Bringing back the language rule!
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lilka
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I totally support this rule, especially now when it seems to be the only way to achieve some diversity in the contest. There's definitely too much English in ESC. To hell with political correctness concerning the freedom of language in Eurovision!
I wouldn't want the old rule back. A lot of European pop/rock music, even for domestic markets in countries where English is not an official language, is in English. I don't like the idea of only allowing a few countries to ever sing in English. The real problem is that some countries ALWAYS send songs in English (e.g. Sweden, Denmark, Azerbaijan...) and we never get to hear their national languages. Well, Swedish once since 1998 thanks to Finland. These countries should be forced to sing in other languages at least once in a while, for example a minimum of once per four years. A lot of countries already meet that requirement, so it would not be a very dramatic change.
blue00eyes
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I love Swedish for example - for me it sounds great. I really like Greek language especially in ballads and Russian is great too. Language rule will bring some quality to the contest, we'll hear interesting, original songs in native languages instead of weak songs in lame English. On the other hand we'll have UK and Ireland as a winner everytime so it's hard to decide.
revallsay
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doctormalisimo
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Let's bring back the language rule, all English does not make sense at all.
We should hear more national languages in a European contest : Estonia 2009 & 2012, Albania 2012, Serbia 2007 & 2012 were singing in their own language, yet they achieved good results because the entries and singers were worth it.
The UK and Ireland wouldn't have much luck than now tbh.
We should hear more national languages in a European contest : Estonia 2009 & 2012, Albania 2012, Serbia 2007 & 2012 were singing in their own language, yet they achieved good results because the entries and singers were worth it.
The UK and Ireland wouldn't have much luck than now tbh.
This year was ridiculous, I don't have an A-Lister style issue with singing in English. If the song is good then so what, I think some songs suit English and others suit their national language. However I think the language rule should come back, or at least some restriction on how much of a song can be English put in place. As for UK, Ireland and Malta winning every time - I don't think so. Most times these countries send mediocre songs.
blue00eyes
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I don't see a problem with that
I think Malta has very small chances to win ESCWhat about Malta?
lilka
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Let's introduce a new "language rule": all entries in English! :twisted: What do you think, [MENTION=4544]A-lister[/MENTION] ?
A-lister
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lilka
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Well, you may actually be right. 
Brandt
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It does.
Language rule is not fair at all, since most of people understand English songs from United Kingdom, Ireland etc but not the others. And neighboor votes take more chance since they understand each other. Scandinavian bloc, Middle east Europe bloc, Turkic bloc, Greek bloc etc.
greece
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^ Poland that year and Greece last year did great in televoting by singing in native language. Also Italy from 2011 to 2013 did year as well singing in Italian.
But after all language rule should be back, cause actually it's one of the points of the whole show.
But after all language rule should be back, cause actually it's one of the points of the whole show.
MyHeartIsYours
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^ The point is that under the present system, countries are fully entitled to sing in native language, or English, or another language. If you bring in a language rule, then you are forcing your obsession with native languages upon everyone, and that is not fair at all.
It is just as wrong to bring in a native language rule as it would be to bring in an English/French-only language rule.
It is just as wrong to bring in a native language rule as it would be to bring in an English/French-only language rule.
[MENTION=13025]greece[/MENTION] I second that
[MENTION=14118]LesterMalvo[/MENTION] Honestly I don't believe people need to understand the lyrics of a song to like it or vote for it. Languages aren't only words, there are also an exotic rythm and sonority, an inner "music" to it. And it does not impact the quality of a song. Currently, if you let the artists/broadcasters/anyone relevant choose the language of their entry, it'll be English in most cases, which is boring imo. We have so much diversity in Europe language-wise, it's a real shame to hear so few national languages each year. We also have to stop with thick accents (of singers who can't speak English even to save their lives) and silly translated lyrics, trying too hard does not serve any purpose tbh.
The whole Europe speaking and/or understanding English is a myth, it's just that people are unknowingly used to hear English with all the British/American music we are constantly drown in... So how can people discover, appreciate or get used to other languages if they're merely non-existent in ESC? To me, national languages are the most relevant thing of this contest, because it's EUROvision, if promoting them in this show is not relevant, then when and where could we hear Slovakian, Maltese and Finnish for instance?
And within the ocean of English entries we've got since like forever now, some non-English entries did well ; I doubt everyone understood Albanese in 2012, Estonian in 2009 or Serbian in 2007. In spite of the fact that Ireland or the UK sang in English, they didn't stole a place in the top 10 every year as much as I remember.
And languages have nothing to do with bloc voting, whatever the entries are, Sweden will still vote for Norway, Croatia will vote for Serbia, Cyprus will vote for Greece, etc.
[MENTION=14118]LesterMalvo[/MENTION] Honestly I don't believe people need to understand the lyrics of a song to like it or vote for it. Languages aren't only words, there are also an exotic rythm and sonority, an inner "music" to it. And it does not impact the quality of a song. Currently, if you let the artists/broadcasters/anyone relevant choose the language of their entry, it'll be English in most cases, which is boring imo. We have so much diversity in Europe language-wise, it's a real shame to hear so few national languages each year. We also have to stop with thick accents (of singers who can't speak English even to save their lives) and silly translated lyrics, trying too hard does not serve any purpose tbh.
The whole Europe speaking and/or understanding English is a myth, it's just that people are unknowingly used to hear English with all the British/American music we are constantly drown in... So how can people discover, appreciate or get used to other languages if they're merely non-existent in ESC? To me, national languages are the most relevant thing of this contest, because it's EUROvision, if promoting them in this show is not relevant, then when and where could we hear Slovakian, Maltese and Finnish for instance?
And within the ocean of English entries we've got since like forever now, some non-English entries did well ; I doubt everyone understood Albanese in 2012, Estonian in 2009 or Serbian in 2007. In spite of the fact that Ireland or the UK sang in English, they didn't stole a place in the top 10 every year as much as I remember.
And languages have nothing to do with bloc voting, whatever the entries are, Sweden will still vote for Norway, Croatia will vote for Serbia, Cyprus will vote for Greece, etc.
greece
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Well that's right but I meant that actually ESC was made to bring countries together after WW2 and showing each other the culture of each country. And ok I don't mean that they should be forced but in the recent years almost all the countries pick songs in English language and rarely in their native and the whole points is quite missing
Brandt
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[MENTION=9195]tuorem[/MENTION] Good point to be honest. But you are missing something. Let's kick "Molitva" out of the list, and see when was the last time a non english song won the contest. We need to go back in 1998. Of course people take lyrics serious to like the song, or to vote. And we can not miss that. Azerbaijan always joined with English songs and they were in top 5 for 5 years in a row. Do you really think they would hit top 5 again if the songs were in their official language? I don't think so. Also for Turkey, they used to have the worst places, they mostly took a place of bottom 5. But things changed in 21st century, since they send English songs. They were mostly 4th or 7th and once 2nd. The same counts for other countries with English songs.
Let's see top 5 songs from 2008 and onwards.
2008: All 5 songs are English, only Armenia is Armenian + English.
2009: All 5 songs are English.
2010: All 5 songs are English.
2011: All 5 songs are English, only Italy is Italian + English.
2012: Winner is English, second place is Udmurt + English, third place is Serbian, fourth place is English and fifth place is Albanian
2013: All 5 songs are English.
2014: Top 18 is English
The qualifing situation isn't much different at all.
Let's see top 5 songs from 2008 and onwards.
2008: All 5 songs are English, only Armenia is Armenian + English.
2009: All 5 songs are English.
2010: All 5 songs are English.
2011: All 5 songs are English, only Italy is Italian + English.
2012: Winner is English, second place is Udmurt + English, third place is Serbian, fourth place is English and fifth place is Albanian
2013: All 5 songs are English.
2014: Top 18 is English
The qualifing situation isn't much different at all.
[MENTION=14118]LesterMalvo[/MENTION] I don't see how those data are revealing English "necessity" to win and get a good placing, just that that the songs people liked the most happened to be in English, I don't think the winner entries would have been any different had they been sung in other languages. To me, the real reason is that more than 3/4 of entries are in English, so the winner is more likely to be in that category. As much as I'd like languages back, it doesn't save a song either if it's poor.
On the contrary, if all the entries are sung in each national language, I'm sure the winner would be among them and would not necessarily be in English, as long as the song is loved by the people.
PS : Azerbaijan was successful because they sent songs that could appeal to a lot of people, look at 2014, they sang in English, yet they ended in the bottom.
On the contrary, if all the entries are sung in each national language, I'm sure the winner would be among them and would not necessarily be in English, as long as the song is loved by the people.
PS : Azerbaijan was successful because they sent songs that could appeal to a lot of people, look at 2014, they sang in English, yet they ended in the bottom.