List of languages in the Eurovision Song Contest
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The following list is of languages used in the
Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
since its inception in 1956, including songs (as) performed in finals and, since 2004, semi-finals. The rules concerning the language of the entries have been changed several times. In the past, the contest's organisers have sometimes compelled countries to only sing in their own national languages, but since 1999 no such restriction has existed.


Rule changes

From until , there was no rule restricting the language(s) in which the songs could be sung. For example, in the 1965 contest, Sweden's Ingvar Wixell sang his song in
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
. After this, a rule was imposed that a song must be performed in one of the official languages of the country participating. This new language policy remained in place until . From 1973 to inclusive, participants were allowed to enter songs in any language. Several winners took advantage of this, with songs in English by countries where other languages are spoken, this included
ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...
's " Waterloo" in for Sweden and
Teach-In A teach-in is similar to a general educational forum on any complicated issue, usually an issue involving current political affairs. The main difference between a teach-in and a seminar is the refusal to limit the discussion to a specific time fr ...
's "
Ding-a-dong "Ding-a-dong" (original Dutch title: "Ding dinge dong", as it was introduced in the titles when broadcast) was the title of the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975. It was sung by Teach-In, representing the , and was written by Di ...
" for the Netherlands in . In , the
European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...
(EBU), the contest organisers, reimposed the national language restriction. However, Germany and Belgium were given a special dispensation to use English, as their national song selection procedures were already too advanced to change. During the language rule, the only countries which were allowed to sing in English were Ireland, Malta and the United Kingdom as English is an official language in those countries. The restriction was imposed from 1977 to . From onwards, a free choice of language was again allowed. Since then, several countries have chosen songs that mixed languages, often English and their national language. Prior to that, songs such as Croatia's " Don't Ever Cry" (), Austria's " One Step" and Bosnia and Herzegovina's "
Goodbye Goodbye, Good bye, or Good-bye is a parting phrase and may refer to: Film * ''Goodbye'' (1918 film), a British drama directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Goodbye'' (1995 film) (''Tot Ziens!''), a Dutch film directed by Heddy Honigmann * ''Goodbye'' ...
" () had a title and one line of the song in a non-native language. In , Poland caused a scandal when
Edyta Górniak Edyta Anna Górniak (; born 14 November 1972) is a Polish pop singer with a career spanning 3 decades. Górniak started as a musical theatre actress in 1990. She performed in the most popular musical in Polish history, the Tony Award-nominated ...
broke the rules by singing her song in English during the dress rehearsal (which is shown to the juries who selected the winner). Only six countries demanded that Poland should be disqualified, and with the rules requiring at least 13 countries to complain, the proposed removal did not occur. Since , some songs have used fictional or non-existent languages: the Belgian entries in ("
Sanomi "Sanomi" is a song recorded by Belgian six-piece band Urban Trad, written by Yves Barbieux. It is best known as the entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, held in Riga. Eurovision This was the second time that Belgium finished as the runner ...
") and ("
O Julissi Belgium participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "O Julissi" written by Michel Vangheluwe. The song was performed by the band Ishtar. The Belgian entry for the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia was selected through the natio ...
") were entirely in fictional languages. In , the Dutch entry " Amambanda" was sung partly in English and partly in a fictional language. The entry which used the most languages was " It's Just a Game", which represented Norway in 1973. It was performed in English and French, with some lyrics in
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
,
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
,
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
,
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
,
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
,
Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...
,
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
,
Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...
,
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
and
Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...
. In , Bulgaria was represented by the song "
Love Unlimited Love Unlimited was a female vocal trio that provided backing vocals for American singer-songwriter Barry White on his albums and concert tours. They also found success with their own recordings. Career Formed in 1969, the group included Barry ...
", which mainly had lyrics in
Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...
, but with phrases in Turkish,
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, French,
Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
, Italian, Azerbaijani,
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
and English. The Yugoslav entry " Pozdrav svijetu" was mainly sung in Croatian, but also had phrases in Spanish, German, French, English, Dutch, Italian,
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
and Finnish. only two countries have never entered a song in one or more of their national languages – has never used Monégasque, its traditional national language, nor has ever entered a song in the
Azerbaijani language Azerbaijani () or Azeri (), also referred to as Azeri Turkic or Azeri Turkish, is a Turkic language from the Oghuz sub-branch spoken primarily by the Azerbaijani people, who live mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan where the North Azerbaija ...
(although the aforementioned "Love Unlimited" contained a line in the language, and the Azerbaijani entry "
Mata Hari Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (née Zelle; 7 August 187615 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari (), was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. She was executed ...
" contained a repeated phrase in the language). On the other hand, there are only ten countries whose representatives have performed all their songs at least partially in an official, regional or national language: , , , , , , , Monaco, and the . In addition, former countries and , and current countries Australia, Ireland, Malta and the United Kingdom, have only been represented by songs fully in an official language.


Criticism

French legislator François-Michel Gonnot criticised the French broadcaster
France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (former ...
and launched an official complaint in the
French parliament The French Parliament (french: Parlement français) is the bicameral legislature of the French Republic, consisting of the Senate () and the National Assembly (). Each assembly conducts legislative sessions at separate locations in Paris: ...
, as the song which represented France in , "
Divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...
" by
Sébastien Tellier Sébastien Tellier (; born 22 February 1975) is a French singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with his song "Divine". He has also produced songs for Dita Von Teese and composed m ...
, was sung in English. A similar incident occurred again in , when
Ruth Lorenzo Ruth Lorenzo Pascual (; born 10 November 1982), better known as Ruth Lorenzo, is a Spanish singer and composer, perhaps best known in the UK for coming fifth in the fifth series of the British TV talent show ''The X Factor'' in 2008. She represe ...
was criticised by the Royal Spanish Academy after winning the Spanish national selection with her song " Dancing in the Rain", which contained some lyrics in English.


Languages and their first appearance

Languages are fully counted below when they are used in at least an entire verse or chorus of a song. First brief uses of a language are also noted.


Winners by language

Between 1966 and 1972, and again between 1977 and 1998, countries were only permitted to perform in a official, national or regional language of their country. Since language restrictions were last lifted in 1999, only four songs in non-English languages have won: Serbia's "
Molitva "Molitva" ( sr-Cyrl, Молитва; "Prayer") is a song with music by Vladimir Graić, lyrics by Saša Milošević Mare, and sung by Serbian singer Marija Šerifović. It was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, performed for . ...
" in 2007 (Serbian), Portugal's " Amar pelos dois" in 2017 (Portuguese), Italy's "
Zitti e buoni "Zitti e buoni" (; ) is a song by Italian rock band Måneskin. It was produced by the band and Fabrizio Ferraguzzo, and won the Sanremo Music Festival and Eurovision Song Contest 2021. The song was the band's commercial breakthrough in global mu ...
" in 2021 (Italian) and Ukraine's " Stefania" in 2022 (Ukrainian). Also, Ukraine's winning entries in 2004 and 2016 combined lyrics in English with Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar, respectively. In 2017, "Amar pelos dois" became the first
Portuguese-language Portuguese ( or, in full, ) is a western Romance language of the Indo-European language family, originating in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It is an official language of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and ...
song to win the contest, the first winner since 2007 to both be in a language that had never produced a winning song before and be entirely in a language other than English. Among all Eurovision winning entries, only Ukraine's were performed in more than one language. 2021 was the first year since 1995, and the first since language restrictions were last lifted in 1999, that the top three songs were all sung in a non-English language: Italian (first) and French (second and third).


Entries in imaginary languages

Three times in the history of the contest, songs have been sung, wholly or partially, in imaginary languages.


Performances with sign languages

Some performances have included phrases in
sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...
s on stage.


See also

* List of languages in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest


Notes and references


Footnotes


References


Bibliography


Eurovision Song Contest history
Eurovision.tv. Retrieved on 19 August 2007.
History
ESCtoday.com. Retrieved on 19 August 2007. *John Kennedy O'Connor (2005). ''The Eurovision Song Contest 50 Years The Official History''. London: Carlton Books Limited. . * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Languages in the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
languages