A team of four young linguists from island secondary schools will represent the Isle of Man on the world stage this summer.
Rosalie Kavan and Harriet Godby from Ramsey Grammar School, Seth Aycock from King William’s College and Alex Hind from Queen Elizabeth II High School will join contestants from 40 different countries at the International Linguistics Olympiad in Mysore, India, taking place from July 25 to 29.
The skilled linguists will compete against teams from secondary schools from across the globe, testing their minds in the world’s toughest language and linguistics puzzles.
The Isle of Man contestants were chosen after scoring the highest marks of 63 participants in the fourth annual Isle of Man Linguistics Olympiad, held last week.
Rob Teare, head of the Department of Education and Children’s Manx Language Unit, organised the event for pupils at all six high schools in the island. He said the challenges were set by an international jury and marked by Professor Max Wheeler and Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University of Sussex.
‘To solve the challenges, students had to use code-breaking skills to spot patterns, think logically and maintain concentration over two and a half hours.
‘This year’s scores were higher than ever and, in recording the top scores, Rosalie, Harriet, Seth and Alex all achieved maximum points in two of the problems they were set. Rosalie scored a remarkable 94.02 points out of 100.
‘It’s the third year the island has sent a team to the International Linguistics Olympiad and although our students will be up against teams from such huge countries as the USA, China and Australia, I am sure they will fly the flag for the Isle of Man with pride.’