List of languages in the Eurovision Song Contest

The following is a list of languages used in the Eurovision Song Contest 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 1956 until 1965, there was no rule restricting the language(s) in which the songs could be sung. For example, in the 1965 Contest, Ingvar Wixell of Sweden sang his song in English. However, in 1965, a rule was imposed that a song must be performed in one of the official languages of the country participating. For seven years, this new language policy remained in place until 1973 when it was officially revoked from the official rules of the Eurovision Song Contest.

From 1973 to 1976 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's Waterloo in 1974 for Sweden^[1] and Teach-In's Ding-a-dong for the Netherlands in 1975.

In 1977, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Contest's 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 1998.

From 1999 onward, 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" (1993), Austria's "One Step" and Bosnia and Herzegovina's "Goodbye" (1997) had a title and one line of the song in a non-native language. In 1994 Poland caused a scandal when Edyta Górniak broke the rules by singing her song in English during the dress rehearsal^[2][3] (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.^[4]

Since 2000 some songs have used fictional or non-existent languages: the Belgian entries in 2003 ("Sanomi") and 2008 ("O Julissi") were entirely in fictional languages. In 2006 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", sung by the Bendik Singers for Norway in 1973. It was performed in English and French, with some lyrics in Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German, Irish, Serbo-Croatian, Hebrew, Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian. In 2012 Bulgaria was represented by the song "Love Unlimited" sung by Sofi Marinova, which mainly had lyrics in Bulgarian, but with phrases in Turkish, Greek, Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, French, Romani, Italian, Azerbaijani, Arabic and English. 1969 Yugoslav entry "Pozdrav svijetu" was mainly sung in Croatian, but also had phrases in Spanish, German, French, English, Dutch, Italian, Russian and Finnish.

As of 2021, only two countries have never entered a song in one or more of their national languages – Monaco has never used Monégasque, its traditional national language, nor has Azerbaijan ever entered a song in the Azerbaijani language (although the aforementioned "Love Unlimited" contained a line in the language, and the 2021 Azerbaijani entry "Mata Hari" contained a repeated phrase in the language).

On the other hand, as of 2021, there are only ten countries whose representatives have performed all their songs at least partially in an official, regional or national language: Andorra, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco and Morocco. In addition, former countries Serbia and Montenegro, Yugoslavia, 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 French television and launched an official complaint in the French Parliament, as the song which represented France in 2008, "Divine", was sung in English.^[5] A similar incident occurred again in 2014, when Spanish artist Ruth Lorenzo was criticised by the Royal Spanish Academy after the Spanish national selection for singing her entry, Dancing in the Rain, with 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.

Order	Language[6][7]	First appearance	Country	First performer	First song
1	Dutch	1956	Netherlands	Jetty Paerl	"De vogels van Holland"
2	German		Switzerland	Lys Assia	"Das alte Karussell"
3	French		Belgium	Fud Leclerc	"Messieurs les noyés de la Seine"
4	Italian		Italy	Franca Raimondi	"Aprite le finestre"
5	English	1957	United Kingdom	Patricia Bredin	"All"
–	phrases in Spanish		Germany	Margot Hielscher	"Telefon, Telefon"
6	Danish		Denmark	Birthe Wilke & Gustav Winckler	"Skibet skal sejle i nat"
7	Swedish	1958	Sweden	Alice Babs	"Lilla stjärna"
8	Luxembourgish	1960	Luxembourg	Camillo Felgen	"So laang we's du do bast"
9	Norwegian		Norway	Nora Brockstedt	"Voi voi"
–	title in Sámi
10	Spanish	1961	Spain	Conchita Bautista	"Estando contigo"
11	Finnish		Finland	Laila Kinnunen	"Valoa ikkunassa"
12	Serbo-Croatian[N 1]		Yugoslavia	Ljiljana Petrović	"Neke davne zvezde" (Неке давне звезде)
13	Portuguese	1964	Portugal	António Calvário	"Oração"
14	Slovene	1966	Yugoslavia	Berta Ambrož	"Brez besed"
–	phrases in Russian	1969		& M's	"Pozdrav svijetu" (Поздрав свијету)
15	Viennese (dialect of German)	1971	Austria	Marianne Mendt	"Musik"
16	Maltese		Malta	Joe Grech	"Marija l-Maltija"
17	Irish	1972	Ireland	Sandie Jones	"Ceol an ghrá"
18	Hebrew	1973	Israel	Ilanit	"Ey Sham" (אי שם)
19	Greek	1974	Greece	Marinella	"Krasi, thalassa kai t'agori mou" (Κρασί, θάλασσα και τ'αγόρι μου)
20	Turkish	1975	Turkey	Semiha Yankı	"Seninle Bir Dakika"
–	title in Latin	1977	Finland	Monica Aspelund	"Lapponia"
21	Arabic	1980	Morocco	Samira Said	"Bitaqat Hub" (بطاقة حب)
–	phrases in Northern Sámi		Norway	Sverre Kjelsberg & Mattis Hætta	"Sámiid ædnan"
22	Icelandic	1986	Iceland	ICY	"Gleðibankinn"
23	Romansh	1989	Switzerland	Furbaz	"Viver senza tei"
–	Finland Swedish	1990	Finland	Beat	"Fri?"
24	Neapolitan	1991	Italy	Peppino di Capri	"Comme è ddoce 'o mare"
25	Antillean Creole	1992	France	Kali	"Monté la riviè"
26	Serbian (variety of Serbo-Croatian)[N 1]	1992	Yugoslavia		"Ljubim te pesmama" (Љубим те песмама)
–	phrases in Corsican	1993	France	Patrick Fiori	"Mama Corsica"
27	Bosnian (variety of Serbo-Croatian)[N 1]		Bosnia and Herzegovina	Fazla	"Sva bol svijeta"
28	Croatian (variety of Serbo-Croatian)[N 1]		Croatia	Put	"Don't Ever Cry"
29	Estonian	1994	Estonia	Silvi Vrait	"Nagu merelaine"
30	Romanian		Romania	Dan Bittman	"Dincolo de nori"
31	Slovak		Slovakia	Martin Ďurinda & Tublatanka	"Nekonečná pieseň"
32	Lithuanian		Lithuania	Ovidijus Vyšniauskas	"Lopšinė mylimai"
33	Hungarian		Hungary	Friderika Bayer	"Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet?"
34	Russian		Russia	Youddiph	"Vechnyy strannik" (Вечный стрaнник)
35	Polish		Poland	Edyta Górniak	"To nie ja!"
–	phrases in Ancient Greek	1995	Greece	Elina Konstantopoulou	"Pia prosefhi" (Ποιά προσευχή)
36	Vorarlbergish (dialect of German)	1996	Austria		"Weil's dr guat got"
37	Breton		France	Dan Ar Braz & l'Héritage des Celtes	"Diwanit bugale"
38	Macedonian	1998	Macedonia	Vlado Janevski	"Ne zori, zoro" (Не зори, зоро)
39	Samogitian (dialect of Lithuanian)	1999	Lithuania	Aistė	"Strazdas"
40	Styrian (dialect of German)	2003	Austria	Alf Poier	"Weil der Mensch zählt"
41	Imaginary language		Belgium	Urban Trad	"Sanomi"
42	Latvian	2004	Latvia	Fomins & Kleins	"Dziesma par laimi"
43	Catalan		Andorra	Marta Roure	"Jugarem a estimar-nos"
44	lines in Ukrainian		Ukraine	Ruslana	"Wild Dances"
45	Võro		Estonia	Neiokõsõ	"Tii"
46	lines in sign language[8]	2005	Latvia	Walters & Kazha	"The War Is Not Over"
47	Montenegrin (variety of Serbo-Croatian)[N 1]	2005	Serbia and Montenegro	No Name	"Zauvijek moja" (Заувијек моја)
48	Albanian	2006	Albania	Luiz Ejlli	"Zjarr e ftohtë"
–	phrases in Tahitian		Monaco	Séverine Ferrer	"La coco-dance"
–	phrases in Andalusian Spanish		Spain	Las Ketchup	"Un Blodymary"
–	phrases in Italo-Dalmatian		Croatia	Severina	"Moja štikla"
49	Bulgarian	2007	Bulgaria	Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankoulov	"Water"
50	Czech		Czech Republic	Kabát	"Malá dáma"
–	phrases in Armenian		Armenia	Hayko	"Anytime You Need"
–	phrases in Romani	2009	Czech Republic	Gipsy.cz	"Aven Romale"
51	lines in Armenian		Armenia	Inga and Anush	"Jan Jan" (Ջան Ջան)
–	phrases in Karelian (dialect of Finnish)	2010	Finland	Kuunkuiskaajat	"Työlki ellää"
–	phrases in Swahili	2011	Norway	Stella Mwangi	"Haba Haba"
52	Corsican		France	Amaury Vassili	"Sognu"
–	Gheg Albanian	2012	Albania	Rona Nishliu	"Suus"
53	Udmurt		Russia	Buranovskiye Babushki	"Party for Everybody"
54	Mühlviertlerisch (dialect of German)		Austria	Trackshittaz	"Woki mit deim Popo"
–	phrases in Azerbaijani		Bulgaria	Sofi Marinova	"Love Unlimited"
–	phrases in Georgian		Georgia	Anri Jokhadze	"I'm a Joker"
55	lines in Romani	2013	Macedonia	Esma & Lozano	"Pred da se razdeni"
–	Chakavian (dialect of Croatian)		Croatia	Klapa s Mora	"Mižerja"
56	lines in Pontic Greek	2016	Greece	Argo	"Utopian Land"
57	lines in Crimean Tatar		Ukraine	Jamala	"1944"
58	Belarusian	2017	Belarus	Naviband	"Historyja majho žyccia" (Гісторыя майго жыцця)
–	phrases in Sanskrit		Italy	Francesco Gabbani	"Occidentali's Karma"
–	phrases in Japanese	2018	Israel	Netta	"Toy"
59	Georgian		Georgia	Ethno-Jazz Band Iriao	"For You"
–	phrases in Torlakian (dialect of Serbian)[9][10][11]		Serbia	Sanja Ilić & Balkanika	"Nova deca" (Нова деца)
–	phrases in Abkhaz[12]	2019	Georgia	Oto Nemsadze	"Keep on Going" (სულ წინ იარე)
–	lines in Amharic	2020	Israel	Eden Alene	"Feker Libi" (ፍቅር ልቤ)
60	lines in Sranan Tongo	2021	Netherlands	Jeangu Macrooy	"Birth of a New Age"

Winners by language[]

Between 1966 and 1972, and again between 1977 and 1998, countries were only permitted to perform in their own language; see the main Eurovision Song Contest article.

Since the rule change, only three songs in non-English languages have won: Serbia's "Molitva" in 2007 (Serbian), Portugal's "Amar pelos dois" in 2017 (Portuguese), and Italy's "Zitti e buoni" in 2021 (Italian). 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 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 the rules were changed to allow the use of any language, 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.^[13]

Appearance	Country	Performer	Song
2003	Belgium	Urban Trad	"Sanomi"
2006	Netherlands	Treble	"Amambanda"
2008	Belgium	Ishtar	"O Julissi"

Performances with sign languages[]

Some performances have included phrases in sign languages on stage.

Appearance	Country	Sign language	Performer	Song	Ref
2005	Latvia	Latvian Sign Language	Walters & Kazha	"The War Is Not Over"	[8][14]
2006	Poland	Polish Sign Language	Ich Troje	"Follow My Heart"	[15]
2011	Lithuania	Lithuanian Sign Language	Evelina Sašenko	"C'est ma vie"	[16][17]
2015	Serbia	Yugoslav Sign Language	Bojana Stamenov	"Beauty Never Lies"	[18]
2019	France	French Sign Language	Bilal Hassani	"Roi"	[19]

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. ISBN 1-84442-586-X.
• O'Connor, John Kennedy (2005). The Eurovision Song Contest 50 Years The Official History. London: Carlton Books Limited. ISBN 1-84442-586-X.
• "Historical Milestones". eurovision.tv. 2005. Archived from the original on 2006-05-26. Retrieved 2006-05-26.
• "Urban Trad". UrbanTrad.com. 28 September 2004. Archived from the original on 8 February 2007. Retrieved 2006-07-18.
• "Treble will represent the Netherlands". eurovision.tv. Archived from the original on 2006-05-25. Retrieved 2006-05-25.
• Klier, Marcus (2008-03-09). "Belgium: Ishtar to Eurovision". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-10-11.