1. Cracking the language code The UK Linguistics Olympiad Dick Hudson UCS, November 2011

2. What it takes  Brains  to analyse  to spot patterns  Determination  to keep going when you're stuck  Imagination  to keep an open mind  to think outside the box

3. Why 'linguistics'?  Because the Olympiad is all about language  Linguistics is the scientific study of language  The problems are about:  writing and sounds  meanings  grammar  etc.

4. A puzzle for Indiana Jones uklo.org

5. Where is Cleopatra? uklo.org Cleopatra t rp aa p t c l e o ol e Ptolemy Spot the pattern!

6. Football teams in Chinese uklo.org

7. Japanese hiragana uklo.org See if you can sort out which is which.

8. Ancient Greek – but in Roman letters The Greek phrases A-H have been translated into English, but the translations 1-8 have been jumbled up. Your task is to un-jumble them. uklo.org

9. Manam Island, Papua New Guinea The sentences below tell us where Onkau, Kulu, Mombwa, Tola, Sulung, Sala, Pita and Butokang live. Can you work out who lives where? uklo.org auta = North ilau = South ata = West awa = East (5) (3) (4) DEAD END! THINK AGAIN! Sala Tola (1) (2)

10. What's up in Manam?

11. Where's North in Manam? Is the sun always in the North? Until recently, there were no maps no compasses

12. What are they like in Manam? They're like us. They enjoy a day at the seaside. And they don't know where North is.

13. What's where in Manam Island? The sentences below tell us where Onkau, Kulu, Mombwa, Tola, Sulung, Sala, Pita and Butokang live. Can you work out who lives where? uklo.org auta = up ilau = down ata = left awa = right (5) (3) Sala Tola New idea: When relating two places, imagine standing between them facing uphill! (4) (6) Sulung Pita (8) Butokang (7)

14. So what? Languages have very different ways of coding the same message. Cracking the code is a challenge. But they don't even always code the same meanings. And that is why I love linguistics!

15. The Linguistics Olympiad Exotic glimpses of other cultures Code-cracking meets sudoku Compete thousands of other bright youngsters like the Maths Challenge To find out more, visit: www.uklo.org