Students compete by solving puzzles based on real languages they have never learned.
The puzzles are of varying degrees of difficulty, but all are solvable using ordinary reasoning and analytic skills possessed by secondary school students. No special knowledge or resources are needed. On this site you will find a selection of puzzles from the last three US Linguistic Olympics competitions, as well as other resources that may be valuable to teachers who would like to expose their students to the tremendous variety, complexity and beauty of the world's language. The Linguistic Olympics was conceived by Russian linguist A. Zaliznyak, and in 1965 the first linguistic Olympics competition was held at Moscow State University. In 1996, over 450 students participated in the Moscow Linguistic Olympics and 350 in the St. Petersburg Olympics.