French voice overs: what you need to know

There are 80 million French speakers across 29 countries, including France, Belgium, Switzerland, Mali, and Canada. It is spoken on every continent and is the fourth most widely spoken mother tongue under the European Union.

French is a romance language derived from Latin.

Language History

French was documented from dates as early as 842. The documents recovered are known as the Strasbourg oaths – a romance version of oaths sworn by two grandsons of the holy roman emperor Charlemagne. There are some claims the text is poorly disguised Latin constructed to look authentic for political propaganda. Other claims assume the Latinizing tendencies reveal the struggle of the scribe when spelling French. This is because it was only spoken at the time.

French wasn’t always spoken in France. During the Iron Age. France was part of the region of Gaul. In Gaul people spoke Latin.

The French academy (L’academie Francaise) was established in the 1600s as a council for the French language. This was a monumental step forward in developing the French language.

Locals didn’t speak French until after the French revolution ended in 1799. After the revolution, the French government decided French would be the common language.

After the Norman conquest in England during 1066 and the victory at the battle of Hastings, French became the official language of the administration and aristocracy. This led to a great number of French words and expressions being incorporated into the English language. French has remained a major language to influence modern English.

Close Relations

French is closely related to other romance languages including Portuguese and Spanish with a very close relation to Italian.

Accents and Voice Over Tips

French has 28 (!) different regional dialects within France. The two most distinctive dialects are Parisian French and Marseillais, spoken in Marseille. European (or Parisian French) is considered to be the standard. People learning a second language generally do so using Parisian French. Other dialects include Canadian French, African French, Acadian French, and Swiss-French.

Words per minute

French is one of the fastest naturally-paced languages with a rate of 7.18 syllables per second, or a word speed of 160 wpm (words per minute). However, we always advise you to consider the project type and target audience when considering pace. E-learning material should be read at a much slower pace than a voice over for a car commercial, for example.

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