Finland is the only country where the Eurovision songs are subtitled with their translations. Sounds odd? Well, it's YLE's nostalgia from the past - they used to subtitle even the rock concerts as late as 1990's.... In a way it's kinda sweet and if you are not an Eurovision freak who reads the lyrics online or somewhere how on earth regular Finns would know what this and that artists is singing about? (Truth to be said, sometimes it would be better not to know...) Some absolutely hilarious translations have passed in the screen over the years proving nonsense oh baby baby shanana lyrics are written in every language!
Kalle Niemi has been in charge of that part in YLE for years now and tells: "We used to be several translators for Eurovision but for a few years now I have done it alone. I have done this since early 1990's with a couple of exceptions along the way. I get the original lyrics and the English translation about a month ago. In 1990's I also got the French translation which was very good, as sometimes the English one isn't the translation but the English version of the song and they are completely different. With the French one I was able to double check."
Kalle makes the translations about a month before and these go also to the Finnish (back up) jury. "Later I see the dress rehearsals to see if how it all goes and if the translation still fits. Sometimes countries make changes still even in the rehearsals and once they changed back to the original version when I was prepaired for the new one and it was a bit chaotic. Also, as Eurovision is broadcasted live the subtitles cannot be added to the film but I must be there doing that live. Once something went wrong and I didn't find the text so that song went on air without subtitles. I also have to take account the space on screen and rhymes."
The best about this job is finding the rhymes, he says. The worst is the songs keep playing in his head weeks after the contest. "I'm not sure how much I would follow Eurovision if it wasn't part of my job. My favourites are however Le dernier qui a parle and Molitva. Generally I like the songs from Eastern Europe, Serbia has been good usually. I also like Israel as you hear Hebrew so rarely. This year I like Satellite. I have no clue who's gonna win this year but I hope it's Germany!"
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