Setting up a German voice
- Record 5 to 15 seconds of a native speaker, in Standard German with the regional colour you want.
- Set the voice's Language to German.
- Test with a long compound, a number and an abbreviation.
Accent and region
The sample sets the accent: a Bavarian, Austrian or Swiss speaker's Standard German keeps its regional sound. Write the script in Standard German, with the vocabulary your audience uses (Jänner or Januar, Tomate or Paradeiser). Dialect spelled out phonetically, such as Swiss German, is unpredictable; test it carefully if you need it.
Writing German for the voice
- Numbers as words: German says units before tens (einundzwanzig), and endings depend on case. Am 3. Oktober → am dritten Oktober; 1.250,50 € → tausendzweihundertfünfzig Euro fünfzig.
- Abbreviations: z. B. → zum Beispiel, d. h. → das heißt, usw. → und so weiter, bzw. → beziehungsweise, ca. → circa, Nr. → Nummer, Str. → Straße.
- Long compounds usually come out fine, but very long ones can stumble. Split with a hyphen for the voice (Kundenzufriedenheits-Umfrage), or rephrase (eine Umfrage zur Kundenzufriedenheit).
- Umlauts and ß: keep ä, ö, ü, ß. Never write ae, oe, ue, ss as substitutes in a script.
- Anglicisms such as Meeting or Download are usually read well; respell any that aren't.
- Capitalized nouns are fine: the voice reads in lower case anyway, so capitals neither help nor hurt.
A passage to record
Das wollte ich schon seit Wochen aufnehmen, also los geht's. Es ist ein ruhiger Abend, der Kaffee ist fertig, und
ich habe endlich ein paar Minuten für mich. Mal sehen, wie es klingt.
"I'd been meaning to record this for weeks, so here goes. 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
Lena: Bist du schon da? Ich warte seit acht Uhr.
Jonas: Entschuldige! Auf der Autobahn ging gar nichts.
Lena: Na gut, jetzt bist du ja hier. Bestellen wir?Timing
German translations of English text often run longer, which matters for video and fixed-length slots. Ask translators for a version that fits, and check a few long lines before generating the whole script. See localizing video.