Flemish Voice Over Agency

Working with translation and production companies

Adding audio visual services to your mix will create many new sales opportunities for your team.

Matinée has over 40 years of experience working alongside translation and production companies. So you can be sure our project managers are fully at home with the technical process of supervising and delivering localised material, in a professional and timely manner. We can add translation, voiceover and subtitling to your company’s offering, which will appear seamless to your clients and yet mesh easily with the processes in your own departments.

If you are a translation company, we will send you some helpful guidelines when providing us with copy or scripts, and we can either work from your translations or handle the whole project for you, including translation. If you are a production company, we will provide translations or subtitles in your preferred format; whether that’s subtitle-ready files (XML or PNG), or burnt in as fully-subtitled videos. Voiceover recordings can be supplied as edited files, or we can remix with the original music and effects and provide a finished video, ready to go.

Working seamlessly with your team, we can take on all or part of the process, according to your needs, and help widen your service offering.

A short history on the Flemish language

Flemish, sometimes referred to as Belgian Dutch, is the variant of Standard Dutch spoken in the northern part of Belgium known as Flanders. While some people contest that they are separate languages, they are generally classified as being the same. The difference between the two variants is sometimes compared to the difference between British and American English.

Modern Dutch is derived from Old Dutch, a West Germanic language spoken (in various dialects) from around the 6th to the 12th centuries throughout the Low Countries. In the early 16th century the Low Countries were governed by the Hapsburg Empire, but by the second half of the century the Netherlands had gained independence. This separation heightened the differences in Dutch dialects that already existed throughout the region.

Belgium became an independent country in 1830, having inherited a variety of languages used by its foreign occupants, including France and Austria. Dutch – or Flemish – continued to be the dominant language in Flanders, and today there are still many variants including East Flemish, West Flemish, Brabantian and Limburgish.

Which countries have Flemish as a national language?

There is no official Flemish language – only Dutch. Dutch is one of Belgium’s three official languages, along with French and German.

How many people speak Flemish as their first language?

Approximately 59% of Belgians – over six million people – speak Dutch as their first language. There is a significant Dutch-speaking community in northern France, where it is recognised as a minority language.

Did you know…

• One of the most convincing arguments for Flemish being a separate language to Dutch is that Flemish TV programmes are often subtitled for broadcast in the Netherlands, and large budget foreign language films are often released in both Dutch and Flemish.
• There is a strong Flemish legacy in northern France, not just in terms of language and borrowed words – for example this is the only part of the country where beer is the preferred everyday drink rather than wine.

The Belgian economy

Belgium’s location, in the centre of one of the world’s most highly industrialised regions, is important to its open, private-enterprise-based economy.

It was the first country in continental Europe to undergo an industrial revolution (in the 1800s), and has a highly developed transport infrastructure of ports, canals, railways and roads. Belgium depends heavily on world trade, with exports accounting for around two thirds of GNP. The service sector accounts for around 75% of GDP.

Belgium is a member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, and also of Benelux (along with the Netherlands and Luxembourg). It was one of the founding members of the European Community.