Celebrating Language Diversity – Live from Liverpool

What a show we were treated to last night as the first semi-final of the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest took place! A huge congratulations to the qualifying acts and commiserations to those who didn’t make it through this year to the Grand final on Saturday. Whilst the artists took centre-stage for most of the show, it was beautiful to see this year’s theme ‘United By Music’ running throughout the evening.  

As you are no doubt aware, the Eurovision Song Contest has been running since 1956 and is watched by millions of viewers around the world, all eagerly tuning it to watch a wide variety of songs performed by participating countries. Over the past 67 years, the contest has launched the careers of Celine Dion, ABBA, Julio Iglesias, Sam Ryder and Måneskin. One of the unique features of the Eurovision Song Contest is its celebration of language diversity and in 2023 alone there are over 15 different languages being sung during the contest. 

The Eurovision Song Contest has always been a platform for artists to showcase their cultural heritage and linguistic diversity. Traditionally countries are encouraged to perform in their own language or in a language that reflects their cultural identity. This approach has led to a rich tapestry of musical styles and languages, making the Eurovision Song Contest a celebration of cultural diversity. 

Self-expression through language 

One of the most significant benefits of the language diversity at the Eurovision Song Contest is that it allows artists to express themselves in their own language, often resulting in a more authentic and emotional performance. In 2017, Portugal won the contest on their 49^th try with Salvador Sobral’s ‘Amar Pelois Dois’, a beautiful jazz waltz about the heartbreak of a relationship ending. Sang entirely in Portuguese it set the record at the time for highest number of points and was later included in the European Union’s Songbook as the all-time top Portuguese love song. For the writers and performers they never considered singing in any language other than their own, even if it had been a decade since a song sung entirely in a language other than English won. The year before Portugal’s historic win, Ukraine claimed their second win with ‘1944’ by Jamala about the 1944 deportation of Crimean Tartars by Joseph Stalin. Whilst sang mostly in English, the song’s chorus featured the Crimean Tartar language and the mugham vocal style. Today, the language remains on the brink of extinction and its use in the Eurovision Song Contest helped to raise its profile as campaigns continue to try and save the language.  

Endangered languages 

Another benefit of language diversity at the Eurovision Song Contest is that it promotes linguistic diversity and encourages people to learn new languages. The contest has been instrumental in promoting the use of lesser-known languages, such as Estonian, Finnish, Saami and Hungarian. This has helped to preserve these languages and raise awareness of their cultural significance. In 2020. Israel selected Eden Alene to represent them at the (later cancelled due to Covid-19) contest in Rotterdam. Eden has Ethiopian-Jewish ancestry and her song ‘Feker Libi’ would have been the first time Aramaic had been performed at the contest alongside Hebrew, Arabic and English in a quadrilingual song. Arabic itself has made a few appearances throughout the contest’s history having first been performed in 1980 by Morocco in the first and only appearance at the contest. Closer to the UK, Welsh has been sung twice in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2018 and 2019 and in the 2019 adult version of the contest, Sami was heard on the Eurovision stage for only the second time since 1980 with Keiino’s ‘Spirit In The Sky’ finishing sixth. Sami is a still endangered indigenous language of Norway. 

According to the United Nations, by 2100 between 50% and 90% of the languages we speak today will be extinct or seriously endangered. Most of these languages are Indigenous languages. Humanity may well have only 300-600 oral languages left that are unthreatened by the end of this century. To raise awareness of the threat posed to language, the United Nations is marking 2022-2032 the International Decade of Indigenous Languages which aims to raise awareness of and protect indigenous language around the world, including many that have been sung at the Eurovision Song Contest. Of the 7,000 indigenous languages spoken today, four in ten are in danger of disappearing completely, a ‘symptom of the struggle to save indigenous identity’. The president of the UN General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi, explained, “With each Indigenous language that goes extinct, so too goes the thought: the culture, tradition, and knowledge it bears. That matters because we are in dire need of a radical transformation in the way we relate to our environment”. 

Despite the power of language diversity, the Eurovision Song Contest has inadvertently also promoted the use of English as a global language. Many countries choose to perform their songs in English, as it is widely understood and can help to increase their chances of success. This has led to criticism from some quarters, who argue that the contest should celebrate linguistic diversity rather than promoting the use of a single language. However, the Eurovision Song Contest has remained committed to promoting linguistic diversity and celebrating the cultural heritage of its participants. In recent years, the contest has introduced a rule that allows artists to perform in any language they choose, which has resulted in a greater variety of languages being used. In recent years winning and high-performing songs have been sung in Ukrainian, Italian, Arabic, Hebrew, Portuguese, Spanish, Latin, Serbian, Dutch and Icelandic as well as English. Language diversity at the Eurovision Song Contest continues to be one of its most significant features, and it has played a crucial role in promoting cultural diversity and linguistic awareness. 

Language Diversity in the Workplace 

When it comes to the workplace, language diversity is crucial to creativity and innovation. Our language shapes our identities and is a vital aspect of our lives. How we use our words to describe ourselves, our ideas and facts are shaped by the primary language we learn in childhood and this shapes how we think. For example, English speakers see the future as “ahead” and the past “behind”, while in Mandarin time takes a vertical dimension with past as “up” and future as “down”. In a study of English and Mandarin speakers, Boroditsky (2001) found that Mandarin speakers were faster to confirm that March comes earlier that April after seeing a vertical array of objects than if they saw a horizontal one, while the reverse was true for English speakers. Learning a second language either as a child or an adult has a huge impact on our worldview and how we perceive the world. Becoming multi-lingual or even just taking some small, first steps toward learning a new language can impact on our ability to multi-task, learn new concepts more quickly and become more flexible in our thinking.  

The business case for language diversity is easy- if you can offer services in multiple languages than you can attract more customers. But what could be forgotten about is the moral case for language diversity. Many of us are blessed to work in diverse, multicultural workplaces and celebrating the language diversity of your teams can help in cross-cultural exchange and celebration. Learning more about your colleagues through their language will help us all to better understand and celebrate all the other important aspects of their identity. In turn, we will all feel a bit more seen, valued and listened to. So how about a Eurovision viewing party for your next team meeting? 

Related resources: 

• Intercultural Communication in Customer Service 
• Global D&I – Understanding Difference 
• A Guide to Creating Inclusive Workspaces