2014: Record year of English-only entries in Eurovision

[A-lister]

Since the abolishment of the language rule in 1999, there's been a clear decline in using native languages in ESC.
2008 was the only year since where English-only entries actually were in minority (49%), in the previous year (2007), English-only entries made up 50% of the entries.

2014 marks the year with the record number of English-only entries in the history of Eurovision. This year around 78% of the entries are made up by English-only entries (in 2013 that number was down to 54%), this is also the first time since the free language choice was introduced, that the number of English-only entries makes up more than 70% of the total entries.

What's the reason for this whopping decline in native language / bi-lingual entries since the year prior? What are your opinions on this issue? Is it an issue at all? Is it good or bad for Eurovision this year? What do you think it could mean for future Eurovision if the few non- English / bi-lingual entries this year will prove just as unsuccessful as last year? Could we potentially end up with 100% English?

Please discuss!

 

[Romeo]

I think its because the winners have all been in english after Molitva.. so I think thats why the majority have gone for english

 

[Terence]

100% English will never happen... the lack of Balkan countries explains a lot.

Serbia always sung in Serbian. Croatia sung in Croatian a few times! Bosnia & Herzegovina too!

Still, it's appalling to see so many countries singing in English, particularly ex-USSR ones whose accent is so bad it hurts!

 

[GRE]

They just want to spread the message of their songs to all Europe.

 

[ParadiseES]

I hope this is just an exception. But anyway, this edition is IMO much better than 2011, 2012 and 2013, and that counts more than the language, at least for me.

 

[A-lister]

They just want to spread the message of their songs to all Europe.

Yes, because spreading some useless "message" about love in broken English to half of Europe who don't even have English as second language even, is really useful?

 

[ParadiseES]

[MENTION=4544]A-lister[/MENTION] But even if many people don't understand English, they are quite used to listen to music in English. That cannot be said about other languages.

 

[A-lister]

[MENTION=4544]A-lister[/MENTION] But even if many people don't understand English, they are quite used to listen to music in English. That cannot be said about other languages.

This is true, but the whole notion of translating lyrics for the sake of making them more universally understandable is just some deluded BS in my opinion. Sure, those countries with a high knowledge of English (native English speakers aswell Western/Northern Europeans) might "get it", but do they REALLY care though? I highly doubt it tbh ... ESC was never really a contest for lyrical masterpieces, entries have 3 minutes to convince people to vote for it and most of the public haven't even heard the songs prior.

I think it's very sad that some won't see the strength in their own languages and I think it's sad that people rather hear what they're used to than having an open mind, afterall it's EUROvision.

But we also see that atleast in 2013 juries were very anti local sounding entries and many entries in native languages failed, so I think that's part of the explanation we see such a drastic decline this year.

 

[DanielLuis]

I think it's very sad that some won't see the strength in their own languages and I think it's sad that people rather hear what they're used to than having an open mind, afterall it's EUROvision.

Yes, unfortunately I can say that, from my experience with friends and stuff, some people will discard entries that aren't in English just because they're different to what they usually hear. Or they may not even discard them, but as they're not used to it, they just won't like it as much as they would otherwise, or will not judge them properly.

 

[ParadiseES]

But we also see that atleast in 2013 juries were very anti local sounding entries and many entries in native languages failed, so I think that's part of the explanation we see such a drastic decline this year.

hmmm they saved Moldova and Estonia of staying in the semis and they kinda tried to do the same with San Marino and Israel

 

[A-lister]

hmmm they saved Moldova and Estonia of staying in the semis and they kinda tried to do the same with San Marino and Israel

"Kinda"? Well "Kinda" is not enough...

But then we have Bulgaria, Montenegro, Croatia...

I guess you can only be "saved" if the entry is more of a conventional ballad then

To be frank though I don't want to make this a discussion of juries (as I usually tend to do), but I do think they are part of the issue aswell tbh ... but this issue goes beyond them (however they could do MORE to support entries that are local sounding or in native language though).

 

[Franco]

3 years ago I used to think that this wasn't a real issue.
But in the meantime I've realized that songs are best performed in the language they were born and forged in. When you translated them, words never fit in as well as they did in the original version.
So, my current thought is: if you compose a song in english, even if it's not your first language, then it's ok. But you should NEVER, NEVER try to translate a song from one language to another.
I'm not for making an official rule of it, however. I just think that contestants should understand this on their own.

 

[Mrm]

[MENTION=4544]A-lister[/MENTION]

But not all songs are about love and trivialism..look at Moldova and Georgia this year they have dark lyrics in English..who will get them in native language..it will sound toatlly random in native langugae..

 

[A-lister]

[MENTION=4544]A-lister[/MENTION]

But not all songs are about love and trivialism..look at Moldova and Georgia this year they have dark lyrics in English..who will get them in native language..it will sound toatlly random in native langugae..

The vast majority have kinda cliché lyrics though... well ask the random Russian viewer if he/she understands... or random Azeri viewer... or random Italian viewer... or random Hungarian viewer.... well you get my point.

It's a myth that everyone in Europe have this universal understanding of English, and I dunno about you, but there are many of us out there who can find beauty in songs even if we don't understand the lyrics (sometimes not understanding can even be better!) and different languages add character and personalities to songs, wheres English makes it all less diverse and common sounding

 

[ParadiseES]

"Kinda"? Well "Kinda" is not enough...

But then we have Bulgaria, Montenegro, Croatia...

I guess you can only be "saved" if the entry is more of a conventional ballad then

To be frank though I don't want to make this a discussion of juries (as I usually tend to do), but I do think they are part of the issue aswell tbh ... but this issue goes beyond them (however they could do MORE to support entries that are local sounding or in native language though).

Well, it wasn't enough, but certainly San Marino and Israel were robbed by the public, not the juries, so it's not their fault.

You're right about Bulgaria or Croatia. Montenegro would've been killed anyway in English and didn't have any local sound at all.

 

[tuorem]

English just makes songs more generic than they are, no matter the type of music, we've seen with Igranka that modern songs can be as slick and catchy in native language as ballads with ethnic elements.

I agree with the people who say that nowadays, we're so used to Americanized music that listening to a song in another language may be strange for some. And that's a shame, if Eurovision goes that way, this fact is not going to change.

We can blame it on the juries since they generally tend to favor songs in English, but especially the countries that send these songs... I mean, if all the participating countries sent songs in native language, both juries and audience would have no choice but to vote for what's in store.

 

[ShoeFlo]

After last ESC I thought there is a trend towards singing in native language, because there were many countries singing in their native language although they are used to sing in English (Iceland fo example)...
but it seemed to be a coincidence... now it turned to the opposite
Although I'm from a country which sends English songs nearly every year, I'm clearly a supporter of the reactivation of language rule. That promotes the diversity of this contest and makes every song unique in some way

 

[QwaarJet]

I was going to type "Wait until A-Lister sees this topic", but then I realised that he was the one who made it.

 

[A-lister]

I was going to type "Wait until A-Lister sees this topic", but then I realised that he was the one who made it.

Of course

 

[Anastasia15]

I was never in favour of returning to the language rule, as some languages just work better with some songs, sometimes English can be the better choice, and I think it's the writers free choice
However, when I see how little language diversity there is in the contest this year (I'd especially like to hear songs in their native language by countries who've so far only sent songs in English) it does make me a little sad
And not only that, there are also less ethno-pop entries (and I love those entries usually) this year, the last two years were sort of better in that after the "standard Americanized Pop"-years 2010 and 2011

I think it might be a problem with the juries... As I said, in general I'm against the language rule - letting artists sing in English is one thing, but seeing the juries apparently actively voting AGAINST entries that showcase the countries culture, through language or ethnic elements in the music, is almost scandalous