Athlone students compete at the National Linguistic Problem Solving Competition

Two students from Our Lady's Bower, Athlone competed at the national finals of the All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad (AILO) in Dublin City University last Wednesday.

Run by ADAPT, the world-leading SFI Research Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology, the contest challenges secondary school students to apply logic and reasoning skills to solve complex puzzles in unfamiliar languages.

The 100 national finalists, from 44 schools in 18 counties, have progressed from the preliminary rounds held in schools across the country in January. Over 3,000 students registered for this year’s competition.

The finalists compete individually and as a team with various sills tested from deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics to interpreting ancient Mayan poetry and decoding numerical spy codes.

The AILO finals encourage teenagers to solve puzzles that require lateral thinking and the ability to think outside the box. Students must analyse the data they are given to work out the ‘rules’ of the new language. These transferable skills are critical help tp prepare them for careers in computing, linguistics and language.

Four winners from the final will go on to represent Ireland at the International Linguistics Olympiad held on the Isle of Man in July. Dr Cara Greene who coordinates AILO said, “We’re delighted to be back hosting students and their teachers at ADAPT in DCU after running the competition both remotely and online for the last two years”.

The results of the National Final of the All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad will be released next week.

Sample puzzles from the Olympiad can be downloaded at https://ailo.adaptcentre.ie/sample-puzzles/