Venezuelan Spanish voice overs: what you need to know

Venezuelan Spanish is a group of Spanish dialects spoken in Venezuela. Venezuelan Spanish, just like Spanish that’s spoken in Europe, belongs to the Western Romance language group.

Almost 30 million people are native speakers of this Spanish variety. Additionally, around 700,000 people speak Venezuelan Spanish as a second language. Venezuelan Spanish is the only official language in Venezuela where it’s almost universally spoken by all inhabitants.

This Spanish dialect isn’t widespread outside of Venezuela. Other Spanish-speaking Latin American countries have their own local Spanish varieties.

Language History

The Spanish language was brought to Venezuela by the Spanish colonialists in the 16th century. Up until the Spanish conquest, various indigenous were prevalent in Venezuela. During the Spanish rule that spanned over four centuries, Spanish became the most widespread language in the territory.

However, the Venezuelan variety of Spanish was, and still is, quite different from the language spoken in Europe. Over the centuries, it mixed with local languages as well as African languages that were used in the Spanish colony by slaves.

Once Venezuela declared its independence in 1811, the language that Spanish colonialists brought became the official language of a newborn country.

Close Relations

Venezuelan Spanish is similar to other Western Romance languages. It shares some common grammar rules and vocabulary with Italian, Romanian, and French.

However, the closest Venezuelan Spanish relative is Portuguese. The two languages are not fully mutually intelligible, but they do share an impressive number of the same words and similarities in grammar.

Since Venezuelan Spanish is a Spanish dialect, it is mutually intelligible with Spanish varieties spoken in Europe.

The core of Venezuelan Spanish vocabulary is inherited from Latin. However, through the centuries, Spanish obtained many foreign words. The most common loanwords in Venezuelan Spanish come from Arabic, German, and Italian.

In contrast to European Spanish, Venezuelan Spanish vocabulary has been influenced by local languages as well as African languages. Therefore, this Spanish variety has a rather unique lexis.

Accents and Voice Over Tips

While Venezuelan Spanish is a dialect itself, it still has regional varieties. Venezuelan Spanish is divided into five regional dialects: Andean, Central, Guaro (or Larense), Llanero, and Margaritan.

When recording a voice over in Venezuelan Spanish, it’s important to know its unique qualities and how it differs from other Spanish varieties.

The most noticeable feature of Venezuelan Spanish is the shortening of words. Venezuelans tend to drop the word endings, for example, para to pa (“for”). Additionally, Venezuelan Spanish speakers usually don’t pronounce the ‘s’ at the end of words.

So when you’re working on a Venezuelan Spanish recording, make sure you implement these regional features. After all, these small pronunciation differences make Spanish varieties so individual.

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