Setting up a Dutch voice
- Record 5 to 15 seconds of a native speaker from the region your audience is in.
- Set the voice's Language to Dutch.
- Test with a number, a long compound and an English loanword.
Netherlands or Flanders
The sample decides the accent, and Dutch and Flemish listeners notice the difference immediately. Vocabulary should match too: fiets is shared, but Flemish scripts might use goesting or plezant where a Dutch script wouldn't. For both audiences, make a script and a voice for each.
Writing Dutch for the voice
- Numbers as words: units come before tens (eenentwintig, tweeënveertig), so write them out: tweeduizend zesentwintig.
- Times: half negen means 8:30, half an hour before nine. Write the time in words the way your audience says it, rather than 8.30, and make sure translators from English haven't turned "half eight" into half acht.
- Compounds: long compounds are normal and usually read well; split or rephrase any that stumble.
- Diaeresis: keep ideeën, België, coördinator. They show where syllables break.
- Abbreviations: bijv. → bijvoorbeeld, d.w.z. → dat wil zeggen, o.a. → onder andere, enz. → enzovoort.
- English loanwords (meeting, deadline) are common; check them on the first take.
A passage to record
Ik wilde dit al weken opnemen, dus daar gaan we. Het is een rustige avond, de koffie is klaar en ik heb eindelijk
een paar minuten voor mezelf. Eens kijken hoe het klinkt.
"I'd been meaning to record this for weeks, so here we go. It's a quiet evening, the coffee's ready and I finally have a few minutes to myself. Let's see how it sounds."
A dialogue to test with
Sanne: Ben je er al? Ik wacht al sinds acht uur.
Daan: Sorry! Het was ontzettend druk op de weg.
Sanne: Nou ja, je bent er. Zullen we bestellen?Courses and explainers
Dutch is a common second language for courses and product videos made for the Benelux. For training material, see e-learning and explainers; for numbers and acronyms in any language, numbers and abbreviations.