Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
voix hors champ ET surimpression vocale
English translation:
voice-over / narration
French term
voix hors champ vs. surimpression vocale
I am translating the content for a Canadian professional narrator's Web site. Both voix hors champ and surimpression vocale are listed as services. Problem is, the most frequently used English translation for both terms is voice over. I suggested off-screen or off-camera narration for voix hors champ but the client is not happy with that term.
If anyone could help with this I would greatly appreciate it.
CONTEXT
voix hors champ:
XXXXXX YYYYYY est une narratrice professionnelle bilingue qui compte plus de 20 ans d’expérience en voix hors-champ.
Services :
• Voix hors-champ en Français, Québécois, Français International et Anglais (léger accent)
surimpression vocale:
Démos :
Gala Présentation de Gagnants Anglais
Surimpression vocale
Multimédia
Promotion
Présentation de produits « En vol » Bilingue
Formation en ligne (e-Learning)
| 4 | voice-over / narration |
Tony M
|
| 4 | voice-off |
claude-andrew
|
| 4 | off camera commentary / (commercial) voice over |
Lara Barnett
|
| 3 | voice-over vs. voice overlay |
ormiston
|
| The difference? |
kashew
|
Mar 5, 2011 17:09: Tony M changed "Field (specific)" from "Advertising / Public Relations" to "Cinema, Film, TV, Drama"
Mar 5, 2011 17:10: Tony M changed "Term asked" from "différence entre voix hors champ et surimpression vocale" to "voix hors champ vs. surimpression vocale"
Mar 27, 2011 16:07: Tony M Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
voice-over / narration
Your own suggestion of 'off-screen' or 'off-camera narration' would not be standard terminology, and would better describe the end product, rather than the activity — "The powerful images were accompanied by off-screen narration by [famous actor]" — perhaps this actor is renowned for her / his voice-over work!
France
Bilingual scientist English French
Native in: English 
Works in: English to French, French to English, English
voice-off
The WordReference urlquoted gives the difference between voice-off and voice-over
| neutral |
Tony M
: That ref. is not authoritative, and voice-off is misleading, since it can imply an actual character from the film who is simply heard but not seen; unlike a narrator, who is an 'outsider'
4 mins
|
United Kingdom
www.lingocraft.co.uk
Native in: English (Variants: Irish, Singaporean, UK, South African, British, Scottish)
Works in: French to English, Italian to English, Romanian to English, and 2 more.
off camera commentary / (commercial) voice over
Wikipedia gives a term, not so widely used as Voice Over, but still understood :
"Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice-over
The idea was probably to use specific terms to make the site interesting, but I also noticed that in the example you have given, it looks like the more commercial type work has been grouped together under "surimpression vocale". The artist (or website writer) is obviously just trying to show variety and distinction here. I would term this as Commercial Voice Over work, whereas the "voix hors champ" section seems like it might be referring more to what VO artists term as "narration". "Narration" describes VO work done for narrative and documentary type recordings, such as a wild life report, or an educational track or programme.
Using the term "commercial" before Voice Over is not essential, but I would call the first, narrative type description as "Off camera commentary" (for the sake of the variety your client obviously wants), and the second (the commercial and mixed media types of jobs) as "Voice Over"(or "Commercial Voice Over). I am sure this is just to avoid repetition because the artists wants to group these two forms (commercial and narrative) into two different sections.
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Note added at 3 hrs (2011-03-05 18:54:01 GMT)
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This website shows the variety of VO work that is normally done. Although there are more than just the two types I have mentioned, ie. commercial and narration, these two terms are a rough division made by industry VOs. For example, if you wanted to group the different types of VO work on a very general level, "animation and character" and "Television Promo" could be viewed as more commercial at times, and "Audio Book" could be classed under "narration" type work.
http://www.theimagingvoice.com/The-different-types-of-voice-...
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Note added at 3 hrs (2011-03-05 18:55:48 GMT)
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"Off camera narration"
You could also replace "...commentary" with "...narration" here I think, although you might not want to if you like the Wikipedia article's terminology!!!
voice-over vs. voice overlay
"'I've heard "voice overlay" as an expression, when a voice accompanies another voice (which you can still hear behind it), whereas voice-over generally means a replacement voice.... although not always..... I always use "voice-over", even though I do both and work with lots of people who do both...
Reference comments
The difference?
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Note added at 2 heures (2011-03-05 17:05:38 GMT)
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Or:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Nz622hd...
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Note added at 2 heures (2011-03-05 17:10:34 GMT)
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And, in computer games there is "voice overlay" to let one know who is talking.
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