Swahili voice over services

Usually, yes — and that is genuinely unusual. Swahili is spoken mainly as a second language, so it has converged on a common standard in a way most languages have not. For corporate, NGO, public-health and eLearning content, standard Swahili works from Kampala to Dar es Salaam and one recording is normally enough.

Tanzanian Swahili is treated as the reference standard and is the safer choice for institutional, educational and cross-border content. Kenyan Swahili carries considerably more English and suits advertising aimed at urban Kenya, where a Tanzanian read can sound like an imported announcer. Tell us the market and the tone you want and we cast for it.

Only partly, and this catches people out. Swahili has official status in Uganda, but it is not the language of daily life in Kampala and central Uganda, where Luganda is what people actually use. If Uganda is a priority rather than an afterthought, we would usually recommend adding a Luganda recording rather than relying on Swahili alone.

Expect the Swahili to run longer. The language builds words with prefixes and suffixes and carries noun-class agreement through the sentence, so the same content takes more syllables than English. We flag the expansion when we translate, and we can either adapt the copy or advise on where the edit has room.

No. Sheng is an urban mixed slang from Nairobi rather than a standard variety, it shifts quickly, and we would not be able to guarantee a consistent read across a project. What we can do is cast a Kenyan voice and direct for a young, urban register, which is usually what the brief is really after.

Yes, with native Swahili linguists. We will ask which market you are aiming at, because Kenyan and Tanzanian usage differ in how much English vocabulary is normal, and a translation pitched for one can read as careless in the other.

NGO and development communications, public-health campaigns, eLearning and agricultural extension content, corporate video and internal communications, financial-inclusion and mobile-money material, advertising for East African markets, documentary narration and broadcast content.

Most short Swahili projects are delivered within 24 to 48 hours; longer or multi-voice work is scheduled with your dedicated project manager, who confirms a firm date up front. The time difference is handled at our end.

We follow your delivery document for the Swahili files rather than imposing a house format: WAV or MP3, stems if you ask, at the sample rate, bit depth and loudness it specifies.

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.