Bulgaria ranks first in the world in the number of gold medals at International Linguistics Olympiads

Bulgaria ranks first in the world in terms of number of gold medals from linguistics Olympiads. Bulgarian students in linguists also won four awards at the 20th International Linguistics Olympiad held in Bansko.

Konstantin Georgiev won a gold medal at the Linguistics Olympiad with his knowledge of the Sutire language:

"The problem was about the number system of the Sutire language, which is spoken in Africa. The most complicated thing about this task is that they don't count through ten, as they do in Bulgarian for example 10, 20, 30, but they do it through 20. The key to the whole field of linguistics is the use of logic, looking for consistency and solving various puzzles."

"A linguistics problem most often has a text in a language the solver doesn't know and a translation into a language he understands. On the basis of this text, the student is expected to draw conclusions about what phenomena are present in this language," said Alexander Velinov, head of the National Linguistics Team.

Konstantin's gold medal, won in a competition with representatives of more than 40 countries, also brings gold for Bulgaria. Our country managed to overtake the USA and Russia.

"Bulgaria's success is very great. We have a total of 79 medals from all international Olympiads, 23 of them are gold. Linguistics has developed a lot in Bulgaria recently. Usually about 250 high school students come to the national competition, and just to compare 10 years ago this number was 130, 140," Alexander Velinov said.

The young linguists are already preparing for the 2024 Olympiad in Brazil.