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Eurovision going down the drain | ||
Tags: European Languages | Music | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Music, Movies, TV & Radio |  | |
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6910 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 17 of 40 10 May 2014 at 12:19am | IP Logged | |||||
True, not every country has a show like we do (though I heard that Iceland had something like 20 semifinals a couple of years ago...). But still, whether selected by SMS votes, by the government or by televoting, one wonders how some acts got their places in the big contest. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| vonPeterhof Tetraglot Senior Member Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4773 days ago 715 posts - 1527 votes Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Japanese, German Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish | Message 18 of 40 10 May 2014 at 11:10am | IP Logged | |||||
Also, no love for Alcohol Is Free? I didn't watch last year's Eurovision so I missed it back then, but I discovered the song now that I'm learning Greek, so now I'm retroactively angry that it didn't win. In fact I bought Koza Mostra's debut album just this morning and didn't find a single song that I didn't enjoy, even among the ones in English ;) Edited by vonPeterhof on 10 May 2014 at 11:11am 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| zografialep Hexaglot Groupie GreeceRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4140 days ago 41 posts - 71 votes Speaks: Ancient Greek, Greek*, EnglishC2, GermanB2, Spanish, Latin Studies: Russian | Message 19 of 40 10 May 2014 at 2:58pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Udmurt?! Wow...this was true gold on eurovision there as it seems ! :P Can Russian
speaker understand Udmurt or is it completely different? Hahaha of course I love Koza Mostra! I just thought I'd seem too biased if I posted 3 songs in greek :P I'm glad you enjoy it, it's a lot of fun. The lead singer, Agathonas, is a famous rembetis here- rembetika is a traditional greek type of music. It's not normally what I listen too, but they are greatly loved here. :) If you want me too post some good greek music for help tell me! And thanks for the corrections ;) - Sorry for not using quotes for better, I just have no idea how to do it. Too complicated for me, I have posted neary 3 messages accidentaly :) Edited by zografialep on 10 May 2014 at 3:03pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4445 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 20 of 40 10 May 2014 at 3:21pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Back in the 1970s you have Abba the group from Sweden who won with the song "Waterloo" sung in English
although of the 4 members (Benny, Björn, Agneta & Frida) can sing in other languages including Swedish, French, Spanish & German. This was their way of marketing their songs to England, Australia & the US. And then you have the American group "Brotherhood of Men" who sung the winning song "Save All Your Kisses For Me" in English. The group isn't European to begin with but nonetheless had a successful singing career since. A local version of the TV series like "American Idol" & "America's Got Talent" does a much better job featuring local singers in their native languages. A song contest like Eurovision tend to be dominated by songs sung in English. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 21 of 40 10 May 2014 at 6:27pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Udmurt is completely different, it's a Finno-Ugric language. It's not mutually intelligible with for example Finnish or Hungarian either btw.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5010 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 22 of 40 10 May 2014 at 7:56pm | IP Logged | |||||
No. 1.High % of the songs sung in those contests is in English. Sure, there are many Czech songs being sung but the poll of Czech songs that are suitable for the contest (choice of a good and popular song is quite important in the competition once the initial flood of bad singers gets filtered). And I suppose it is similar in most countries, except for a few big ones. 2.And lets not forget that, unlike Eurovision, Idols/Talents/whatever are not about presenting musicians and their songs. 99% of people there want to become a musician (or rather want to become famous) and are only interpreting old songs. It is rather a rarity to see an already "made" musician. And they don't bring their own works, they use the famous ones. The thing is, we are using the globalisation wrong. Instead of the public becoming diversified in tastes and trying various styles, genres and languages, the media (including tvs which are the most prevalent organisers of such competitions) stick to things that have been proven popular before. A participant of the contest who refuses to accept the tried and proven way doesn't usually fare well. There have been participants in the Czech competitions (like the Idol) who sang in other languages, including Finnish, French and others. They weren't bad. But the people who vote don't appreciate that. They want the songs they know, a good voice and good appearance. Not something new. And people who seek something new don't watch the competitions. What I find most funny about the matter is the usual argument: lyrics in other languages aren't understood so widely. Well, most middle aged people in most european countries don't understand the English lyrics as well so what's the difference. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 23 of 40 10 May 2014 at 8:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Well, nearly everyone has tried to learn some English, so if people are interested they can look up the words.
It's ignored that nowadays we have the opportunity to get to know the songs in advance, like on youtube and during the semifinals. Many songs get promoted heavily as soon as it's allowed to perform them. If everyone is required to sing in the national language, they can still make English versions and promote them too. That would be a lot of parallel texts! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5010 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 24 of 40 10 May 2014 at 8:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
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:-D The thing is that people are not interested. They just enjoy the music and don't care about the foreign lyrics, as long as they are in English. Which is ok. But the thing I criticize is the different approach. An average middle aged czech would understand just as little Finnish as English. But Finnish songs won't make it to the radio, partially "due to the language barrier".
I think Youtube and similar services are these days the best way to get to know various kinds of music. For start, you can use tips from someone or somewhere (like those on the wikia list of musicians and bands sorted by language) and later you just click through the Youtube universe. Perfect :-) I wish Eurovision had more songs in other languages just for this reason. It would be an awesome source of "starts" for my journeys through Youtube. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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