I stepped into the field of "voice", initially to treat my insomnia.
After a full day of high-pressure work, coupled with an annoying boss, at night, the darker the night, the more restless my heart became. I tried many methods and took various kinds of medicines, but no matter how I tried, I couldn't sleep.
One night when counting sheep was going to give me a nervous breakdown (friends with insomnia like me, you know what I’m talking about), so I had to find something to do. I started the audiobook Memoirs of a Geisha from Audible and was about to practice English listening. But, after only a few words, I fell asleep.
Was it an one-time coincidence? Thank God, it was not. From then on, whenever I felt stress from work at night, I turned on the Memoirs of a Geisha audiobook, and I could fall asleep within half an hour.
That’s amazing.
But why?
Perhaps because I was unable to follow the language (haha), the voice of the narrator Bernadette Dunne surrounded my ears like white noise, with a hypnotic effect. It helped me to let go of the pressure and ease my nervous mood after a long day at work. Bernadette's voice was warm and sensual, like a lullaby, accompanying me to sleep.
My insomnia was cured by an audiobook, as simple as that.
Bernadette's voice kept me company, like a friend. After listening to the story of Memoirs of a Geisha countless times, one night, I found myself following Bernadette’s voice, reading this book together with her, and walking into the story.
Bernadette's voice varied as the story ebbed and flowed and as the emotions of the characters changed. She interpreted the delights, angers, sorrows, and joys of each character in the book with elegant but dramatic and different voices. Her voice endowed each character with the soul it deserved. Because of Bernadette's voice, and the delivery and performance of her voice, listening to this book is as evocative as watching a movie.
It turns out that a beautiful voice can not only calm and heal people's hearts, but also has the magical power of storytelling.
Thus, I’ve built up a great curiosity and interest in the use of voice. Audiobooks have helped me in my most difficult and most needy times. If one day, I can also use my voice to help others, what a wonderful thing it would be.
God heard my wish. At the beginning of this year, I saw the course "Voice Expression Workshop - The Voice Goddess Teaches You to Express Yourself from Voice Over". I immediately signed up for the beginner class. A few months later, I completed the advanced class.
I’ve since fallen into the magical world of voice.
It is not an exaggeration to describe Mrs. Rosa Wang (Jui-Chi Wang) as "the voice goddess". Maybe you don't know Rosa, but you must have watched "Atashin'chi" and know the soul of this animation - 花媽 (Mother Tachibana, right in the picture below). Or, perhaps you’ve watched "Crayon Shin-chan" and know Shinnosuke's mother, 美冴 (Misae, left in the picture below).
The Mandarin voice over of these two moms came from the same voice actress - Mrs. Rosa Wang, the voice goddess. With her voice and voice performance, Rosa perfectly endowed these two famous animated moms with completely different voices, personalities, characteristics, and souls. Mother Tachibana’s Mandarin dubbing is so classic that it was praised as surpassing the original Japanese dubbing voice. How did Rosa do it?
She used the magic of her voice successfully to "create" a Taiwanese Mother Tachibana, who was born and raised in Taiwan and was as kind as the aunt next door. The classic and highly recognizable voice of Taiwanese Mother Tachibana is all thanks to Rosa and her excellent voice expression skills.
In addition to these two legendary animated moms and other animated characters, Rosa’s voice also appeared in many classic Korean dramas. What impressed me the most was Park Bok-ja (played by Kim Sun-a), the heroine of "The Lady in Dignity" (available at Netflix). Rosa interpreted this role with multiple, changeable, moody, and complex personalities with her voice incisively and vividly. Your favorite Korean drama heroine may also be voiced over by Rosa (Wikipedia)
Besides of being a top voice actress, Rosa is also a top voice expression training lecturer. It is absolutely a joy and an honor to be her student.
"Teacher, what is the most important basis for voice expression?" No matter who asked this question, Rosa would immediately become serious and say with clear articulation and a mellow and full tune: "Of course it is 'Correct Pronunciation and Articulation'."
In the beginner class, Rosa spent a long time training and correcting our pronunciation and articulation. Rosa's persistence and demanding on training the basics continued to the advanced class and all subsequent applications.
You might say, you have been speaking the language all your life, why do you need to correct pronunciation?
Then you are wrong.
First of all, can you pronounce your own name correctly? Do you know how to articulate your name so that people will remember you?
Secondly, try the following tongue twister, read it slowly first, and then try it at a faster speed.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
Are you sure that all Ps were clearly stated? Now, try the following words and read them very quickly:
Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better
Are you sure you pronounced all words correctly?
It’s not so easy, is it?
If someone praised you for speaking a foreign language smoothly and nicely, it would make you thrilled. But do you know why what you said made others feel orthodox and authentic? The answers are - the accuracy of the pronunciation of each word and the fluency of expressing each sentence.
The same conditions and foundations are required for your native language to be spoken nicely, authentically, and orthodoxly. However, many people (including myself) are obsessed with pursuing the perfection of the second foreign language (or even the third and fourth foreign languages), but forgot that our mother tongue should be viewed with a higher standard.
Wouldn't it be embarrassing if you meet a foreigner who speak your native language more clearly and fluently than you, and is more knowledgeable about the language than you?
Before taking Rosa’s class, I foolishly thought that as long as the voice was sweet and pleasing to the ear, it shouldn’t be hard to get hired to record audiobooks or even dub Japanese/Korean dramas. After taking Rosa’s class, I realized that there is so much knowledge about voice. It is the same as other fields of work. To become a voice professional, in addition to nonstop learning and observation, it also rely on continuous training and practice.
But the most important thing is that without a solid foundation (unable to pronounce words clearly, correctly, and completely), there is no way to learn more difficult and more professional voice skills and applications.
If you speak well, you can get things done.
And the basis of speaking well is the basis for voice expression - "correct pronunciation and articulation".
My own profession is statistics, and the basis of statistics is mathematics. But in the workplace, many of my colleagues and supervisors are very bad in math, which caused difficulties and failures in communication and work execution.
This is true in the field of statistics, but it seems to be true in the field of voice too.
Not every expert, like Rosa, valued and respected the importance of the basics of voice expression "correct pronunciation and articulation".
I was very lucky to be taught by Rosa. But, God is always fair. I have also had confusing voice lessons.
Here is my experience.
In a course of making audiobooks, a classmate with a good voice tried to record an audio article. She had a good acting ability and read the article rhythmically. But she didn't pronounce the whole sound well in many words. She also couldn't distinguish between [p] and [b] words, short vowels sounds [i] and [e], etc.
I thought the expert would correct her obvious pronunciation problems, but surprisingly, the expert praised her performance, saying: "It's great, the expression of the text is much more important than the correct pronunciation and articulation. You express emotions very well. You are ready to accept a project with a publisher!"
I am very happy for my classmate, but the expert's opinion really confused me.
The expert was right that the student did narrate the article rhythmically. But, if you ask me, “what is this article about?” I wouldn’t be able to answer, because most of the time, I was trying to listen and figure out what on earth was the word she had just said.
Was it box, or pox? Was it Emmy or Amy? Was it fifteen or fifty?
What? Who? When? Huh?
Perhaps, this has something to do with the change in the general environment of Taiwan. In recent years, it seems that the "Jay style" with vague articulation, fuzzy pronunciation, coupled with incomplete / skipped words, can carry a more down-to-earth Taiwanese Mandarin that would make the audience feel more friendly, familiar, and local.
Possibly for different reasons, but a similar case occurred in the States.
Can anyone understand Bane (by Tom Hardy) in The Dark Knight Rises? To understand the plot and what Tom Hardy was saying, it’s probably easier to read the subtitles.
But it’s acting. If the audience cannot understand, they have subtitles to follow through.
An audiobook doesn’t have subtitles (if I want subtitles, I can just buy the book.)
The expert also emphasized that if an audiobook puts people to sleep (for example, Memoirs of a Geisha which cured my insomnia), it means that the narrator failed to read the book well, and the narrator's voice was not conveyed correctly. Hence, that audiobook would not sell.
I disagree with the expert. If I had discovered earlier that the audiobook Memoirs of a Geisha with Bernadette Dunne’s voice had healing and calming powers, I would have bought it home for many times the original price.
If God gave a healing power to a person’s voice, that is priceless.
On the contrary, if an audio book requires me to rack my brains and listen to it over and over again to figure out each word and what the narrator is trying to say. Even the audiobook is given to me for free, it would be a burden.
I am exceedingly grateful that I met Rosa during the journey of learning voice expression. It enabled me to make the right judgment and walk on the right path.
In addition to correct pronunciation and articulation, Rosa taught us how to breathe correctly so that we can speak easily but powerfully. We also learned the professional warm-up movements before speaking, as well as how to train our muscle memory for better voice, how to switch soft and hard voice for various commercials and occasions, and how to make voice changes by gender, age, personality, characteristic, etc. Voice change is Rosa’s specialty - her unique martial art.
What’s the wait? Register Rosa’s class now!
I do need to warn you that after finishing her class, there will be some sequelae.
Seek opportunities to practice at all times
For example: One day, I found myself reading the bus stop signs - Songshan Airport, Fujin Street Exit, Chang Gung Hospital, Taipei Arena, Municipal Stadium, Civic Avenue Exit, MRT Zhongxiao Dunhua Station,. . .
It’s the same as getting people to remember you by pronouncing / articulating your name correctly. Do you think it's that easy to read the bus stop signs so nicely and melodiously that could attract people to want to take the bus?
No.
Frighten innocent passers-by
a. In order to practice diaphragmatic breathing (the second basis of voice expression), while waiting (waiting for the subway, bus, coffee, friends, etc.), I put my left hand on my belly and made "hey-ha, hey-ha, hey-ha" sounds rhythmically, often followed by a very confused look on my face. What puzzled me? Well, I was supposed to feel my belly bulging and contracting if I did the exercise right…
b. In order to warm up my voice, I practiced making a horse sound (technical term - bubble lips) while walking. When I excel the technique, I should be able to do “Frère Jacques” effortlessly. That would scare more passers-by away. If you don’t know what lip bubble is, watch this video at 3:00.
c. In order to practice voice change, while walking, I made various funny, weird, and ugly expressions on my face (do you know that’s how those famous voices were created?), accompanied by satisfied laughter. Perhaps one day, I will get hired to dub over a popular movie character based on the voice I made up!
Caught in the "dubbing show" and has not yet returned to earth
For example: One day, when I was on my way to 7-11, I was practicing my Snow White voice. At the checkout, the clerk asked, "Print the receipt out?" I answered "That’s right" in Snow White's voice. The clerk's eyes straightened in fright, and he was at a loss.
What is a "dubbing show" you ask? "Dubbing Show" is the stage where we practice all voice expression methods and skills taught by Rosa.
Here are three videos I made to share with you. This is the result of my three-month study of voice expression. Before learning from Rosa, I was a complete voice amateur. If I can do it, so can you.
As Rosa often said, "You were born with your voice, but it can definitely be trained!"
Voice of a domineering lady
English caption:
Butler Wu, the young master of the Tang family is dead, isn't he? Don't think about what you shouldn't. Uncle Wu, you know me well. The dead are more trustworthy than the living.
Voice of a girly little girl
English caption:
Use cuteness as a gun, eight times the mirror to secure love, and shoot my love’s heart. Bang! Kawaī (かわいい).
I did the voice of both Snow White and Queen Grimhilde here
Marvelous! I’m amazed at how different all the voices sound!
I fell asleep reading this.