Dialects and Regional Languages
On some occasions, dialects of a language or a very rare language have been used in a song entry:
- 1971, 1996, 2003 & 2012 - Austria sang in various dialects of German
- 1972 – Ireland sang in Irish, one of the two official languages of Ireland
- 1982 – Germany sang in German but after winning performed the reprise in four different languages: German, English, French and Dutch
- 1989 – Switzerland sang in Romansh, the fourth language of Switzerland
- 1990 and 2012 – Finland sang in Swedish, which only a minority of 5% speak in Finland.
- 1991 – Italy sang in Neapolitan, a dialect of Italian
- 1992, 1993, 1996 and 2011 – France sang in the languages of Creole (1992), Corsican (1993 and 2011) and Breton (1996).
- 1999 – Lithuania sang in Samogitian, a dialect of Lithuanian
- 2004 – Estonia sang in Võro, which is considered by some to be a dialect of Estonian, and others, a separate language
- 2003, 2006 and 2008 – In 2003, Belgium's Urban Trad sang "Sanomi" in a completely made-up language, while the Dutch participants in 2006, Treble, sang half of their song "Amambanda" in a fictional language. In 2008, Ishtar performed their song, "O Julissi" in a fictional language as well.
- 2006 - Monaco sang partially in Tahitian.
- 2009 - The Czech Republic sang partially in Romani, the language of the Romani people.
- 2012 - Most of the lyrics of Russia's entry were in the Udmurt language (which, alongside Russian, is the official language in Udmurtia).
Read more about this topic: Rules Of The Eurovision Song Contest
Famous quotes containing the word languages:
“Science and technology multiply around us. To an increasing extent they dictate the languages in which we speak and think. Either we use those languages, or we remain mute.”
—J.G. (James Graham)