Eurovision 2015: Confirmed Countries

[DanielLuis]

If France ever wins again, they will probably do the whole show in French and nothing but French. The French spokesperson was quite verbose this year, just in order to make the French language a bigger part of the show. Eurovision in Paris would be just like that - for the whole show. ^^

It would really be reasonable to drop the French language completely and to do everything just in English. In the early days of Eurovision, the participating countries were split into two large groups that either preferred French or English respectively but clearly these days are long gone. Now the only country that insists on speaking French is France. And just because of one country among some 40 others, the unnecessary douze points and the French instructions on how to vote remain a part of the show. It's silly but it will stay that way because France would leave the contest, if French were dropped from the show completely. And the EBU wouldn't want that to happen, of course. I think the fact that a few words of French are spoken during the show might even be a reason for France to stay in the contest, although it is not that popular in France. ^^

After English, German would actually be the second most important language these days. It's just that the Germans are willing to speak English.

I don't think France could host the whole show in French, even if they wanted to. The rules say that it has to be in French and English. However maybe French would become the main language, which is, instead of the hosts making jokes and saying the rules in English and then awkwardly translate it to French, it would be the opposite
But I agree, I don't think there's any point in keeping French just to appease one country. It should be English only, French is not nearly as important as it was before.

 

[toinou03]

^
Seriously, speaking French in the contest is more a part of folklore than something we insist in... When the hosts speak in French, commentators speak above, as anyway we can't understand a word of what is said with all those 4th dimension accents
If there is no French in Eurovision, we wouldn't whine upon it... But there are 2 other broadcaster in French, RTS and RTBF and Arab broadcasters (I don't know if it's still broadcasted there... Would Lebanon enter, you'd have a French-speaking country more )

But indeed at this stage, would we host the contest (which is science-fiction...) it would be all in French, don't dream ! As was Lausanne 1989, when for the last time a French-speaking country won.

Well, the spokesperson was so awkward this year with all that bla-bla :? But, as long as we can speak in French, I don't see why we'd suddenly announce points in English... It's like that. Contest has been created in by a French-speaking man, just like in Olympics there is French because a French man created the modern Olympics.

OK, English is everywhere, but it's not a bad thing to let another language to let believe that world is plural... :?

And seriously, we are not closed-minded idiots. We learn English in France, I've been learning it for 11 years, and now, it even begins at 7 years old. Among younger people, only idiots can't sepak English. OK, in the generation of my parents, many people didn't learn English, as it was only for brighter students, and even with it, it was mainly learning sentences by heart, which is useless and they didn't have any occasion to speak English so they have forgotten everything. And in that time, we officially hated USA 3

And instead of moaning you can't understand French, go learn it, you won't be disappointed. It's the language of love and litterature and you'll have millions of friends in all the world As I'm happy to be able to speak 2 foreign languages.

 

[Dante]

And instead of moaning you can't understand French, go learn it, you won't be disappointed.

We weren't talking about not understanding it.

When the hosts speak in French, commentators speak above, as anyway we can't understand a word of what is said with all those 4th dimension accents

They usually speak above everything and it's so annoying! At least if they were translating it, but with what they are saying you can't understand a thing. You can't concentrate neither on the show, nor on what they're saying. Frankly speaking, I would rather not have them.

 

[cassidian]

I think that Switzerland and Belgium should really announce their votes in French, considering it's one of their official languages. Also may I ask if anyone knows why Andorra would always announce their votes "en français"?

 

[Mlyn]

Andorra is shared land by both France and Spain. The French Prime Minister as well as the Spanish King are the official governors, that is why Andorra is also a francophone country.

 

[cassidian]

I've looked it up, as far as I'm aware, they do not have french as an official language?

 

[Chorizo]

I don't think France could host the whole show in French, even if they wanted to. The rules say that it has to be in French and English. However maybe French would become the main language, which is, instead of the hosts making jokes and saying the rules in English and then awkwardly translate it to French, it would be the opposite
But I agree, I don't think there's any point in keeping French just to appease one country. It should be English only, French is not nearly as important as it was before.

I think that's exactly what would happen: The roles of English and French would be reversed compared to how it was done in recent years. So what we would have in English is the instruction of how to vote and the points of the French spokesperson would have to be (reluctantly) repeated in English. If they felt especially daring, we might even get a "Good evening, Europe!"
I can already picture the green room interviews with the participants from Switzerland and Belgium.

 

[Chorizo]

^
Seriously, speaking French in the contest is more a part of folklore than something we insist in... When the hosts speak in French, commentators speak above, as anyway we can't understand a word of what is said with all those 4th dimension accents
If there is no French in Eurovision, we wouldn't whine upon it... But there are 2 other broadcaster in French, RTS and RTBF and Arab broadcasters (I don't know if it's still broadcasted there... Would Lebanon enter, you'd have a French-speaking country more )

But indeed at this stage, would we host the contest (which is science-fiction...) it would be all in French, don't dream ! As was Lausanne 1989, when for the last time a French-speaking country won.

Well, the spokesperson was so awkward this year with all that bla-bla :? But, as long as we can speak in French, I don't see why we'd suddenly announce points in English... It's like that. Contest has been created in by a French-speaking man, just like in Olympics there is French because a French man created the modern Olympics.

OK, English is everywhere, but it's not a bad thing to let another language to let believe that world is plural... :?

And seriously, we are not closed-minded idiots. We learn English in France, I've been learning it for 11 years, and now, it even begins at 7 years old. Among younger people, only idiots can't sepak English. OK, in the generation of my parents, many people didn't learn English, as it was only for brighter students, and even with it, it was mainly learning sentences by heart, which is useless and they didn't have any occasion to speak English so they have forgotten everything. And in that time, we officially hated USA 3

And instead of moaning you can't understand French, go learn it, you won't be disappointed. It's the language of love and litterature and you'll have millions of friends in all the world As I'm happy to be able to speak 2 foreign languages.

I think nobody really thinks that the French cannot speak English. They just refuse to speak English to you although they could do it. ^^

And I don't buy it when you say the French wouldn't whine, if the EBU wanted to drop their language. That would certainly lead to an outrage in the French media and they would threaten to boycott the contest. Eurovision isn't even that popular in France and compared to countries like Sweden, the UK and Germany the ratings are very low. So I could see them actually going through with a boycott.

As far as Switzerland and Belgium are concerned, their French speaking broadcasters only represent a part of their countries, so it wouldn't affect the participation of these countries. Flanders gladly represents Belgium in English.

And it's true that the only thing more awkward than the French spokesperson being the only one that speaks French would be the French spokesperson not speaking French although she could. If they ever did that, French would be gone the next contest.

When the French spokeswoman was told "Thank you, for all your nice words." this year that was one of the funniest moments that evening imho. You could tell that the hosts probably had no idea what she was talking about.

 

[Chorizo]

I think that Switzerland and Belgium should really announce their votes in French, considering it's one of their official languages. Also may I ask if anyone knows why Andorra would always announce their votes "en français"?

I think it would be cool, if every country announced the top points in their own language. That would bring language diversity back to Eurovision and it would be perfectly understandable anyway because all the points are written on the screen in English and the commentators can translate too. The points from 1 to 7 are not read out at all and perfectly understood nevertheless - at least since they decided to show them for more than one second, thanks to the change made this year.

The rule about giving the points in English or French comes from a time, when there was no electronic scoreboard and when the points were actually unknown to the EBU before the spokespersons called in. So they needed to make sure, there was no misunderstanding. These days, however, they know the exact points before they take the calls. So reading out the points is just a part of the format now and it's used for suspense and entertainment only.

 

[toinou03]

We weren't talking about not understanding it.

I was joking

They usually speak above everything and it's so annoying! At least if they were translating it, but with what they are saying you can't understand a thing. You can't concentrate neither on the show, nor on what they're saying. Frankly speaking, I would rather not have them.

Indeed... I don't understand why they feel necessary to talk that much. I believe the show speaks for itself ! At least, now they shut their mouth during the intervals, while before, they told their lives, ther journey, the hotel and blablabla but have been bashed ! Same for the opening of Olympics. They now shut up and only say the important as people asked them to SHUT UP !

I think that Switzerland and Belgium should really announce their votes in French, considering it's one of their official languages. Also may I ask if anyone knows why Andorra would always announce their votes "en français"?

They make it when it's the turn of the French speaking part, so next year at least !

Andorra is shared land by both France and Spain. The French Prime Minister as well as the Spanish King are the official governors, that is why Andorra is also a francophone country.

More precisely the French president and the bishop of Urgell are princes of Andorra.

I've looked it up, as far as I'm aware, they do not have french as an official language?

No their official language is only catalan, but considering the closeness of France and all the French people coming to buy alcohol, cigarettes or forbidden medication, they all speak French. Very few come to study in Toulouse though.

 

[anto475]

They make it when it's the turn of the French speaking part, so next year at least !

This raises an interesting point. If Belgium win with an RTBF song next year, will the 2016 contest be hosted by them or by VRT?

 

[toinou03]

And I don't buy it when you say the French wouldn't whine, if the EBU wanted to drop their language. That would certainly lead to an outrage in the French media and they would threaten to boycott the contest. Eurovision isn't even that popular in France and compared to countries like Sweden, the UK and Germany the ratings are very low. So I could see them actually going through with a boycott.

Seriously, I think that the place of French as decreased much enough to be unnoticed would French disappear of the contest... Maybe I'm too optimistic, but I don't believe it. The only concern is about us singing in English. When we didn't everybody said that we had to sing in English to be able to win, and when it was done, it made a scandal (while it didn't shock me in fact...)... So now, it has been made impossible to represent us in English.

And it's true that the only thing more awkward than the French spokesperson being the only one that speaks French would be the French spokesperson not speaking French although she could. If they ever did that, French would be gone the next contest.

When the French spokeswoman was told "Thank you, for all your nice words." this year that was one of the funniest moments that evening imho. You could tell that the hosts probably had no idea what she was talking about.

I mostly believe she thought Eurovision was like in 1978 and she had 20 minutes to make an endless conversation... and thank the artists, the authors, the composers, the engineers, and say that we love Eurovision ! That was very embarrassing and was criticized a lot here...

At least usually, spokespersons talk to us. In 2008, Cyril Hanouna greated all the mums a Happy Mother's day

 

[Mlyn]

I understood every single word of the French spokeswoman this year and I thought it was quite embarassing what she told. Maybe she was trolling the hosts, who knows....

But I would grant France to keep Eurovision in French, when they'll host it. I think it would be nice and memorable.

 

[toinou03]

I understood every single word of the French spokeswoman this year and I thought it was quite embarassing what she told. Maybe she was trolling the hosts, who knows....

But I would grant France to keep Eurovision in French, when they'll host it. I think it would be nice and memorable.

For sure ! Broadcaster has trolled us. They told the girl to say something nice to make us appear as people very nice and really interested in the contest, and result was the complete opposite....

 

[DanielLuis]

This raises an interesting point. If Belgium win with an RTBF song next year, will the 2016 contest be hosted by them or by VRT?

I guess they would both collaborate to host it. They did so when Belgium hosted the JESC.

 

[Verjamem]

In 1986 song was chosen by RTBF, and RTBF hosted it next year. But in 1987 song was chosen by VRT. IMO it was very good solution and I hope that it will happen again, if Belgium will win for second time.

 

[DanielLuis]

Portugal confirmed for 2015? | ESCunited.com

Hugo Andrade, RTP's director, confirmed to ESC Portugal that Portugal will participate in Austria next year!

 

[GRE]

It seems that we have positive news from 28 countries.

 

[DanielLuis]

Eurovision Portugal: RTP confirms participation in Eurovision 2015
In case doubts remained, RTP confirmed to ESC Today too that Portugal will take part in 2015.

 

[GRE]

Bad day today for Eurovision.
No Czech Republic & Liechtenstein in 2015.