Malagasy voice over services

No, and the reason is more fundamental than accent. Malagasy is an Austronesian language — the family that includes Malay and Tagalog — and its closest living relative is spoken in Borneo. It shares no structure with Swahili, Lingala or any other African language. A linguist who works across the continent has no more access to Malagasy than to Indonesian.

For a national campaign, usually yes. Both are official languages of Madagascar. French dominates administration, banking and higher education, while Malagasy is the language of daily life and of any message that has to reach beyond the capital. We can record both from one adaptation and schedule the sessions together, which costs less than commissioning them separately.

Merina, for anything institutional or national. The official standard is based on the variety of the central highlands around Antananarivo, and that is what administration, education and broadcast use. Coastal varieties are audibly different and are the right choice for character work or a campaign aimed at a specific region — tell us where the audience is and we will advise.

One voice signed, and we are recruiting. The thing most briefs get wrong about Malagasy is the family it belongs to: it is Austronesian, not African — its closest relatives are spoken in Borneo, some 7,000 kilometres away, and it has nothing in common with Swahili or any mainland language. So a supplier who offers you an African-language pool is offering you the wrong pool. We source in Madagascar.

Not on the books at present — the Malagasy artist we have signed is male. A female read is a sourcing job in Antananarivo; tell us early and we will quote a lead time we can meet.

Expect it to run longer. Malagasy builds words with affixes and marks agreement across the phrase, so the same content takes more syllables than English or French. We flag the expansion when we translate and can either adapt the copy or advise where the edit has room, rather than asking the voice actor to rush.

Yes, and for Malagasy that is the arrangement — our talent records through our global network rather than in our London studios. You can direct live over Source-Connect, Zoom or Teams, so you hear takes as they happen and can adjust on the spot.

NGO and development communication, public-health and nutrition campaigns, conservation and environmental content, government and civic information, eLearning, broadcast and radio, and corporate video for organisations operating in Madagascar.

Whatever the platform takes for your Malagasy files: WAV, MP3 or separated stems, mastered to the loudness figure you give us.

Less than people expect: the script, or the draft of it, its total running time or word count, where the recording will be used, and the date you need it by. If the script is not signed off yet, send the draft anyway — we would rather quote on what exists than wait for a version that eats your deadline. A named project manager comes back with an itemised quote, normally within four working hours.

More than half of enquiries get a reply within thirty minutes during office hours (Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm UK time), and the itemised quote normally follows within four working hours. After that you have one dedicated project manager who owns the job from brief to final file — not a ticket queue, and not a different name on every email. If it is easier, call +44 207 095 5730 and ask for them by name.

Yes, and it is one of the commonest reasons people get in touch. Tell us it is for a pitch and you get a figure you can put in front of your own client, itemised so it stands up to being picked apart, with no obligation and no follow-up sales calls if the pitch goes elsewhere. If it lands, the quote still holds and we already know the project.