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linguistics olympiad

Winning contestants at IOL 2017 being photographed with their medals and country flags

Dublin’s hosting of International Linguistics Olympiad 2017 comes to a close

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On 4th August 2017, the efforts made by international students in the 15th International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL 2017) were celebrated at the competition’s Closing Ceremony at Dublin City University. Throughout this week-long contest, world-leading students worked both individually and in teams to decipher linguistic codes and put their problem-solving skills to the test. The event was hosted by the ADAPT Centre, and ran from the 31st July to 4th August. During this week 43 teams consisting of 172 students who previously achieved gold medals in their respective national competitions competed for the global prize.

Ireland was represented at this year’s Olympiad by two teams made up of 8 of the country’s brightest problem solvers. These students, aged 15 to 18, travelled to DCU from all corners of the island. Their previous achievements in the All-Ireland Linguistics Olympiad guaranteed these students a place in this prestigious competition. Irish contestants were as follows: Philip Krause from Ashton, Blackrock Co Cork, Eimear Kyle from St Finian’s College Mullingar Co Westmeath, Marco Stango from Newtown School Co Waterford, Tom McAlinden from Aquinas Grammar Belfast, Padraig Sheehy from Gonzaga College Co Dublin, Tristan l’Anson-Sparks from Methodist College Belfast, Cian O’Hara from Holy Family Community School Rathcoole Co Dublin, and Daniel Quigley from Belfast Royal Academy Belfast.

Winners of the individual and team contests were announced at the Closing Ceremony, held in The Helix at DCU. Taiwan’s team TaiTWO were awarded the gold medal for the team competition, with Poland’s Team Ą achieving the silver medal, and Team Slovenia receiving bronze. View the full list of IOL 2017 results

The IOL challenges students to apply logic, computational thinking and problem-solving skills to solve some of the world’s most complex problems in linguistics and language. This year’s contestants were challenged with such tasks as decoding emoji scripts presented to them in Indonesian. The IOL was a key element of ADAPT and SFI’s Problem Solving Initiative, which will culminate in a problem-solving festival open to all members of the public. This festival will be held in Trinity College Dublin on 30th September, and will involve mind-bending puzzles suitable for all ages.

View highlights from IOL 2017 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeThEGttUBU&t=26s and RTE News coverage of the Opening Ceremony here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IogK8nIKRgU&t=1s

Registration for the next season of the All-Ireland Linguistics Olympiad will open in September 2017 at www.adaptcentre.ie/ailo. Successful contestants in next year’s AILO will get the chance to compete in the next IOL, which will be held during the summer months in Prague, Czech Republic in 2018.

Award-winning Mountrath Community School students pictured at the AILO national final 2017

Mountrath Community School Team Announced as Winners of All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad Team Competition

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Award-winning Mountrath Community School students pictured at the AILO national final 2017 Mountrath_Presentation2

Four secondary school students from Mountrath Community School have been announced as winners of the team competition at the All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad (AILO) final in Dublin. The team consisted of Alex Moore, Domhnall O’Farrell, Aisling Page and Christopher Carew.

The Mountrath students beat off competition from 42 other schools around Ireland to take the team trophy.  The AILO competition has been run by the ADAPT Centre for Digital Content Technology since 2009 and challenges students to use their ingenuity, creativity and skill to decipher languages with examples of translations.

The AILO final saw the top 100 students out of a starting line up of over 4,000 opponents compete.  Competitors are challenged to engage in ‘code-breaking’ tests to unlock information in unfamiliar languages.  No prior knowledge of a second language is needed with competitors required to use logical reasoning and out-of-the-box thinking to solve the problems presented.

Speaking about the competition, Professor Vincent Wade, Director of the ADAPT Centre said: “The All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad puzzles are a mix of maths, science and humanities.  The increasing popularity of the competition highlights the Irish public’s interest and appreciation for the imporance and applicability of problem-solving skills across science, the economy and society.  We are looking forward to hosting and running a free, family-friendly problem-solving festival in Dublin Castle on 5th August which is open to all.”

Run by the Science Foundation Ireland funded ADAPT Centre, AILO aims to inspire the next generation of multilingual technology graduates, who possess a combination of language competency and problem-solving expertise.  Participants in AILO 2017 received tuition from experts at the ADAPT Centre to assist them in how to approach the puzzles.