Students Win 1 Gold, 2 Bronze Medals at Linguistics Contest
Three high school students brought home one gold and two bronze medals from the 9th International Linguistics Olympiad held in Pittsburgh last week.
Eva-Lotta Käsper from Hugo Treffner Gümnaasium was awarded first place, while third place went to Ralf Ahi from Tallinn Secondary Science School and Mihhail Afanasjev from a Kuressaare school. Sandra Schumann, from Tallinn Secondary Science School, was the fourth member on the Estonian team and came back with a diploma.
In the individual competition, participants had to answer questions related to the Native American Menominee language spoken in the US and solve problems of Faroese orthography. Students also had to show their knowledge of Liberia's Vai language and compound words in Nahuatl which is spoken in some parts of Central Mexico.
In the team count, Estonia placed third after the US and Russia.
According to the instructor of the Estonian team Renate Pajusalu, this year a total of 102 high school students from 19 countries took part in the competition. Estonia has participated in the event since it was first held in 2003.
Ingrid Teesalu