Tetun Dili voice over services

No sample list, for a straightforward reason: Timor-Leste has a population of about 1.4 million and the pool of people who have done professional voice work is correspondingly narrow. Publishing demos would suggest a bench that does not exist. What we do instead is cast each project individually through vetted speakers in Dili, and send you auditions of your own script.

Many people there would understand it, particularly older generations, and Indonesian is named as a working language. But Indonesia occupied Timor-Leste from 1975 until 1999 and independence was restored in 2002, so using Indonesian to address a Timorese audience carries a meaning beyond convenience. We raise it because it is usually an unexamined default rather than a decision. If reach is the concern, Tetun Dili is the language that actually reaches everyone.

Tetun Dili, also called Tetun Prasa, is the urban variety of the capital and the country's lingua franca. It absorbed a great deal of Portuguese vocabulary and it is what is taught in schools, used in official publications and heard on broadcast. Tetun Terik is the more conservative rural variety with far fewer Portuguese loanwords. For national content, public information or anything broadcast, you want Tetun Dili.

No. Tetun Dili contains a lot of Portuguese vocabulary, which makes the page look more approachable to a Portuguese reader than it is. The grammar, the sound system and the rhythm are Austronesian and behave nothing like Portuguese. Recognising words is not the same as speaking the language, and the read comes apart quickly.

The way Timorese speakers say them, which is not the way they are said in Lisbon. This is a subtle piece of casting and direction that is invisible in the script and unmistakable in the audio. It is one of the main reasons we brief native speakers on the specific content rather than simply booking someone who speaks the language.

Often, yes. Tetun and Portuguese are both official in Timor-Leste, so institutional material routinely goes out in both, and the two versions have to agree on terminology that in practice is still being settled. One team across the pair is the only way to keep that consistent.

Plan for more than you would elsewhere. Sourcing in Dili takes days, the time difference is nine hours, and the honest lead time is what separates a real shortlist from whoever answered first. Brief us early and we will hold to the date.

Public information and government campaigns, development and NGO communications, public health and vaccination messaging, education and literacy material, broadcast and community radio, and corporate and safety content for the energy and infrastructure sectors operating in the country.

Your Tetun Dili audio is delivered to your specification: uncompressed WAV, MP3 where size matters, stems where the mix happens elsewhere, at the LUFS target you set.

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.