An accessible audio tour for non-native speakers starts with the source text, not the translation. Someone with limited language skills hears a long sentence with subordinate clauses and loses the thread, and a translation of that same sentence remains just as difficult. If you write your source text in plain language, every language you translate it into will also be clear. This guide explains how to do that: how to write, how to translate and which voice to choose.
Why the language level of your source text determines everything
Automatic translation does exactly what you ask. Put in a 40-word sentence with three subordinate clauses and a technical term, and you will get a 40-word sentence with three subordinate clauses and a technical term in Polish, Ukrainian or Arabic. The technology makes your story available in more than 30 languages, but the readability comes from your own text.
The reverse is also true. Short sentences, everyday words and one idea per segment produce a text in every language that a visitor with limited language skills can follow. Write it well once and benefit from it 30 times.
There is another reason to start at a simple level. The same text works for Dutch visitors with low literacy, for children and for anyone walking through a busy room with headphones and only half their attention available. A simple language level is not a separate version for a separate audience. It is the version that works for most people.
Which language level should you use?
For visitors with limited knowledge of Dutch or the target language, A2 to B1 is a practical starting point. A2 means everyday words, short sentences and no figurative language. B1 allows a little more room, including more abstract concepts, as long as you explain them.
Choose one level and keep it throughout the tour. An A2 segment followed by a C1 segment is more confusing than a tour that is slightly too simple everywhere.
If you want to know exactly where you stand, have someone from the target audience read the text. A language-level check on paper tells you less than a visitor who asks halfway through your segment what you mean.
How to write a segment in plain language
Keep segments short: 40 to 90 seconds of spoken text, or about 100 to 200 words. Someone who loses the thread can join again at the next object.
A few practical rules:
- One idea per sentence. Split every sentence with "because", "while" or "which" into two sentences.
- Sentences of 10 to 12 words on average. Vary the length, but do not let a sentence run to 30 words.
- Active sentences with a clear person doing the action. "The painter made this in his studio" instead of "this work was produced in the artist’s studio".
- Everyday words instead of technical terms. If you do use a technical term, explain it in the next sentence in plain language and then use the same word consistently.
- No figurative language, irony or puns. For some of your visitors, "the heart of the city" literally means an organ.
- Name the object the visitor is looking at directly in the first sentence. "You are now standing in front of the large map on the left-hand wall."
- Use numbers and years sparingly. One year sticks, five years do not.
What you give up is nuance. What you gain is a visitor who follows the story to the end. Save the detail for a second, optional segment or for the text on screen.
Which languages should you choose, and what should you do with the translation?
Start with your own visitors. Which languages do you hear at the front desk? Which groups come through a school, a community organisation or a civic integration programme? Four languages people actually use are worth more than 20 that nobody selects. Your tour statistics will then show you which languages to add.
An automatic translation is a good starting point and rarely the final version. Always check three things:
- Proper names and technical terms. Names of rooms, objects, people and places must either stay untranslated or have a fixed translation. Wandrz remains Wandrz in every language.
- Form of address and tone. Every language has its own conventions for formal and informal address. What sounds friendly in Dutch may come across as too familiar in German.
- The language level after translation. Translation tools sometimes choose a more formal or longer word than your source. Have a native speaker, volunteer or language-school teacher read through the translation, then adjust it in the platform so the correction remains in place.
Do not write a separate text for every language. One clear source text that you lightly refine in each language stays consistent and is easier to maintain.
Which voice should you choose for non-native speakers?
A natural AI voice in the target language is the practical choice for most tours: you have it immediately in all your chosen languages, without a studio or scheduling. For accessibility, the question is not so much which voice you use, but how you set it up.
- Choose a native voice for each language. A Dutch voice reading Polish makes the listener work harder to understand every word.
- Speak a little more slowly than usual. Someone listening in a second language needs more time to process what they hear. A calm pace is the most affordable accessibility improvement available.
- Add pauses to the text. A full stop and a blank line between two thoughts give the listener a moment to catch up. Write those pauses into your segment deliberately.
- Choose neutral, clear articulation over drama. A theatrical delivery with many changes in intonation is harder for a beginner to follow.
- Listen back to every segment yourself in every language. Numbers, abbreviations and proper names are where things go wrong. If you hear something incorrectly, adjust the spelling in the text until it sounds right.
A human narrator has a warmth that an AI voice does not always match. For a tour in six or 10 languages that you also want to keep updating, that usually does not outweigh the time and cost. A middle ground is to have your main language recorded by a person and use AI voices for the rest.
What else you need besides the audio
Audio helps visitors who have difficulty reading. On-screen text helps visitors who read a language better than they hear it. Offer both, with the same content, so a visitor can read along while listening.
This also includes:
- An image for each segment, so the visitor can see what it is about even if a word is missing.
- A language choice that is clear from the start, with the languages shown in their own scripts and names.
- GPS triggers or clear numbers, so nobody has to read to know when each segment plays.
- A short introduction in plain language explaining how the tour works. That is also a segment you write at A2 level.
In short
This is how you create an accessible audio tour for non-native speakers: write your source text at A2 to B1 level with short, active sentences and one idea per segment, choose the languages your visitors actually speak, have the automatic translation checked for names, tone and language level, and use a native voice at a calm pace. The technology handles the 30 languages. You control the language level.
With Wandrz, you assemble your tour directly in the browser, translate it into more than 30 languages and adjust each translation where needed, in your own house style. Would you like to know how to adapt existing texts for non-native speakers? Contact us for a free consultation.
