Somali voice over services

We would advise against it for community-facing content. Somali's written standard was only adopted in 1972 and schooling was disrupted for decades, so there is a meaningful part of the audience that follows spoken Somali completely and reads it less comfortably. For public-health, emergency or resettlement material the recording is what actually reaches people, and subtitles work best alongside it rather than instead of it.

Regularly, and it is a large part of the Somali work we do. The UK Somali community is one of the biggest African-language populations in Britain, concentrated in London, Bristol, Cardiff and Leicester, so NHS, local-authority and charity campaigns use it as a domestic language. Tell us it is a UK brief and we cast and direct for that audience.

Yes. Three of our four Somali voice actors are London-based, so sessions run in our Central London studios and you are welcome in the control room. If you would rather not travel you can direct live over Source-Connect, Zoom or Teams.

Usually not. Standard Somali is understood across Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti and Ethiopia's Somali region, so one recording normally serves the whole area. If your content is tied to a specific place or programme, tell us and we will take it into account when we shortlist.

Yes, with native Somali linguists — and we write it to be heard rather than read, which is a genuinely different job from translating for print. Sentence length, repetition and how information is ordered all change when the audience is listening rather than scanning a page.

Clear, warm and unhurried. Somali audiences come from a strong oral tradition and are attentive to delivery, so a read that is rushed or flat gets noticed and undermines the message. We direct for pace and warmth rather than for broadcast polish, and we will flag a script that is pitched more formally than its audience needs.

Public-health and NHS campaigns, NGO and humanitarian communications, local-authority and community information, resettlement and integration material, eLearning, corporate video, and broadcast and diaspora media.

Most short Somali projects are delivered within 24 to 48 hours, and because most of the talent is here rather than overseas there is no time difference to schedule around. Longer or multi-voice work is scheduled with your dedicated project manager.

For Somali as for anything else, the spec sheet governs rather than our habits — WAV or MP3, stems on request, at whatever sample rate, bit depth and loudness is written down.

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.