Why participate?

Most importantly, because it’s great fun! AILO helps you to learn about the languages of the world and you’ll enjoy solving the challenging puzzles.
Sharpen your problem-solving skills. This will benefit you whatever career path you take, but it will be particularly useful if you are thinking of a career in computing, linguistics, languages, engineering, maths or science or – better still – a combination of these disciplines. Job prospects in these areas are among the strongest of all industries.
Participating in AILO is an excellent extra-curricular experience to add to your CV or university application form. It shows that you have a logical mind and an ability to think outside the box.
Representing your school at the national finals in Dublin City University gives you the opportunity to pit your wits against problem solvers from all over Ireland and can be a great source of pride.
There’s also the little matter of the fantastic prizes on offer! In addition to the opportunity to win the title of AILO Individual Champion in the Junior and Senior categories, the four top performing students in the individual contest at the national finals of the All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad are selected to represent Ireland at the International Linguistics Olympiad.

The competition is honing students’ problem-solving skills and fostering the next generation of multilingual technology specialists for Ireland. A 2016 survey showed that 95% of participants consider AILO to have enhanced their problem-solving ability. Many past participants have gone on to pursue careers in Computer Science, Maths and Linguistics (or a combination thereof) at third level – some of who have returned to tutor new AILO participants.

Click here to read about related undergraduate courses!

Click Here to see our AILO Winners

Testimonials

“What an amazing brain workout!”

Daria Biel, Presentation Secondary School, Limerick

“The linguistics puzzles we were given to solve were very challenging to begin with, but it was very rewarding to take part in something new that used all the skills we acquired in preparation for the tests. It was definitely something worth doing!”

Maggie Shalloe, Ramsgrange Community School, Wexford

“I have found it interesting having to work on the phonetics of words rather than just the spellings and grammar. It has been a revelation in terms of other languages and their complexities.”

Nathan Wafflart, Wellinton College Belfast

“I like that this competition is challenging me in a way that I don’t normally experience in the day to day life of school.”

Sallyanne McCarthy, St Louis High School, Dublin

“I found the puzzles challenging but worthwhile. Unknown languages make sense when you think about them. I especially liked the Egyptian question – it was so cool, I felt transported back in time.”

Bessie Pilinci, Presentation Secondary School, Thurles

“It was incredibly rewarding to feel that I could understand these complex languages. I feel that these activities assist me in how I approach learning languages.”

Clodagh Herron Rice, St Joseph’s Secondary School, Navan

“I think that the Linguistics Olympiad is a very good exercise to develop your logic. If you are interested in languages, you will certainly enjoy it because it is not studying them, it is turning them into a “game” to challenge you.”

Alessia Cipparrome, St. Kilian’s Deutsche Schule, Dublin

“A fantastically fun yet frustrating phonetic frenzy!”

Lia Grogan, Presentation Secondary School Thurles

“I believe studying languages is an exciting and interesting task, studying how they are formed is really challenging. I am considering studying a degree in languages and linguistics in the University of Limerick.”

Conor Costelloe, Coláiste Chiarain, Croom