How common is it for your country's contestants to sing in English?

[Fluke]

I'm wondering, since i realized Sweden has hardly ever sent any entries in Swedish in recent times, and i can't think of many other countries (besides the two obvious ones) that have always sent songs in English to the ESC!

I'm also wondering, how many of the songs in your national selection are in English? Do the ones in English tend to win, or are most of the contestants in English?

Though what some tend to do, like Iceland, is to pick a song originally in their native language then change the lyrics to English for the ESC..... not sure if those should be considered non-english or not.

Here in Sweden it seems for the last few years, all the "serious" contenders have been in English, while Swedish is reserved for joke entries, odd genre entries that don't seem to be in the contest to win, and completely bland stuff that have no chance of winning!

 

[Yamarus]

Since the end of the language rule, Belgium has sent 8 entries in English, 2 in French, and 2 in an imaginary language. English is definitely favoured in the selection process, be it internal or not. I think it is highly unlikely we will ever hear a Dutch song from Belgium again. A strong French ballad remains possible however.

 

[Sean]

Uuhm....

 

[doctormalisimo]

My country has always sent english entries, except for one in Irish in 1972

 

[Jukica]

Croatia: 4 entries 100% English, 3 entries 50% Croatian / 50% English and others in Croatian

 

[rajo]

Austria doesn't stick to English, since it's no guarantee for success

1999 - English (very lovely)
2000 - English (bit out of tune)
2002 - English (very repetitive)
2003 - Austrian (Styrian) dialect (very successful)
2005 - Spanish chorus (fail)
2007 - English (internal selection, fail)
2011 - English (viewers' choice, but Trackshittaz came in second)
2012 - (Upper) Austrian dialect

 

[AlekS]

2003 - English
2004 - English/Ukrainian (with Ukrainian version on the radio)
2005 - Ukrainian (then Ukrainian/English)
2006 - English
2007 - is it really a language?
2008 - English (with Russian version)
2009 - English (with Russian version)
2010 - There was a tie for the 1st place. English vs. Russian. Alyosha won (prefered by televoters).
2011 - Russian (then English) with a song in Ukrainian being 2nd.
2012 - English (maybe with Ukrainian version)

 

[A-lister]

Well Sweden has been 100% English since 1999

I am not really sure if I understood this thread correctly, but I will try to answer your question in a different way, since it could be interpret this way too.

I will look at each act we sent since 1999 and see if they are Swedish or English singing acts in general (outside of MF and ESC). I think it says quite much if an act is "true to themselves" by looking at if their ESC entries resemblance what they usually do in either style or/-and choice of language or if it's an artistic compromise or simply an act of desperation.

So let's see:

Charlotte (Nilsson) Perrelli (1999, 2008): Sings both in Swedish and English, if counting her "dansband years" she's released mostly Swedish language stuff. Good translation for ESC in 1999

Roger Pontare (2000): His entry was in Swedish in MF, and while singing in English in ESC, it's really an exception. All his releases have been in Swedish. Bad translation for ESC

Friends (2001): Were mostly a Swedish-language act, also their ESC entry was originally in Swedish in MF. Good translation for ESC

Afro-Dite (2002): Well, it consists of three singers with solo careers prior, and I think most of the stuff they released have been in English.

Fame (2003): A majority of their stuff (both as a band and solo) have been in English.

Lena Philipsson (2004): She released some English or partly English releases in late 80's/early 90's when they tried to make her break the international market, but in general she's a Swedish language act. Her ESC entry was originally in Swedish aswell. Bad translation for ESC

Martin Stenmarck (2005): Well, his first releases were in English, but he started to actually become a successful act here when he started to release Swedish language stuff, a majority of his albums have been in Swedish and since he started to become successful he's been a Swedish-language act, so yeah I'd say he qualifies as a "Swedish language act".

Carola (2006): Just as with Lena PH she released some English/partly English stuff in late 80's/early 90's in an attempt to cross-over to the international market, but all in all Carola is a Swedish language act and her ESC entry this year was originally in Swedish in the MF aswell. Ok translation for ESC

The Ark (2007): A 100% English language act.

Malena Ernman (2009): Well, she's an opera singer, her ESC entry was English/French from the get-go, she released material in English, Italian, French and Swedish (and maybe more). I guess it's more the Popera style that was out of place for her rather than the use of language (although English is quite limited when it comes to opera singers).

Anna Bergendahl (2010): So far only released English material.

Eric Saade (2011): The same as with Anna.

 

[rajo]

Shame on Lena Ph. for screwing "Det gör ont"

Här finns så många minnen

Allt vi gjort i våra dar

Fattiga o rika

Det finns väl många minnen kvar

Men om jag kunde glömma

Då kunde jag bli fri

 

[A-lister]

^
"Det gör ont" is one of my all time favorite Swedish entries, I just LOVE the Swedish version.

The English, not so much though. It was a really bad translation.

Hmm you understand Swedish?

 

[rajo]

Hmm you understand Swedish?

No, not really.... I used to have a Swedish pen pal, who sent me lots of funny stickers with Swedish sayings.... e.g. a fly which got slain with the flap saying "Döa Flugor" or a baby crying "Pisse blör"....

I hope I got it right....

Going to Malmö & Lund this spring for a daytour....

 

[Fluke]

So how many ESC entires can you think of that's in another language that's not English or a minority language of the nation it represents?

Here's Latvia's fun rock ditty "Probka", in Russian:

And Latvia again, strangely enough, in Italian with this tripe:

And let's keep the made-up-language entries out of this please

 

[Impressive]

Raphael Gualazzi has English + Italian version, also 100% Italian version. So has Nina.
In Italy radios usually play 100% Italian versions. But I like more 50% - 50% versions of both them.

 

[A-lister]

So how many ESC entires can you think of that's in another language that's not English or a minority language of the nation it represents?

Well, Romania sent an entry partly in Italian in 2006, in 2007 their entry included some Italian, Spanish, Russian and French and in 2012 the entry was partly in Spanish.

 

[A-lister]

Well Sweden has been 100% English since 1999

I am not really sure if I understood this thread correctly, but I will try to answer your question in a different way, since it could be interpret this way too.

I will look at each act we sent since 1999 and see if they are Swedish or English singing acts in general (outside of MF and ESC). I think it says quite much if an act is "true to themselves" by looking at if their ESC entries resemblance what they usually do in either style or/-and choice of language or if it's an artistic compromise or simply an act of desperation.

So let's see:

Charlotte (Nilsson) Perrelli (1999, 2008): Sings both in Swedish and English, if counting her "dansband years" she's released mostly Swedish language stuff. Good translation for ESC in 1999

Roger Pontare (2000): His entry was in Swedish in MF, and while singing in English in ESC, it's really an exception. All his releases have been in Swedish. Bad translation for ESC

Friends (2001): Were mostly a Swedish-language act, also their ESC entry was originally in Swedish in MF. Good translation for ESC

Afro-Dite (2002): Well, it consists of three singers with solo careers prior, and I think most of the stuff they released have been in English.

Fame (2003): A majority of their stuff (both as a band and solo) have been in English.

Lena Philipsson (2004): She released some English or partly English releases in late 80's/early 90's when they tried to make her break the international market, but in general she's a Swedish language act. Her ESC entry was originally in Swedish aswell. Bad translation for ESC

Martin Stenmarck (2005): Well, his first releases were in English, but he started to actually become a successful act here when he started to release Swedish language stuff, a majority of his albums have been in Swedish and since he started to become successful he's been a Swedish-language act, so yeah I'd say he qualifies as a "Swedish language act".

Carola (2006): Just as with Lena PH she released some English/partly English stuff in late 80's/early 90's in an attempt to cross-over to the international market, but all in all Carola is a Swedish language act and her ESC entry this year was originally in Swedish in the MF aswell. Ok translation for ESC

The Ark (2007): A 100% English language act.

Malena Ernman (2009): Well, she's an opera singer, her ESC entry was English/French from the get-go, she released material in English, Italian, French and Swedish (and maybe more). I guess it's more the Popera style that was out of place for her rather than the use of language (although English is quite limited when it comes to opera singers).

Anna Bergendahl (2010): So far only released English material.

Eric Saade (2011): The same as with Anna.

plus

Loreen (2012): English language-act (same as the two previous).

 

[Kryptonite]

Statistics for

Since 1993 (our debut as an independent country):

a) Slovene = 11 times ('93, '95, '96, '97, '98, '02, '05, '07, '08, '10, '12)
b) English = 6 times ('99, '01, '03, '04, '06, '11)
c) Slovene and English (bilingual) = 1 time ('09)

Percentage:

Slovene = 61%
English = 33%
Slovene AND English = 6%

... to be continued with National Final statistics and more.

 

[Kryptonite]

National Final statistics (*heats and semifinals not included)

EMA 1993, EMA 1995, EMA 1996, EMA 1997, EMA 1998, EMA 1999, EMA 2001, EMA 2002 and EMA 2003 all consisted of songs that were sung in Slovene only. There were 2 songs with foreign titles (actually names): Joanna ('95) and Angelina ('02), but that's about it.
= 100% Slovene

First English songs appeared in 2004. 4/6 made it to the final: Cry On My Shoulders, If You, Stay Forever and Kliše (song with only one word: "silence" in the end), where they placed reasonably well. Televoting results weren't released separately in the final, but judging by the SF results, "Cry On My Shoulders" won by a landslide (it received 11700 votes in the SF, while "Stay Forever" received only 6800). The jury totally ignored it though and that's why it finished 4th in the end. "If You" wasn't really succesful - it finished 9th, "Kliše" reached 2nd place and a song in English (Stay Forever) even won.
= 77% in Slovene, 33% in English

All songs on EMA 2005 were in Slovene.
= 100% in Slovene

On EMA 2006, there was a song, which is partly sung in a special "language", which is called Papajščina. It's not a real language, because it isn't spoken in any country, but the point is that you put "pa" after a, "pe" after e and so on ... It's used for fun (on forums, some youngsters write diaries in this "language" and in real life - as a game). I'm talking about a song called "Rapad tepe ipi mapam", which can be translated into "Rad te imam" -> I love you. It was sung by Andraž Hribar.
= 93% in Slovene, 7% partly in imaginary language.

EMA 2007 had 13 Slovene and 1 Italian song. It was a joke entry called "Bella Mia".
= 93% in Slovene, 7% in Italian

EMA 2008 consisted of Slovene songs only.
= 100% in Slovene

EMA 2009 contained 14 songs and 2 of them were in English. They both placed really well - "I Still Carry On" finished 2nd and "Love Symphony" even won the contest. Well, there was actually one more song with English - "Blond Power", but I don't think that it should be counted, because it uses only 2 English words.
= 86% in Slovene, 14% in English

Songs on EMA 2010 were all performed in Slovene.
= 100% in Slovene

EMA 2011 had 10 songs. 8 of them were sung in Slovene only, but 2 of them were sung partly in English as well. They didn't reach the superfinal, but they both got pretty popular in SLovenia - "Time For Revolution" and "Ti Si Tisti".
= 80% in Slovene, 20% partly in English

The percentage of English songs reached its peak in 2012. Half of the songs (3) were performed in Slovene and half of them were performed in English (3). Half-half share was transferred to the superfinal as well, which contained 1 English and 1 SLovene song. The Slovene song won.
= 50% in Slovene, 50% in English

Overall percentage (for all EMAs): 92,17% in Slovene, 7,83% in other languages
Percentage since the introduction of seminals: 86,56% in Slovene, 13,44% in other languages

But this percentage should be taken with a grain of salt. Some songs that were counted under "other languages" were partly performed in Slovene as well.

 

[Polaco]

I am quite proud of the strong resistance Spain is offering for not to sing in English in the ESC. I think we are the only country that hasn't sung (not once) in English. We just said some things in Shakespeare's native language with Rosa, Soraya, Las Ketchup or La década, just a few phrases.

In Spain is not very usual to sing in English in our musical market, we have just some few groups which try, such as Dover, Russian Red, Enrique Iglesias...

From the ESC the only one who tries to sing in English, but because she had formerly been a stewardess, is Soraya. She does speak English with quite a good accent.

 

[anto475]

We sent one song in Irish and the rest have been solely in English. Any song in Irish in the NF, well that is, if it makes it to the NF, is shot down by the audience as useless music and although I haven't seen a song in any of our NFs in a language that wasn't one of the national languages, I'm sure that if one was entered in a different language, it would flounder before it even left Dublin. It reflects the nation's attitude towards Irish and foreign languages really, oddly enough for something most of the country seems to deride as continental nonsense.

 

[CC92]

I am quite proud of the strong resistance Spain is offering for not to sing in English in the ESC. I think we are the only country that hasn't sung (not once) in English.

::cs I agree with the rest of your post though.