A change then means re-recording a few lines, not the module.
Where it is used
- Compliance and safety trainingContent where precision matters more than style: approved wording, careful pronunciation of regulations and a pace the learner can follow.
- Product and software trainingScreen walk-throughs where the voice names buttons and menus exactly as the translated interface shows them.
- Onboarding and company coursesA warmer, more conversational delivery, with the register of the company and the country decided in advance.
- Language coursesMaterial in which the voice is the teaching content: the accent, the pace and the pronunciation of each example are the lesson.
E-learning voice over: questions
Should the narrator read the on-screen text exactly?
Usually no. Learners read faster than they listen, so the voice works better explaining or adding to the text. Decide it in the script, and say which slides are the exception.
Who approves the terminology?
Someone in the market who knows the subject. Send the glossary with the script, and any term that is not approved before recording will need a second session.
What happens when the course is updated?
Mark the lines that may change and number the slides. Updated lines are then recorded together in the same style, and the rest of the course is left untouched.
Brief e-learning voice over
It takes a few short questions. We reply with voice options and a quote for each market.
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