How to turn an English actor into a German in one week !
Sometimes I get an “emergency job” which really requires some resourcefulness on my part in order to come up with a feasible solution for the client’s problem. This was the case when a theatre group contacted me because they had decided – a week before the debut performance of their latest play which was set in World War Two – that it would be more effective to have the lines spoken by the German soldiers spoken in German rather than in English.
Unfortunately for them, not only did none of them speak German but they didn’t even have the faintest idea how to pronounce the simplest words in German. 
So they asked me whether it was possible not only to get the lines translated into German but also to have a phonetic transcription of the individual words so they would have a better idea of how to pronounce them. I had no problem with their request but very much doubted that, even with a phonetic transcription, the actors would be able to make the lines sound really “German”.
Actors often spend a great deal of time with a voice coach before they can convincingly express themselves as a “native speaker” of that language and not just sound silly (like the Irish-sounding Greeks in Oliver Stone’s film of Alexander the Great for instance). So I tried to come up with something better than phonetic transcription. Fortunately my partner is a musician and came up with the wonderful suggestion of recording me speaking the lines. He would then turn the recording into a good quality but small sized audio file that could be emailed. This would enable the actors to hear a native speaker speaking the lines and give them the opportunity to try and copy my pronunciation. I got in touch with the group and asked them whether they were okay with handling MP3 files. They were and they were delighted to get a recording of the lines as well as the written translation … and at no extra charge. If there were any Germans in the audience then I’m sure they would have been impressed that the actors were not just speaking English with dodgy German accents!
You can also find this article on my Blog - Johanne’s Translator Blog - if you have a moment come and have a look! Click here  Â