Some renowned voice actors are involved in the English voiceover of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. These include Jennifer English, whom you know as Shadowheart from Baldur’s Gate 3, and Ben Starr, who lent his voice to Clive Rosfield from Final Fantasy 16. However, the professional voice actors are seriously struggling with some words.
What issues did the voice actors face? In a behind-the-scenes video uploaded to the YouTube channel of PlayStation, there are scenes featuring the English-speaking voice actors of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Even if you set the voiceover of the RPG to English, the characters pronounce some words in French. This includes the two curse words “Putain” and “Merde” (literally in German: whore
and shit
), which you have probably heard from some French-speaking players in online games. Especially in situations where you have snatched a kill or loot from them.
The recordings show that the voice actors, including Jennifer English and Ben Starr, had difficulties with pronouncing some words. The rolling “R” in particular seems to be a challenge for them. The YouTube video shows how the voice actors are doing their best to manage the task.
Voice Actors Recommend Another Voiceover
How did they solve it? Game Director Broche Guillaume was the only French-speaking person the voice actors could turn to. They asked him how to pronounce several words and repeated them until Guillaume gave the okay.
According to Jennifer English, it looked a bit like some scenes from Friends. In the series, Phoebe teaches her close friend Joey French. However, Joey repeats some nonsensical gibberish and believes he is pronouncing it correctly.
Ben Starr even revealed that the name François caused him huge problems. In the end, not his complete sentence made it into the game. Instead, his best-pronounced “François” was cut into the sentence.
What do the voice actors recommend? Those who are not satisfied with the performance of the voice actors can switch to the great voiceover of their French colleagues, said Starr. Their French is “a little better,” as he and his colleague Jennifer English joke.
You are welcome to tell us in the comments which voiceover you chose. Did you go for the authentic French voiceover? Or did you choose the English version because of the prominent voice actors?
It likely isn’t due to a lack of talent from the voice actors that they had pronunciation issues. Ben Starr is not a trained singer, but he still participated in the soundtrack of the RPG: “I have been in this industry for 5 minutes”: Voice actor helps with the soundtrack of Clair Obscur, puts himself at a disadvantage
