Hong Kong Linguistics Olympiad
Quick Links
Past HKLO problems || What is HKLO? || [語奧探知] at Wen Hui Bao || HKLO Organising Committee
2023-2024
The Regulations for HKLO (last updated: September 2023) can be found HERE.
Upcoming events:
- April 7th, 2024 - 6th Asia-Pacific Linguistics Olympiad
- July 2024 - 21st International Linguistics Olympiad (Brasília, Brazil)
6th Hong Kong Linguistics Olympiad:
- Participation is free of charge;
- The test consists of 4 problems, to be solved within 4 hours;
- You may register before March 3rd (11.59 pm) at the REGISTRATION Link;
- More details regarding the competition may be found in the HKLO Regulations;
- This represents the first selection stage for the HKSAR team in the International Linguistics Olympiad;
- The first 10% of the students (or the first 20 students, whichever is higher) will qualify to the second selection round, given that their score in the competition is higher than the average score of the contestants.
2022-2023
One team of 4 students has represented Hong Kong in the 20th International Linguistics Olympiad which took place between the 21st and 29th of July 2023 in Bansko, Bulgaria. The Hong Kong team has achieved the absolute Gold medal (Tam Lok Hang, highest score achieved, 96.5 p), two Silver medals (Zhang Yixuan and Henry Wong), three Best Solution awards (Tam Lok Hang - problems 2, 3, and 5), as well as an Honourable Mention in the Team Contest!
Hong Kong representatives to IOL 2023
From left to right: Vlad A. Neacșu (Team Leader), Henry Wong (Diocesan Boys' School), Ian Tam (La Salle College), Ryan Lo (Diocesan Boys’ School), Zhang Yixuan (Hong Kong International School).
2021-2022
One team of 4 students has represented Hong Kong in the 19th International Linguistics Olympiad which took place between the 24th and 30th of July 2022 in Castletown, Isle of Man. The Hong Kong team has achieved one Silver medal (Tam Lok Hang), one Bronze medal (Henry Wong), two Best Solution awards (Tam Lok Hang - problem 4 and Henry Wong - problem 5), as well as an Honourable Mention in the Team Contest!
Hong Kong representatives to IOL 2022
From left to right: Samantha Yung (Pui Ching Middle School), Henry Wong (Diocesan Boys' School), Vlad A. Neacșu (Team Leader), Ian Tam (La Salle College), Ryan Lo (Diocesan Boys’ School).
2020-2021
One team of 4 students has represented Hong Kong in the 18th International Linguistics Olympiad which took place online between the 19th and 24th of July 2021. All four students have been awarded a medal! (Xie Lingrui – Gold medal, Ian Tam – Silver medal, Ip Tsz Oi – Silver medal, Ng Truman Toby – Bronze medal). Moreover, Hong Kong team earned the Gold Trophy for the highest average team score at the individual contest.
Hong Kong representatives to IOL 2021
From left to right: Xie Lingrui (La Salle College), Ip Tsz Oi (Diocesan Girls' School), Ian Tam (La Salle College), Ng Truman Toby (St. Paul's College).
2019-2020
The International Linguistics Olympiad was cancelled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
2018-2019
Hong Kong took part for the first time in the International Linguistics Olympiad with two teams.
Past problems and results
- HKLO2024: Problems || Solutions || Results
- HKLO2023: Problems || Solutions || Results
- HKLO2022: Problems || Solutions || Results
- HKLO2021: Problems || Solutions || Results
- HKLO2020: Problems || Solutions || Results
- HKLO2019: Problems || Solutions || Results
What is the HKLO?
Hong Kong Linguistics Olympiad is the accredited competition to allow pre-university students to participate in the international linguistics competitions (International Linguistics Olympiad and Asia Pacific Linguistics Olympiad). The linguistics Olympiad consists of solving linguistic puzzles which require only logical ability, patient work and the willingness to accept challenges. No prior knowledge of linguistics or second languages is required. Students can learn more about the knowledge of world languages and improve their abilities of observation, logic and awareness of diversity while solving problems involving language data. Everyone is welcome to give it a try and explore the wondrous realm of language and experience its gems. The working language for HKLO is English. Participants who are eligible for linguistic Olympiads in other nations/regions (in addition to Hong Kong) cannot compete in multiple contests each year.
Targeted participants are from Form 1 to Form 6 students in Hong Kong secondary schools. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For more information about Hong Kong results in the international competitions, please refer to the following official websites:
International Linguistics Olympiad: http://www.ioling.org/
Asia Pacific Linguistics Olympiad: https://www.aplo.asia/
Hong Kong Linguistics Olympiad: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/cbs/rp2u2/en/research/education-training/hklo/
HKLO Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Hong-Kong-Linguistics-Olympiad-HKLO-763434627350476/
[語奧探知] at Wen Hui Bao
Wen Hui Bao version:
- 2019-09-12 Loan Words
- 2019-09-27 Mongolian Letters
- 2019-10-11 Word Order
- 2019-10-25 Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
- 2019-11-08 Morphology and Word Formation
- 2019-11-28 What makes both ‘I’ and ‘me’ representing the same word in Chinese?
- 2019-12-13 Some Semantics (Part 1)
- 2019-12-16 Some Semantics (Part 2)
- 2020-01-03 Pame and Its Octonary Number System (Part 1)
- 2020-01-03 Pame and Its Octonary Number System (Part 2)
- 2020-01-17 Tibetic languages
- 2020-06-12 The Tibetan script
Full/Bilingual version
Organising Committee
Chair
- Prof. Huang, Chu-Ren (Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, HK PolyU)
Standing Members
- Prof. Ahrens, Kathleen (Department of English and Communication, HK PolyU)
- Prof. Cummings, Louise (Department of English and Communication, HK PolyU)
- Dr. Chen, Si (Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, HK PolyU)
- Dr. Lim, Juyoung (Bank of America Merrill Lynch)
- Ms. Luo, Xin (Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, HK PolyU; Leader of HK team in IOL 2019)
- Mr. Neacșu, Vlad (City University of Hong Kong; Leader of HK team in IOL 2021, 2022, and 2023)
- Mr. Pan, Tung-Le (National Taiwan University; IOL Medalist; Member of the IOL Problem Committee)
- Prof. Siok, Wai-Ting (Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, HK PolyU)
- Mr. Tam, Lok Hang (University of Hong Kong; IOL Medalist)
- Dr. Yao, Yao (Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, HK PolyU)
- Ms. Yen, Jennifer (Parent representative)
Sponsoring Units
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University • Faculty of Humanities
- Department of Chinese Bilingual Studies
> The Hong Kong Polytechnic University-Peking University Research Centre on Chinese Linguistics (RP2U2)
- Department of English and Communication
> Research Centre for Professional Communication in English (RCPCE) - • Communications and Public Affairs Office
• Department of Computing - Hong Kong Academy of the Humanities (HKAH)