Romania wins bronze at 2019 International Linguistics Olympiad

Matei Costin Banu of the Mihai Viteazul Collegiate High School of Ploiesti has won a bronze medal at the 17th edition of the International Linguistics Olympiad that took place in Yongin, South Korea, July 29 - August 2, as part of team Romania, according to the Romanian Education Ministry (MEN). 

"The success belongs to Matei Costin Banu of the Mihai Viteazul Collegiate High School of Ploiesti, who was also a bronze medallist in the 2017 edition in Dublin. The other three members of the team are Ilinca-Dora Andone of the Tudor Vianu Collegiate High School of Bucharest; Luiza-Natalia Ionescu of the International Computer High School of Bucharest, and Eric-Alexandru Morosan of the Mihai Eminescu Collegiate High School of Botosani. The Romanian students were coordinated and accompanied by Roxana Magdalena Preda Dinca and Valentina Cojocaru, both teaching staff at the Faculty of Letters of Bucharest University," MEN reported in a press statement released on Monday. 

Romania's International Linguistics Olympiad medal tally since its inception in 2005 is eleven medals (two gold, three silver and six bronze medals), two prizes for the best solutions and four mentions. 

In the hall of fame of the competition, Romania has three double medallists: Theodor Cucu, Dan Mircea Mirea and Matei Costin Banu, and a team (2017). The International Linguistics Olympiad is a competition structured on two levels: a six-hour individual event and a three-hour team event. 

The subjects request using analogies by applying elements of grammatical logic and mathematical logic in the process of understanding texts in unknown languages, starting from the premise that linguistics orders thinking and regulates the process of explicit communication by constructing structures that favour learning any language with ease 

Competing in this year's edition were 209 students in 53 teams from 36 countries.