Castilian Spanish Voice Over Artists

A Brief Background of the Castilian Spanish language

Castilian Spanish, a member of the Indo-European Family of Languages, sometimes refers to the varieties of the language spoken in northern and central Spain.

Its roots lay in the autonomous region of Cantabria, where it was the local dialect, before spreading to Castile.

Following the merger of Castile, Leon and Aragon in the late 15^th century, Castilian became the standard language used in Spain.

In Spanish, the word Castilian (castellano) points to the Old Spanish language which preceded the modern version. Castilian Spanish may also highlight the difference between the Spanish spoken in Spain as opposed its Latin American counterpart.

Castilian Spanish is the official language of Spain, and it shares this status with several regional languages. These include Basque, Catalan/Valencian/Balearic, Galician and Occitan (Aranese).

There are minor variations in the Castilian vocabulary spoken throughout Spain.

Mostly, it’s the pronunciation of words that differentiates between the various dialects. The most noteworthy difference is the pronunciation of the letter “c” before “i” or “e”.

In the northern part of Castile, where it is believed the language is spoken in its purest form, the “c” is actually pronounced as “th”, where as in southern and western Spain, it’s pronounced as an English “s”.

Since most Spaniards from the latter regions colonized Latin America, it became a standard feature of Latin American Spanish.

Two important notes to remember when localizing media:

1. When translating voice over scripts from English to Spanish, the text will typically increase in word count by around 20 – 30%.
2. At the same time, normal Spanish speech pace is typically faster than English by about 25%. The fast pace in Spanish coupled with the longer word count may actually end up using the same time frame as the original English speech. However it also depends on the type of voice recording needed and the client’s expectation of the delivery style. Therefore it’s important to have a native speaker adapt the text for sync, if necessary.

Our exceptional voice over artists are experienced in timed voice recordings and we can also help in adapting your text to make sure the narration is as you envisioned.

Call on us today for your next Castilian Spanish voice over project.