Hindi voice overs: what you need to know

Hindi is an Indo-Aryan language, primarily spoken in India (more specifically, in The Hindi Belt). More than 490 million people speak Hindi, out of which 370 million are native speakers.

Despite its widespread use, Hindi is the official language of only India. However, it is widely spoken in other regions outside of India, primarily in Mauritius, Fiji Islands, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, and Nepal.

Language History

Like other Indo-Aryan languages, Hindi directly descended from the ancient language of Sanskrit. Linguists claim that Hindi as an independent language emerged around the 7th century.

The first written Hindi literature appeared a few centuries later – between the 12 and 13th centuries.

Modern Hindi as we know it today actually emerged only in the 18th century, during the rule of the British Empire. In the late 18th century, Hindi became the lingua franca in Northern India. However, the language still didn’t have a standardized variant.

Modern Hindi grammar and writing forms were standardized in the 1950s – once Hindi became the official language of India.

Close Relations

Hindi is closely related to other Indo-Aryan languages, such as Urdu, Nepalese, and Bengali. Since Hindi originated from Sanskrit, it still has many similarities to this ancient language. In terms of shared vocabulary, Hindi is closely related to Nepali (49% of the same words) and Marathi (44% of the same words).

Hindi vocabulary is mostly inherited from Sanskrit. However, Hindi has extensively borrowed from other languages as well. Loanwords of Arabic, Persian, and Portuguese origin are the most common in the Hindi lexis. Just like many languages, Hindi recently borrowed English words, mostly technological terms.

Accents and Voice Over Tips

Things get a bit tricky when it comes to Hindi dialects. Since the language is so widespread, it has hundreds of regional varieties and vernaculars. Officially, Hindi has 48 officially accepted dialects. Most of them are mutually intelligible, however, they slightly differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.

For a more simple categorization, linguists categorize these dialects into two dialectal zones: Western Hindi and Eastern Hindi.

The standard Hindi dialect that’s used as the official language variety in Indian education, politics, and broadcasting is based on the Khari Boli dialect. Khari Boli is a language variety spoken in New Delhi.

Hindi is a rather easy language to read – words are written as they are pronounced. Additionally, Hindi doesn’t have articles (‘a’ or ‘the’), making the language a bit easier. However, keep in mind that Hindi nouns have genders (masculine or feminine), complicating both the grammar and the pronunciation.

The natural speaking pace of Hindi is 140 words per minute, slower than English, which comes at 150 words per minute. Bear this in mind when translating voice-over content from English to Hindi.

When it comes to spoken Hindi, make sure you’re aware of who your listeners are. Hindi has formal and informal versions of some words (for example ‘father’ and ‘you’). Using an informal word instead of a formal one might be considered very rude in some situations!

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