This year, the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest featured a record breaking twenty languages. Eurovision Ireland will be looking at all the languages that have been performed at the Contest, since 1956, in our latest #AtoZ. Today, we continue the series with Broccolino, Bulgarian and Catalan.

Broccolino

“Broccolino” is a humorous term, not a recognised dialect, used to refer to the Italian-American language variety spoken by some in Brooklyn, New York. It’s a mix of Italian and English, often with mispronounced Italian words, and sometimes used to refer to Brooklyn itself. The term “Broccolino” is thought to have originated from the Italian word for broccoli, “broccoli,” and the Italian-American mispronunciation of “Brooklyn”.

Broccolino appeared within lines of “Espresso Macchiato”, the Estonian entry for the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest. Tommy Cash performed “Espresso Macchiato”, finishing in 3rd place with 356 points.

Bulgarian

Bulgarian is an Eastern South Slavic language spoken in Southeast Europe, primarily in Bulgaria. It is the language of the Bulgarians. Along with the closely related Macedonian language, it is a member of the Balkan sprachbund and South Slavic dialect continuum of the Indo-European language family. The two languages have several characteristics that set them apart from all other Slavic languages, including the elimination of case declension, the development of a suffixed definite article, and the lack of a verb infinitive.

Bulgarian appeared in full, within “Water”, the Bulgarian entry for the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankoulov performed “Water”, finishing in 5th place with 157 points.

Catalan

Catalan is a Western Romance language and is the official language of Andorra and the official language of three autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community, where it is called Valencian. It has semi-official status in the Italian comune of Alghero and it is spoken in the Pyrénées-Orientales department of France and in two further areas in eastern Spain: the eastern strip of Aragon and the Carche area in the Region of Murcia. The Catalan-speaking territories are often called the Catalan Countries or “Països Catalans”.

Catalan appeared in full, within “Jugarem a estimar-nos”, the Andorran entry for the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest. Marta Roure performed “Jugarem a estimar-nos”, finishing in 18th place in the semi final, with 12 points.

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The Eurovision Community, which Eurovision Ireland are a part of, celebrates diversity through music. Please keep your comments respectful. We will not tolerate racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, body-shaming or any other derogatory or hostile language.

Author: Richard Taylor

Source: Eurovision Ireland, Wikipedia & YouTube/EBU