Native Voice Recorders Needed – 13 Languages

# Native Voice Recorders Needed – 13 Languages *(Suggested Upwork title field — 43 characters.)* **Contract type: Fixed-price, paid in milestones** **Milestone rate: $200 per 20-hour recording milestone** **Project window: 8 weeks, rolling milestones** We're building a conversational audio dataset and need native speakers across the following languages to record themselves talking. This is a fixed-price Upwork contract — you'll agree to a milestone before starting, and payment is released through Upwork's escrow once your milestone is submitted and approved. Funds for each milestone are secured by Upwork before you start recording. ## Languages & Where We're Sourcing From | Language | Countries / Regions | | --- | --- | | Pashto | Afghanistan, Pakistan | | Tatar | Russia (Tatarstan) | | Welsh | Wales (UK) | | Fulah (Fulani) | Guinea, Senegal, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, Niger | | Kurdish | Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran | | Quechua | Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador | | Sesotho | Lesotho, South Africa | | Afrikaans | South Africa, Namibia | | Albanian | Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia | | Burmese | Myanmar | | Sinhalese | Sri Lanka | | Haitian Creole | Haiti | | Oromo | Ethiopia, Kenya | If you're a native speaker of any of these languages, from any of these countries (or their diaspora communities), we'd love to hear from you. ## What You'll Do - Record natural, conversational audio in your native language (solo or with a second speaker — we need a mix of both single-speaker and multi-speaker recordings). - Use your own topics or scripts — no fixed content required, just keep it natural, varied, and appropriate. - Submit your recordings in WAV or MP3 format as a milestone. - Once your milestone is reviewed and approved, payment is released automatically through Upwork. ## How Milestones Work 1. We agree on a $200 / 20-hour milestone with you through Upwork before you start. 2. Upwork holds the $200 in escrow for that milestone. 3. You record and submit your files. 4. We review against the quality standards below (this usually takes 2–3 business days). 5. **If everything meets the standard, the milestone is approved and funds are released immediately.** 6. If part of a submission needs a fix (e.g. a specific clip has background noise), we'll flag exactly which files and why, and you'll have the chance to re-record just those clips before final approval — you're never left guessing or redoing a whole milestone over one bad file. 7. Once a milestone is complete, we set up the next one — recordings continue on a rolling basis across the 8-week window. ## Audio Quality Standards (Please Read Before Applying) To make sure your milestone gets approved smoothly the first time, every recording should meet: - **Format:** WAV or MP3, single channel preferred - **Sample rate:** Minimum 16 kHz - **Length per recording:** 5–30 minutes per session. You can submit multiple sessions, and they'll count toward your milestone up to a maximum of 1 hour total per submission. - **Content:** Natural conversational pace, consistent volume - **Clean audio:** No background music, no echo/reverberation, no microphone artifacts, no background disruptions - **Content rules:** No NSFW or politically offensive material, no third-party copyrighted scripts (song lyrics, books, etc.) 👉 If you don't have access to a quiet space and a decent microphone (a phone mic in a quiet room works fine), this may not be the right fit — clean audio is the main thing that determines a smooth, fast milestone approval. ## Metadata to Include With Your Submission - File name - Your age and gender - Number of speakers in the recording - Audio file length ## Who We're Looking For - Native or fluent-native speakers of any of the languages above - Access to a quiet recording space and a basic microphone - Comfortable talking naturally on a variety of everyday topics - Available for ongoing milestones over the coming weeks (this is a multi-week engagement, not a single task) ## How to Apply Please include in your application: 1. Which language(s) you speak natively, and which country/region you're recording from 2. A short sample recording (30–60 seconds) so we can confirm your audio setup 3. Your general availability over the next 8 weeks We're hiring multiple contributors per language, so don't hesitate to apply even if this is your first time doing voice work.