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PolyU-trained Team Excels in 1st Asia Pacific Linguistics Olympiad

27 May 2019


The Hong Kong team jointly trained by PolyU Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies (CBS) and Department of English (ENGL) achieved outstanding results in the first Asia Pacific Linguistics Olympiad (APLO) – winning one silver medal, three bronze medals and four honourable mentions.

Modelling after the International Linguistics Olympiad, APLO is a regional Olympiad for secondary school students which aims to escalate attention to language and linguistics in the Asia Pacific region. The inaugural APLO was held simultaneously in ten countries/regions around the world on 5 May 2019. A total of 264 participants competed to solve problems on diverse languages and writing systems. All eight official participants1 from Hong Kong received awards.

Prof. Chu-ren Huang from the Organising Committee of the Hong Kong Linguistics Olympiad (HKLO), also Chair Professor of PolyU CBS, is pleased about the results, noting that the team has only been trained for half a year and the APLO2019 is their first participation in international linguistics Olympiad events. In the APLO award ceremony, Prof. Louise Cummings and Dr Dennis Tay from ENGL, and Dr Stephen Politzer-Ahles from CBS all recognised students’ performance in the competition and encouraged students to continue developing interests in languages and linguistics.

Following the first-ever HKLO2 held earlier on 24 March 2019 and the APLO2019, the Hong Kong team will receive further training from PolyU and compete in the 17th International Linguistics Olympiad in Seoul this summer.

1 Top eight students from each country/region are regarded as official participants. The Hong Kong team has 19 registrants.
2 The IOL (International Linguistics Olympiad) competition is one of the 13 official International Science Olympiads. HKLO has already been officially accredited by IOL.



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