Tokaido line Shinkansen English language announcer

[N-Osoi]

Nice little story - turns out she's (secretly?) Australian

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-29/australian-donna-burke-voice-japan-high-speed-rail-announcement/104525878

[katoftw]

She did a couple of episodes for NHK train cruise too.

[bill937ca]

There are actually several English language train announcers.

 

Donna Burke, a singer and announcer who is responsible for the English announcements on the Tokaido, Sanyo, and Kyushu Shinkansen lines .

Chris Wells, who makes English announcements on Shinkansen platforms.

Christelle Chiari, who makes English announcements for JR East and many private railways.

https://nlab.itmedia.co.jp/nl/articles/2002/13/news063.html

 

Christelle Chiari

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/クリステル・チアリ

 

Much easier now things are digital. Announcements can be changed without recording the whole thing from scratch as was the case in linear days.

 

 

Edited October 31, 2024 by bill937ca

[kuro68000]

Thank you Bill, I always wondered who those announcers were! I honestly thought Donna Burke was British, but I guess it's just a really good "inner Cate Blanchett" accent. Now I know I can hear the Australian in there. I think she does the Tsukuba Express announcements as well.

 

Christelle Chiari's performances are fascinating too. Obviously I have cloth ears but to me her accent sounds like a "mid Pacific" kind of thing. The way she says "Akihabara" always makes me wonder if I'm saying it wrong, but I think she is just trying to make it easier for English speakers to recognize.

 

I wonder how involved they are in the translations too. They sound very natural, like a native speaker would phrase it.