Where are you from?!

The curious case of neutral English

Ever wondered what a client searching for "English (neutral)" expects from a talent? Here is all you need to know…

One of the most asked questions of English-speaking talents: "I see jobs shuffling in that want English (neutral) as a native language. What does this exactly mean?"

Here is the deal: A client that is looking for "English (neutral)" voice overs wants a native English-speaking talent whose accent/dialect will not alienate any parts of the target audience.

For example, an internationally operating Enterprise releases one product video for their English-speaking target audience from Australia, US, and UK. They are looking for a voice that does not alienate any customers from those areas. As an example: A strong US accent might have an undesired effect on Australian customers and vice versa). So the client chooses a more neutral voice, thus "English (neutral)".

It is important to understand that – while most native English-speaking talents on bodalgo will receive invitations to those castings even without having added "English (neutral)" to their native languages in their profiles – you should only audition for those jobs if your voice does not feature a strong local accent. In other words: The ideal candidates for such a job are those whom you cannot easily tell where they are actually from. You could also say: English (neutral) means the absence of any strong regional dialect/accent.

Now: It is important to understand that the client might not necessarily be able to determine whether a talent fulfills these expectations as the client might not be a native speaker. The best way to deal with those jobs: Be honest to yourself (and to the client): Only apply if you can deliver a read without a broad regional accent/dialect.

In the past, bodalgo labeled those jobs as English (Mid-Atlantic). Unfortunately, this was not helpful to most talents as the definition of the Mid-Atlantic accent is not common knowledge. You can read more about it here (Wikipedia).

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voice overs  neutral english  mid-atlantic accent