A Win for National Language: Slovenia adopts new Language Rule

It had been 10 years between the two latest Eurovision winners completely in national language, with Serbia winning in 2007 with the song Molitva, and this year, with Portugal triumphing with the song Amar Pelos Dois. With a new buzz around singing in national language (especially with some of the top placing songs this year choosing to use national language), Slovenia has already put thought into their selection for 2018, and to do that, they will be introducing a new language rule.

Slovenian broadcaster RTVSLO has announced that they will be adopting a new approach for EMA 2018 (the national final format they have used in previous years) in which the singers will be required to perform in Slovene, or a recognised minority language for the national selection. What is not yet clear is whether the approach will ensure that a national language song will continue on and be presented at Eurovision in that same language, or whether they will allow the performer to choose between that language, and potentially, English. It’s also not clear whether it will follow a similar format to Iceland’s selection, where the artists record their songs in both Icelandic and English, and the Icelandic versions are sung in the semi-finals, and in the final, the artists can choose which language.

So which languages could we be seeing in next year’s national selection for Slovenia? Songs can be performed in languages including Slovene, Croatian, German, Hungarian, Italian, Romani and Serbian, of which any would be music to our ears!

We at Eurovision Union love national language in Eurovision, so we welcome this new language rule, and we hope that Salvador Sobral’s win on behalf of Portugal inspires nations to go back to their roots and perform in one of the many diverse languages that make up Europe’s rich culture.

Do you think Slovenia is taking a step in the right direction?

Stay tuned for more news, but for now, here is Slovenia’s 2017 entry: