Every word uttered can make money

"In addition to reading commercials, I also dub for movie videos, at a price of about 3,000 VND/word. In addition to this job, I also open voice training classes for students. Total income is 60-70 million VND per month," said Tran Thien Trung (nickname Trung Voice, living in Binh Thuan province).

Thien Trung is a voice talent - people with good voices, participating in the advertising reading industry - famous on social networks. From 2021 to now, Trung has contributed his voice to thousands of advertising videos. He also accepted to read audiobooks and podcasts, but because the duration was too long, his voice was affected, so Trung was forced to stop accepting these types of "orders".

Regarding training, up to now, the young man has instructed more than 1,000 people with pre-recorded videos and opened online classes, tutoring directly for about 30 students.

His TikTok page currently has more than 1.9 million likes. The video in which Trung describes Vietnamese adjectives such as "top/ premium/ five-star/ classy…" has become a trend, reaching 5.4 million views.

From that fame, Trung confided that his work gradually became extremely busy, to the point that he did not have much time to rest and had to refuse some cooperation invitations. Every day, he had to work from 7am to midnight, go through 3 training sessions lasting 1.5-2 hours/session and record his voice to send to customers.

"This profession is often seen as a part-time job, earning extra income. But I decided to see it as a full-time job. Thanks to knowing how to build a personal brand and investing in the diversity of my voice, every word I utter can make money," Trung shared.

However, to have a high income in this profession, the young man said that everything is not easy.

Use your voice to make life better

"The most difficult part is dubbing the characters. Because each character in the film has a different age, gender, personality, region, etc., I have to imitate the voice and emphasize it naturally. Depending on the plot of the film, the dubber also has to know how to act with the voice, so as to describe the emotions of joy, anger, love, and hate.

Every word uttered must be carefully polished in terms of vowels, consonants, and tone. Without the ability to process, voice talent will waste time editing, unintentionally losing credibility with customers," Trung confided.

Since pursuing this career, Trung has forgotten the taste of… ice and alcohol due to having to limit them as much as possible. When sleeping, he is also not allowed to let the fan blow directly on his face or turn on the air conditioner too cold. If not careful, the voice talent will have to face the worst "nightmare", which is losing his voice.

"Making money with my voice means losing my voice, so I'm like... starving. Even though many companies have offered to cooperate, I only accept what I can to avoid over-damaging my voice. There was a time when I lost my voice because of working continuously. That was my biggest fear that I don't want to experience again," Trung confided.

From a young age, the young man lived in an environment with diverse regional languages, growing up in Gia Lai, attending university in Ho Chi Minh City and having parents from the North. In 2018, Trung dropped out of school due to family problems, then joined a football club.

At this time, he was assigned to read commentary for matches and accidentally discovered his potential. Due to not being able to attend professional training classes, Trung watched and practiced day and night following good voices on TV and the Internet to satisfy his passion.

However, without anyone to guide him, he became confused and had to work in agriculture in many provinces and cities to make a living. Gradually, the young man suddenly missed his job and was determined to return to the voice talent job.

Trung shared that it took him 3 years to practice and think about how to build a brand on social networks to promote his talent to many people. From a guy who barely made a living, Trung can now support himself and his family with his "natural" voice.

"To do this job, in addition to having a good voice, I also have to work hard and love the job very much. This job not only helps me earn a high income but also makes the lives of those who have attended my training classes better.

Many students who are customer service staff have found it easier to "breathe" at work thanks to changing the way they use their voice. Many people who are fathers, mothers, husbands, and wives also shared that communication in the family has become smoother thanks to adjusting their voice tone appropriately," said Mr. Trung.