Hamptonians enjoyed success at the recent UK Linguistics Olympiad, Sixth Former Alex Fagan tell us more about the competition:
A group of 23 pupils from Third Year to Upper Sixth took part in the annual UK Linguistics Olympiad. This national competition tests participants’ ability to decode information about various unusual languages and solve linguistic data problems.
Eight Hamptonians received awards for their achievements. Edward Willoughby (L6) and Pallav Bagchi (Fourth Year) were presented with Gold certificates, placing them in the top 5% of the country. Matthew Cresswell, Alex Fagan and Tom Morrison gained Silver awards, and William Boyce, Nayaaz Hashim, Christian Ilube, Alex Mehta, Johnny Powell and Tom Williams, were awarded Bronze certificates.
Hampton has entered pupils in to the UKLO for several years now, and both the number of participants and recipients of awards has been growing each year.
The Olympiad tests competitors’ code-breaking skills when applied to different languages from the ancient Mediterranean language ‘Phoenician’ to the Guatemalan language ‘Kaqchikel’.
Classics Teacher, Mr Sam Hitchings, who organises the UK Linguistics Olympiad at Hampton, was delighted with the success of the pupils:
It is not surprising that there is plenty of appetite for Linguistics at Hampton, and every year I am impressed by the boys’ enthusiasm and ingenuity.
For anyone who is interested, here is a sample question taken from the ‘Pali’ language of ancient India:
Questions
Answers
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