Chinese Voice-Over: 10 Expert Tips for Choosing the Right Artist

Chinese Voice-Over artists vary widely in style, tone, and quality. Not all of them will fit your brand. Here are 10 practical tips to help you choose the right Chinese Voice-Over talent for your video content.

READ MORE >>What You Should Know About Cantonese and Mandarin Dialects

Table of Contents

• 1. Provide clarity of your brand’s voice or style
• 2. List down the emotions you want to portray
• 3. Ask for recommendations
• 4. Choose the gender of voice talent artists
• 5. Provide details about your target audience
• 6. Review the experience and niche of the voice-artist(s)
• 7. Pay attention to details
• 8. Assess the Pitch
• 9. Check the turnaround time and revision requests
• 10. Observe the work ethic of the team

1✨ Provide clarity of your brand’s voice or style

2💬 List down the emotions you want to portray

It’s important to nail down the emotions you want to portray on the videos you want to publish. As voice-over talents have their style and “signature” of how pronunciation, diction, and tone you provide a list of emotions that also match your videos stories.The emotions are important, too. If you’re in the e-learning industry and you want to publish your video courses in Chinese, a Chinese Voice-Over that conveys clarity and emotion is essential to keep learners engaged.

3📌 Ask for recommendations

If you’re going to work with agencies, you may also ask for their recommendations. Send samples of your videos, and they can help match the type of voice that suits your overall style. That’s why it’s recommended to work with production agencies that offer language solutions. It will lessen the burden on your side, and you can rely on their recommendations since they’ve worked with different voice artists.

4 💡Choose the gender of voice talent artists

Depending on the type of video you’re publishing or promoting, gender is a consideration when choosing the artist. Whether it’s a male or female artist, no study proves, which one is sufficient. 

Voice-over is a skill learned from years of experience. According to Wikipedia, voice actors are professionals who use their voices to represent characters or provide information, often for media like animation, games, and commercial content. There are amateurs, intermediate and veterans. The veterans and most experienced already have mastered their “signature” voice and their character once they’re recording and reading the scripts. It’s important to ask for the history or background of those you have shortlisted.

However, there’s a poll of 2,200 US adults by Adweek and Harris Interactive that showed 46% believed female voic

e was soothing, and the 48% exudes more authority. But again, we can’t be subjective in this area.

But we can follow this simple rule. If you’re targeting female, then it’s best to choose female, same as with the male audience. Gender plays a subtle but strategic role in effective Chinese Voice-Over production.

To explore examples of advertisement voice-overs, you can watch the following video.

5🧠 Provide details about your target audience

The clarity in terms of demographics is crucial in deciding what type of Chinese voice-over you should use. For example, Mandarin voice-over is common in Mainland China. It’s also used in Taiwan and Singapore.

On the other hand, Cantonese is used in Hong Kong, Macau, and the parts of Guangdong province and
other people in the Guangxi region. While it’s likely that Mandarin is the first option of most marketers, it’s better to be specific to make sure you don’t waste your time and money. A carefully selected Chinese Voice-Over strategy can drastically improve audience engagement.

6🎯 Review the experience and niche of the voice-artist(s)

Chinese Voice-Over is a skill learned from years of experience. There are the amateurs, intermediate, and veterans. The veterans and most experienced already have mastered their “signature” voice and their character once they’re recording and reading the scripts. It’s important to ask for the history or background of those you have shortlisted. Niche is also important. Other artists have this way of “presenting” style rather than “storytelling.”

So, for example, if you’re in the travel and tourism sector and you’re publishing a promotional video about your place, you’d instead choose someone who’s very much of a storyteller in style and lively.

7🌟Pay attention to details

Listen to the Chinese Voice-Over samples that your supplier sends you. It would even be better to request a voice-over test. You may also invite your in-house team and native Chinese colleagues to vet on the samples and in this way, you have plenty of room to go into details. Listen carefully how the artist delivers the message. Is it enticing? Is it too loud or annoying? Crowdsourcing it with your in-house team will also help you decide. In unity, you all know which voice matches your brand’s personality.

8 🔍Assess the Pitch

If you’re targeting an older generation or those in the 60s and 70s, better assess the pitch of your Mandarin voice-over artists. There’s a condition called presbycusis that older people experience, preventing them from hearing higher pitch ranges. It’s better to look for a voice-over artist who’s a veteran in speaking with clarity and with a deeper pitch to make sure your audience understands your message.

9🕒 Check the turnaround time and revision requests

Does the team or your choice of voice-over talents commit to the turnaround time you have set? Can they accommodate revision requests? How many? These are important when working with Chinese Voice-Over providers for e-learning or brand videos. Some agencies may even have additional charges for revisions. Always check if they’re willing to commit and also if the chosen or final artists can do it throughout the entire process with the agreed payment terms and even several revisions.

10🏁 Observe the work ethic of the team

Most of the time, local suppliers will show the best foot forward when you’re on the search of voice-over talent. Be observant on how they work. You can start with the responsiveness of the team or the project manager in charge. You can also review the companies they’ve worked before and probe more of how the workflow goes, both internal and external. Are the voice-over artists dedicated and passionate in delivering the materials? Do they embrace the project as their own and add value to the services? Remember that once you sign up and agree with the contract and terms, there’s no turning back. Whomever you choose will also make an impact on your materials for the long-term.

---

Let us know, and we’ll be happy to assist you with Chinese Voice-Over projects, whether in Mandarin or Cantonese.