On July 19th, the International Linguistics Olympiad will begin at Ventspils University of Applied Sciences (VUAS). It is one of 17 International Science Olympiads, and this year around 300 students from 32 nations have confirmed their participation.

The travel restrictions prevent the Olympiad from being held in person; participants will complete the tasks remotely. Two Latvian teams and the jury will be present at Ventspils as exceptions. The remote format is challenging for the organisers. Still, VUAS has prepared technical facilities for the young people to complete the tasks and a jam-packed social program that interesting lectures from VUAS faculty members will supplement. 

Two teams of four students each will represent Latvia. Latvia's 1st team will consist of Lorenss Martinsons, Džonatans Miks Melngalvis, Nestors Starostins and Aleksandra Daņilova. The Latvian 2nd team will consist of Varvara Gromova, Milana Komisarova, Jūlija Vaikute and Maksims Libensons. All students represent Riga State Gymnasium No.1 or RTU School of Engineering.

Participant Lorenss Martinsons says that all Latvian teams have been preparing intensively for the Olympiad for two weeks, solving all kinds of problems from previous years' Olympiads, practising problem-solving under time limitations and working as a team. The participants recognise that the tasks will be interdisciplinary, and an excellent understanding of both linguistics and logic are necessary to arrive at the right solution. Of course, language skills are also crucial in the Linguistics Olympiad - Lorenss knows five languages, but the record holder is his teammate Nestor, who can communicate in seven languages.

Latvian teams have competed in the Olympics several times, including in 2019 in the Republic of Korea. VUAS Faculty of Translation Studies Asoc. Prof. Guntars Dreijers was with the Latvian team at the Olympiad, and in the individual event, Riga State Gymnasium 1 student Nestors Starostins received a bronze medal. Since 2003, when the Linguistics Olympiad was held for the first time, Latvia has earned two gold, four silver and ten bronze medals.



Everyone is invited to watch the opening of the Olympiad live on the VUAS website VENTA.LV on July 19th at 10.00 EEST (UTC +3).