Setting up a Hindi voice
- Record 5 to 15 seconds of a native Hindi speaker.
- Set the voice's Language to Hindi.
- Test with a number, an English loanword and a word with a nukta.
Devanagari, not Roman letters
Hindi is often typed in Roman letters online ("aap kaise hain"), but romanized Hindi has no fixed spelling, and the voice can't know which vowel you mean. Write scripts in Devanagari: आप कैसे हैं. It's the form the voice reads most reliably.
English words in Hindi scripts
Everyday Hindi is full of English: कंप्यूटर, मीटिंग, ऑफ़िस. You have two choices:
- Write them in Devanagari, the way they're said in Hindi. This keeps the voice in one language and gives the most natural Hindi delivery.
- Leave them in Roman letters if they're brand names or must look English on screen. Test them; they may be read with a different sound than you expect.
For long passages in English, give those lines to a voice set to English.
Writing Hindi for the voice
- Nukta: keep it where it changes the sound, as in ज़ / ज and फ़ / फ (ज़रूर, फ़िल्म).
- Numbers as words: पच्चीस, दो हज़ार छब्बीस. Hindi numbers up to a hundred are individual words, so digits are a common source of error.
- Lakh and crore: write पाँच लाख or दो करोड़ rather than 5,00,000 or 20,000,000.
- Money: ₹250 → ढाई सौ रुपये.
- Sentence ends: use the danda (।); long lines are split there, as at full stops.
- Formality: आप, तुम, तू carry very different tones; match them to the character.
A passage to record
मैं कई हफ़्तों से इसे रिकॉर्ड करना चाहता था, तो चलिए शुरू करते हैं। आज की शाम शांत है, चाय तैयार है, और आख़िरकार मेरे पास
अपने लिए कुछ मिनट हैं। देखते हैं कैसा सुनाई देता है।
"I've wanted to record this for weeks, so let's begin. This evening is quiet, the tea is ready, and at last I have a few minutes to myself. Let's see how it sounds."
A dialogue to test with
प्रिया: तुम पहुँच गए? मैं आठ बजे से इंतज़ार कर रही हूँ।
राहुल: माफ़ करना! रास्ते में बहुत ट्रैफ़िक था।
प्रिया: चलो, अब आ गए हो। ऑर्डर करें?Courses and explainers
Hindi versions of courses and product videos reach a very large audience. Keep the same line order as the original script, so every file has its counterpart. See e-learning and explainers.