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 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.