hear me

[jankoM]

hi, can some of you that are more native (or not so native) english speakers listen to this and tell me about my voice. I will record some educational videos for kids and speaking would be much nicer way to coment things than putting labels on (faster and better for users IMO). While my english speaking sounds Ok to me and all around me I know from experience that when people from our part speak english it has sort of swarchenegger / russian accent.

There is nothing wrong with that but I am making this videos to get results also (more visitors, more buyers) and I don't want to do more damage than good by scaring or alienating any of US visitors away. I also have no clue how an average US Joe percieves foreign (more east-europe cultures). I imagine he doesn't know much about it and ussually what you don't know scares you a little bit.

Ok, basically I am asking ... how does my english sound to you? Is it "too strange"? Would you listen to it or would you rather read text labels. (If I am making some big pronounciation mistakes please tell me also)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdW0tHuZ3iY (this is just test video)

best regards,
Janko

//edit: I am not so worried about GB so much because they live closer here and their accent is strange anyway ;)

[Polycount Productions]

While my english speaking sounds Ok to me and all around me I know from experience that when people from our part speak english it has sort of swarchenegger / russian accent.
I was about to ask if that was Schwarzenegger speaking! After all Schwarzenegger was selected to be the Governor of California ;)

Feedback:
- I think your voice was okay, and you could simply speak more in the video. I think there was too much silence compared to the length of the video.
- You speak clearly, and the speed is good (makes it easier to understand) - nothing to complain. The pronounciation is also fine (I'm Finnish - not native English speaking) in my opinion.

I would also suggest checking out leadwerks.com (http://www.leadwerks.com/), there are some video tutorials like this: http://www.leadwerks.com/ccount/click.php?id=30 (compare how much he speaks and how much you speak)

Bottom line: voice & speech good, add more it.

[jankoM]

- I think your voice was okay, and you could simply speak more in the video. I think there was too much silence compared to the length of the video.

Hmm... I was following the principle "less you open your mouth - less mistakes you can make" but I agree and I will try to talk a little more.

- You speak clearly, and the speed is good (makes it easier to understand) - nothing to complain. The pronounciation is also fine (I'm Finnish - not native English speaking) in my opinion. Great, so I can forget the text labels :)

I listened to the sample you mentioned and yes ... it's much better than my.. also much more fluid and better in english.

Thanks a lot for the feedback Juuso!

I'll be BAK!

Can also someone from US and / or GB give me a pinch of feedback?

[GBGames]

I would agree that there is a lot of silence compared to the video length.

I didn't think I had a hard time understanding what you were saying, but I think because you were trying to say less, it seemed stilted. It was almost like you wanted to say more, but would stop short.

I tried to listen to it without watching the video, and it sounded like you were saying that you were going to show me how to download and "stop" processing rather than start. I think that was the only word that I had to think about.

And sound more excited about Ladybugs! B-)

[Mike Boeh]

I am going to disagree here. I think your accent is far too thick, even if the words are clear. I would suggest hiring someone from the US or UK to do it...

[ninesquirrels]

It depends. If you don't mind having a thick accent, it's kind of interesting. Like the Governator is teaching you... I liked it. It's totally understandable for an American, but it is very thickly accented. If you want people to not notice the accent, you're going to need to hire an American/Brit to do this for you.

Cn

[GBGames]

Well, I know from college that ideally I would want a teacher who was a native English speaker just because I would rather spend my brain cycles on understanding the material rather than what was just spoken. Still, I've heard much worse than Janko's accent, and I'm from the Midwest, where the people speak correctly. B-)

/me ducks to avoid getting things thrown at him from Southerners and East/West coast rivals.

I wonder if there are courses you could take to learn to speak in a foreign language without a noticeable accent. For instance, I know that when I speak the little Italian I do know, I make people laugh (thanks, Mom), and I don't doubt that part of it is how it sounds when I say it.

[Sharpfish]

First time through for me there were a few bits that caught me out.

Blog sounded like BLOCK and Ladybugs sounded like RED BUGS.

It was pretty minor stuff and I could understand it, though it wasn't ideal. Yes it also sounded like Arnie, though a bit harder to understand (!).

But them i'm from England and i'm not upper class so what do I know about well spoken English! ;)

[frozax]

Hi,
Please note I'm not a native english speaker.
You do have a quite strong accent but everything is understandable so I don't think it will bother anyone.
There are some very well known companies that have videos with an even stronger accent, I just listened to the video from Microsoft here earlier today: http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/media/devreadiness/AppCompat_HatemZeine.wvx
And yours is easier to understand, in my opinion.

[jankoM]

Hi thanks a lot guys! Hmm... mixed feedback, interesting..., when I read it yesterday evening I went exercising/trying to say words in un-thick manner but it's not so simple. I am not going to hire anyone for this because this is meant as a no-cost addition to the site that might make it more valuable - but I don't expect to get any concrete financial return for it so I don't plan to spend anything on it.

My plan yesterday was to listen to many george bush talks on you-tube for next few weeks and imitate him and then try it again ;) but after friendy indiegamer's PM about it I decided to try to go without any speech for now. Ok, I still have one not so serrious idea... but you will laugth if I tell it.

Thanks... maybe I will still try to unthicken my voice and post a new recording some time soon... thank you for your feedback.

...
ok, I got another idea... just another proff that more than life squezzes you better things pop out :)

[Andy]

Ok, I still have one not so serrious idea... but you will laugth if I tell it.

Yeah, Janko. I suppose that your idea you've said to me today - filtering your own voice down to some cartoony stuff and using it together with some fun character on the screen should work pretty well. ;)

[jankoM]

Andy... what are you... a mindreader in your free time?!?!? I said you nothing about "filtering your own voice down to some cartoony stuff" -- "together with some fun character on the screen"

From what I see in the sent pm I only said "I had one idea that would make labels more interesting too... I will see" -- so I don't know how you got to those two... but the joke is that I meant exactly that.