Languages ​​at the Eurovision Song Contest

This is a list of the languages ​​used in the Eurovision Song Contest since the first edition in 1956 in the finals and, since 2004, in the semifinals.

Rule changes

• Between 1956 and 1965 there were no rules for the languages ​​in which a song could be sung.

• Between 1966 and 1972 the songs had to be sung in one of the official languages ​​of a country.

• Between 1973 and 1976 the song could again be sung in any language.

• From 1977 the participants had to sing the songs again in the national language. The language rule applied until the ESC 1998 . Since Germany and Belgium had already completed their contributions in 1977 before the regulation came into force, the two songs could be performed in English. Many contributions that were sung in the official language had an English title.

• From 1999 the languages ​​could be freely chosen again. Since then there have been some songs that were sung in the local language as well as in another language.

useful information

• Azerbaijan is the only country in the ESC (as of 2019) that has not yet had a contribution that was sung completely or partially in the national language.

• A common language combination is singing a song in an official language , as well as English.

• The Belgian contributions “ Sanomi ” in 2003 and “ O Julissi ” in 2008 , as well as the Dutch contribution “ Amambanda ” from 2006 were sung in a constructed language .

• The song A-Ba-Ni-Bi was sung in 1978 in a Hebrew form of the B language .

• The entry with the most languages ​​was " It's Just a Game " by the Bendik Singers for Norway in 1973 . It was presented in English and French , with texts in Spanish, Italian , Dutch , German , Irish , Serbo-Croatian , Hebrew , Finnish , Swedish and Norwegian .

• Bulgaria's contribution in 2012, “ Love Unlimited ” has Bulgarian text, with sentences in Turkish , Greek , Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, French, Romani , Italian, Azerbaijani , Arabic and English.

Languages ​​and their first appearance

number	language	First appearance	country	First interpreter	First song
1	Dutch	1956	Netherlands	Jetty Paerl	De vogels van Holland
2	German	1956	Switzerland	Lys Assia	The old carousel
3	French	1956	Belgium	Fud Leclerc	Messieurs les noyés de la Seine
4th	Italian	1956	Italy	Franca Raimondi	Aprite le finestre
5	English	1957	United Kingdom	Patricia Bredin	Alles
6th	Danish	1957	Denmark	Birthe Wilke & Gustav Winckler	Ski bed should be in place
7th	Swedish	1958	Sweden	Alice Babs	Lilla stjärna
8th	Luxembourgish	1960	Luxembourg	Camillo rims	As long as you have it
9	Norwegian	1960	Norway	Nora Brockstedt	Voi Voi
10	Spanish	1961	Spain	Conchita Bautista	Estando contig
11	Finnish	1961	Finland	Laila Kinnunen	Valoa ikkunassa
12	Serbian	1961	Yugoslavia	Ljiljana Petrović	Neke davne zvezde (Неке давне звезде)
13	Croatian	1963	Yugoslavia	Vice Vukov	Brodovi
14th	Portuguese	1964	Portugal	António Calvário	Oração
15th	Bosnian	1964	Yugoslavia	Sabahudin Kurt	Život je sklopio jug
16	Slovenian	1966	Yugoslavia	Berta Ambrož	Pretzel besed
17th	Viennese	1971	Austria	Marianne Mendt	music
18th	Maltese	1971	Malta	Joe Grech	Marija l-Maltija
19th	Irish	1972	Ireland	Sandie Jones	Ceol to Ghrá
20th	Hebrew	1973	Israel	Ilanite	Ey Sham (אי שם)
21st	Greek	1974	Greece	Marinella	Krasi, Thalassa Kai T 'Agori Mou (Κρασί, θάλασσα και τ' αγόρι μου)
22nd	Turkish	1975	Turkey	Semiha Yankı	Seninle Bir Dakika
23	Arabic	1980	Morocco	Samira Bensaid	Bitakat Hob (بطاقة حب)
24	Icelandic	1986	Iceland	ICY	Gleðibankinn
25th	Romansh	1989	Switzerland	Furbaz	Viver senza tei
26th	Neapolitan	1991	Italy	Peppino di Capri	Comme è ddoce 'o mare
27	Haitian	1992	France	Potash	Monté la riviè
28	Corsican	1993	France	Patrick Fiori	Mama Corsica
29	Estonian	1994	Estonia	Silvi Vrait	Nagu merelaine
30th	Romanian	1994	Romania	Dan Bittman	Dincolo de nori
31	Slovak	1994	Slovakia	Tublatanka	Nekonečná pieseň
32	Lithuanian	1994	Lithuania	Ovidijus Vyšniauskas	Lopšinė mylimai
33	Hungarian	1994	Hungary	Friderika Bayer	Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet?
34	Russian	1994	Russia	Youddiph	Vyechniy stranik (Вечный стрaнник)
35	Polish	1994	Poland	Edyta Górniak	To never yes
36	Vorarlbergian	1996	Austria	George Nussbaumer	Because it's good
37	Breton	1996	France	Dan Ar Braz	Diwanit Bugale
38	Macedonian	1998	North Macedonia	Vlado Janevski	Ne zori, zoro (Не зори, зоро)
39	Schemeitic	1999	Lithuania	Aistė	Strazdas
40	Constructed language	2003	Belgium	Urban Trad	Sanomi
41	Latvian	2004	Latvia	Fomins & Kleins	Dziesma par laimi
42	Catalan	2004	Andorra	Marta Roure	Jugarem a estimar-nos
43	Ukrainian	2004	Ukraine	Ruslana	Wild Dances
44	Võro	2004	Estonia	Neiokõsõ	Tii
45	Montenegrin	2005	Serbia and Montenegro	No name	Zauvijek moja
46	Albanian	2006	Albania	Luiz Ejlli	Zjarr e ftohtë
47	Tahitian	2006	Monaco	Severine Ferrer	La Coco Dance
48	Bulgarian	2007	Bulgaria	Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankoulov	Water
49	Czech	2007	Czech Republic	Kabát	Malá dáma
50	Armenian	2007	Armenia	Hayko	Anytime you need
51	Romani	2009	Czech Republic	Gipsy.cz	Aven Romale
52	Swahili	2011	Norway	Stella Mwangi	Haba Haba
53	Udmurt table	2012	Russia	Buranovskiye Babushki	Party for Everybody
54	Mühlviertel-like	2012	Austria	Trackshittaz	Woki with your bottom
55	Azerbaijani	2012	Bulgaria	Sofi Marinova	Love Unlimited
56	Georgian	2012	Georgia	Anri Jokhadze	I'm a joker
57	Crimean Tatar	2016	Ukraine	Jamala	1944
58	Belarusian	2017	Belarus	NAVI	Historyja majho schyzzja

Winner by language

Victories	language	Years	countries
30th	English	1967 , 1969 , 1970 , 1974 , 1975 , 1976 , 1980 , 1981 , 1987 , 1992 , 1993 , 1994 , 1996 , 1997 , 1999 , 2000 , 2001 , 2002 , 2003 , 2004 , 2005 , 2006 , 2008 , 2009 , 2010 , 2011 , 2012 , 2013 , 2014 , 2015, 2018, 2019	United Kingdom , Ireland , Sweden , Netherlands , Denmark , Estonia , Latvia , Turkey , Ukraine , Greece , Finland , Russia , Norway , Germany , Azerbaijan , Austria
14th	French	1956 , 1958 , 1960 , 1961 , 1962 , 1965 , 1969 , 1971 , 1972 , 1973 , 1977 , 1983 , 1986 , 1988	Switzerland , France , Luxembourg , Monaco , Belgium
3	Dutch	1957 , 1959 , 1969	Netherlands
	Hebrew	1978 , 1979 , 1998	Israel
2	German	1966 , 1982	Germany , Austria
	Norwegian	1985 , 1995	Norway
	Swedish	1984 , 1991	Sweden
	Italian	1964 , 1990	Italy
	Spanish	1968 , 1969	Spain
1	Danish	1963	Denmark
	Serbo-Croatian	1989	Yugoslavia
	Serbian	2007	Serbia
	Crimean Tatar	2016	Ukraine
	Portuguese	2017	Portugal

Name of the contest in the official languages

language	Countries in which the language is an official language	Name in the language
Albanian	Albania	Festivali Evropian i Këngës
Arabic	Israel , Morocco	مسابقة يوروفيجن للأغاني
Armenian	Armenia	Եվրատեսիլ երգի մրցույթ
Azerbaijani	Azerbaijan	Avroviziya Mahnı Muesabiqəsi
Bosnian	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Pjesma Evrovizije
Bulgarian	Bulgaria	Песенен конкурс Евровизия
Danish	Denmark	Europæisk Melodi Grand Prix
German	Belgium , Germany , Luxembourg , Austria , Switzerland	Eurovision Song Contest
English	Australia , Ireland , Malta , United Kingdom	Eurovision Song Contest
Estonian	Estonia	Eurovisiooni lauluvõistlus
Finnish	Finland	Eurovision laulukilpailu
French	Belgium , France , Luxembourg , Monaco , Switzerland	Concours Eurovision de la Chanson
Georgian	Georgia	ევროვიზიის სიმღერის კონკურსი
Greek	Greece , Cyprus	Διαγωνισμός Τραγουδιού Eurovision
Hebrew	Israel	תחרות הזמר של האירוויזיון
Irish	Ireland	Comórtas Amhránaíochta na hEoraifíse
Icelandic	Iceland	Söngvakeppni evrópskra sjónvarpsstöðva
Italian	Italy , San Marino , Switzerland	Concorso Eurovisione della Canzone
Catalan	Andorra	Festival de la Cançó d'Eurovisió
Croatian	Bosnia and Herzegovina , Croatia	Pjesma Eurovizije
Latvian	Latvia	Eirovīzijas dziesmu konkurss
Lithuanian	Lithuania	Eurovizijos dainų bankruptcy
Luxembourgish	Luxembourg	Eurovision Song Contest
Macedonian	North Macedonia	Евровизија
Maltese	Malta	Festival tal-Eurovision
Montenegrin	Montenegro	Evrovizija
Dutch	Belgium , Netherlands	Eurovision Song Festival
Norwegian (Bokmål)	Norway	Eurovisjonens music competition
Polish	Poland	Bankruptcy Piosenki Eurowizji
Portuguese	Portugal	Festival Eurovisão da Canção
Romansh	Switzerland	Eurovision Song Contest
Romanian (Moldavian)	Moldova , Romania	Concursul Muzical Eurovision
Russian	Belarus , Russia	Конкурс песни Евровидение
Swedish	Finland , Sweden	Eurovision Song Contest
Serbian	Bosnia and Herzegovina , Montenegro , Serbia	Песма Евровизије
Slovak	Slovakia	Veľká cena Eurovízie, often "Eurovízia"
Slovenian	Slovenia	Pesem Evrovizije, evrovizija
Spanish	Spain	Festival de la Canción de Eurovisión
Czech	Czech Republic	Velká cena Eurovize
Turkish	Cyprus , Turkey	Eurovision Şarkı Yarışması
Ukrainian	Ukraine	Пісенний конкурс Євробачення
Hungarian	Hungary	Eurovíziós Dalfesztivál
Belarusian	Belarus	Конкурс песні Еўрабачанне

Individual evidence

1. ^ History by Year, 1977 . www.eurovision.tv. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
2. ↑ Lyrics "Love Unlimited" . www.eurovision.tv. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
3. ↑ The Diggiloo Thrush
4. ↑ ^{a b} The song was partly sung in Ukrainian .

• John Kennedy O'Connor: The Eurovision Song Contest 50 Years The Official History . Carlton Books Limited, London 2005, ISBN 1-84442-586-X .
• Historical milestones . eurovision.tv. 2005. Archived from the original on May 26, 2006. Retrieved May 26, 2006.
• Urban Trad . UrbanTrad.com. September 28, 2004. Retrieved July 18, 2006.
• Treble will represent the Netherlands . eurovision.tv. Archived from the original on May 25, 2006. Retrieved May 25, 2006.
• Marcus Klier: Belgium: Ishtar to Eurovision . ESCToday . March 9, 2008. Retrieved October 11, 2008.