There’s no such thing as “no accent”.

📢 “Please do not use an accent”

📢 “No accent”

Dear people looking for voiceover talent…. this 👆 makes no sense. Sorry not sorry.

You need to say what you really want because, like it or not, EVERYONE who speaks has an accent!

🎙 If you mean you want the person to sound like they are generally from the USA but no particular region, say that. You could say “General or Standard American accent please, no strong regional sound.” (Same for general Australian or British and probably applies in other countries, too.)

🎙 If you mean you want a genuine native speaker of that accent, say that. “Only authentic Northern English accent speakers, please.”

🎙 If you’re after an English voiceover but don’t want it to sound American, British or anything in particular, say that. “A global, neutral English accent”. (But please know that this will sound different to everyone, there’s no standard “neutral”!)

We all grow up speaking however we speak, and don’t think “we” have an accent. But we all do, and we’re grown-ups now, working online with people from all over the world. Let’s remember to think of other perspectives when describing what we need. ☺

2 comments… add one
  • Susheel C Oct 17, 2024 @ 6:14

    Thank you for saying that! It needed to be said.

    I wonder what a world without accents would be like… A friend once said that a world where everyone had the same skin colour would be ‘grey’ very bland, and without flavour. I think that it would be the same for voice overs, and most everything that has ‘personality’. Our accent is part of what makes us unique. Some can adopt multiple accents! And that’s an amazing talent. Others, like-me, mostly sound like me … but like I’m trying to put on an accent. 😀 It takes effort and practice to make a change that doesn’t come naturally… but I’m starting to go off-topic.

    • Sumara Meers Oct 17, 2024 @ 15:15

      Love this comment, thank you Susheel! 🙂 Yes, it’s part of the variety of humans to have different accents – no accents would be boring indeed!

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