Hispanic literature

Happy New Year! ¡Feliz Año Nuevo! Why My Ritual of A Word Of The Year?

December 28, 2023 by Rosi Amador

Updated from a previously published post.

Instead of making a New Year’s resolution, for many years I have picked a “word of the year” to guide my decisions each year. My Word of the Year last year was ASPIRATION, and I’m happy to say that I definitely brought that word to fruition. I studied and advanced my learning with coaches in both my voiceover and singing careers. I studied online with an amazing VO coach in Madrid and another in the U.S to make my auditions pop and to book more work. And I studied with several expert vocal improvisation coaches throughout 2023, both online and in person, which filled my heart with more joy than I can express in words.

Unintended Consequences

Along with all this growth, guess what happened? I was overcommitted, ran around a lot doing so many things I loved and found I had too little downtime (big surprise, right?!) so my new word for 2024 is EASE. Oddly enough, when I was looking at my blog post from 2020 about my word of the year it was… EASE. I had completely forgotten! This is clearly a recurring need for me, as my family could tell you.

So here’s what I’m thinking: I will continue to study and take working vacations, but at a more relaxed pace. That way I can enjoy my life more fully and keep working on that never ending life/work balance! My hope is that all of my choices next year will be guided by this word. Do me a favor and email me every now and then to see how I’m doing. 😉 Who knows? Maybe it will help you, too.

A LITTLE UPDATE ON OUR FAMILY’S VO’s LAST YEAR

Fabulous Museum Audio Tour Narrations

We are thrilled to share that museums around the country invited us to narrate audio guides and audio descriptions. Some of our favorites this year were: MoMa, The Getty Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Miami Institute of Contemporary Art, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Seattle Art Museum and The Jewish Museum. You can hear some examples and videos here.

We were so fortunate in 2023 to guide thousands of visitors through various exhibits and travel destinations. Whether it’s in English, Spanish, or even Hispanic accented English, we thoroughly enjoy recording this type of work. It feels as though we are exploring the world, all from the comfort of our studio!

Brilliant Health-Themed Narrations/eLearning

We also worked on a wide variety of health and medical projects, recording spots for hospitals, health insurance plans, medical products, and health-related educational programs.

Health-medical commercial voiceover should exude warmth and reassurance. It should also demonstrate expertise in a confident and authoritative manner. The voice should bring to mind a knowledgeable doctor who not only excels in her field but also possesses the bedside manner that makes you feel at ease. That is what we had the privilege of doing for clients such as: JSI, MCD, Mount Sinai Hospital and Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Check out this playlist to see and hear for yourself.

Inspiring Public Television Voiceovers

Public television and radio have always played a significant role in our family’s life. We have been enthusiastic advocates and dedicated viewers/listeners for many years. That’s why we love recording promos, educational narrations, pledge drives and community outreach media for many stations around the country and are grateful for their trust in us to help them with their projects.

Last year, we had the joy of working with our new clients Oregon Public Broadcasting and North Carolina PBS, and some of our cherished regulars like Maryland Public Television and WNET Thirteen in New York City. Here are some samples for you to check out.

Overdubs and Translations

Overdubbing into Spanish is an art. It requires skill and patience because there are about a third more words in Spanish than in English, and making it sound natural is one of our specialties. We love the challenge. Check out our playlist of overdubs if you’re curious.

Other Genres

As always, we cherish the opportunity to work with our clients and welcome new ones who may want us to work in different genres from the ones I highlighted above.

Happy 2024 to all! Contact us by clicking here and tell us how we can help you. ¡Feliz año nuevo!

Our son Zia is more available than ever for voiceover

Zia Amador is now fully done with college and now can help you with his gender-fluid/younger male voice. Some of the projects he did this year include Central Park Conservancy, MoMA, JSI and WNET Thirteen,

Our family looks forward to collaborating with you this year. Let us know (hyperlink) if you have any bilingual projects in mind.

Two Sides to “Bilingual”

September 14, 2023 by Brian Amador

Updated from a previously published post.

The growth of the Hispanic population in the U.S. (around 18% of the population in 2023) has led to increased demand for audio content targeted to that demographic. All genres of voiceover work, from commercials and explainer videos to e-learning, corporate narration, promos and more, are incorporating Spanish and bilingual content. And the increased demand has brought an expansion of VO talent offering their services in Spanish, from fluent native speakers to those who learned a little Spanish in high school.

I think anyone seriously involved in Spanish or English-Spanish bilingual voiceover work would agree that it’s not a good idea to sell yourself as a Spanish-speaking talent if you are not able to speak the language fluently, expressively and with an impeccable accent. In this regard, there are obvious advantages to hiring talent born and educated in a Spanish-speaking country.

But it’s not an absolute necessity. There are U.S.-born Spanish speakers who are completely bilingual – native speakers who can speak both English and Spanish and switch effortlessly between the two languages.

Full Bilingualism = Value Added

In my career as an English/Spanish bilingual voice actor, my standards are exactly the same for both languages: perfect, native pronunciation and expression. Surprisingly, I’ve found that sometimes being a native English speaker is just as important as being a native Spanish speaker. Being fully bilingual has advantages:

It’s important to recognize errors in translation and be able to make suggestions to correct them. Sometimes English expressions are translated directly into Spanish; if you are familiar with the colloquial expressions in English, it may be easier to find the best Spanish equivalent.
Some translation problems are due to grammatical errors or ambiguities in the source text. If you have a complete command of written English, you can more easily identify and correct these errors.
In overdubs, errors in translation may be due to the translator misunderstanding spoken English words because of the speaker’s accent or dialect. As a native English speaker, I am able to understand many different accents (although I admit I still watch “Masterpiece Theatre” with the subtitles on!)
For recordings of a specified duration, mastery of both languages makes it easier to adapt translations to fit in in a given time without sacrificing the meaning of the source copy.
It’s an extra perk for the client to be able to use the same voice talent in English and Spanish and have both languages sound natural and conversational.

Quality is What Matters

Given the growing importance of the Spanish language in the United States, and just as a matter of principle, the standards for Spanish and bilingual voiceover should always be as high as they are for English. It is as important for creators of content in Spanish, as it is for English-language creators, to find speakers who have a perfect command of the language, whether they are “native” or ”imported” speakers. There are two sides to “bilingual”. In some cases, mastery of English may be just as important as mastery of Spanish.

Amador Bilingual Voiceovers Brian Demos

Two Sides to “Bilingual”

May 18, 2016 by Brian Amador

The growth of the Hispanic population in the U.S. (17.4% of the population in 2014) has brought with it an increased demand for Spanish and bilingual content in all genres of voiceover, from commercials and explainer videos to Elearning, corporate narration, promos and more. And the increase in demand has brought an expansion of VO talent offering services in Spanish, from eloquent native speakers to people who took a little Spanish in high school.

I think anyone serious about doing Spanish or English-Spanish bilingual voiceover work would agree that a person shouldn’t sell themselves as Spanish-speaking talent if they’re not able to speak the language fluently, expressively and with an impeccable accent. In this regard, there are obvious advantages to hiring talent who were born and educated in a Spanish-speaking country.

But it’s not an absolute necessity. There are U.S. born Spanish speakers who are completely bilingual – native speakers of both English and Spanish, and able to switch effortlessly between the two.

Fully Bilingual = Value Added

In my career as a bilingual voice actor, my standard when voicing in Spanish is exactly the same as in English: perfect, native pronunciation and expression. I find that sometimes being a native English speaker is as important as being a native Spanish speaker. Being fully bilingual has its advantages.

It’s important to recognize a bad translation and to be able to make suggestions for correcting it. Sometimes English expressions are translated directly into Spanish; being familiar with the colloquialisms in English can make it easier to find the best way to express them in Spanish.
Some translation problems are due to grammatical errors or ambiguities in the source text. Having a complete command of written English makes these errors easy to recognize and correct.
In overdubs, translation errors can be due to the translator having misunderstood spoken English words due to the speaker’s accent or dialect. Being a native speaker of English enables me to understand many different accents (although I still watch “Masterpiece Theatre” with the subtitles on!)
For projects that need to fit into a specified duration, having a full command of both languages makes it easier to adjust translations to fit in time and still retain the meaning of the source copy.
It’s an extra perk for the client to be able to use the same voice in English and Spanish, and for both to sound natural and conversational.

Quality is What Matters

Given the number of Spanish-speakers in the United States, and as a matter of principle, the standards for Spanish and bilingual voiceover should be every bit as high as they are for English. For producers of content in Spanish, as in English, it’s important to find voice talent that speaks the language perfectly, whether that talent is “domestic” or ”imported”. There are two sides to “bilingual”. In some projects, mastery of English may be just as important as mastery of Spanish.

Narrating Inspiring Hispanic Literature for Teenagers

February 25, 2015 by Rosi Amador

Real life stories about Latino immigrants, inspiring first person accounts, the story of César Chávez, and poems authored by iconic Hispanic writers, poets and thinkers.

That’s what BookheadEd Learning approached Brian and me about recently. The company creates an award-winning web-delivered product (called StudySync), to improve reading, writing, and critical thinking with award-winning lessons aligned to the Common Core Standards for grades 4-12 in the U.S.

This is precisely the kind of project that inspired us choose voiceovers as a career in the first place! Using our voices to make a difference is our passion. Thank you to content coordinator Allison Schneider, whose testimonial I included below!

Brian and I had the privilege of voicing stories for high school learners by these extraordinary Hispanic authors/poets:

Excerpt from Elegy on the Death of César Chávez – Poem by Rudolfo Anaya
Narration: Brian Amador

From her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario
Narration: Rosi Amador

“Rosi and Brian are voice over dynamos. Their creativity, friendliness and talent simply can’t be beat. I cannot recommend them highly enough—they are true gems in the voice over industry! Thanks!”

– Allison Schneider, Content Coordinator BookheadEd Learning, LLC

I echo Brian’s sentiment: “This is material you can really sink your teeth into to give a dramatic read, plus it gives you the satisfaction of knowing that it’s being used to expose students to the literature of Hispanic America and beyond.” It was particularly poignant for Brian to read fellow New Mexican Rudolfo Anaya’s poem. For me, focusing on themes of social justice and human rights has always been a part of my life since my activist days in the Central American solidarity movement in the 80’s.

I hope you enjoy these samples of some of our work for BookheadEd as much as we enjoyed narrating them! We welcome your feedback always.

Gracias mil,

Rosi

Happy New Year! ¡Feliz Año Nuevo! Why My Ritual of A Word Of The Year?

Two Sides to “Bilingual”

Full Bilingualism = Value Added

Quality is What Matters

Two Sides to “Bilingual”

Fully Bilingual = Value Added

Quality is What Matters

Narrating Inspiring Hispanic Literature for Teenagers

– Allison Schneider, Content Coordinator BookheadEd Learning, LLC

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