Contact:
Maite Taboada, linguistics; 778.782.5585; mtaboada@sfu.ca
Adam Ovenell-Carter, PAMR, 778.782.3210; aovenell@sfu.ca

For the fourth straight year, Simon Fraser University’s Department of Linguistics is inviting local high school students to its Burnaby campus to participate in the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad (NACLO) open competition.

“NACLO is a fantastic opportunity for students to become involved with problems involving logic and language,” says Maite Taboada, associate professor of linguistics. “ The contest consists of a set of fun, challenging questions and puzzles about language and linguistics.

Questions from previous years include translating alien languages, figuring out Esperanto or Braille rules, counting in Irish, and deciphering a new way of sending text messages. “No previous knowledge of linguistics or computer science is necessary,” adds Taboada. “Just good logic and problem-solving skills.

On Thursday, Jan. 31, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m, participants at SFU will duke it out for a spot in the Invitational Round, which takes place on March 19. Winners of the Invitational have a chance to represent their country at the International Linguistics Olympiad in Manchester, England, in the summer.
NACLO takes place at high schools and universities all across North America, and SFU has been hosting the event for high school students since 2009.

“We’re proud to say that our students have always done really well,” says Toaboada. Last year, Canada sent a team to the International Linguistics Olympiad for the first time, including two students from the Lower Mainland. Team Canada won an honorable mention in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

We are all jazzed up for this year's contest,” Taboada says. “We hope for a really good performance again, and to be able to send Team Canada to Manchester come summertime.”

Those interested in registering for the 2013 NACLO competition can do so here.

Simon Fraser University is Canada's top-ranked comprehensive university and one of the top 50 universities in the world under 50 years old. With campuses in Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey, B.C., SFU engages actively with the community in its research and teaching, delivers almost 150 programs to more than 30,000 students, and has more than 120,000 alumni in 130 countries.

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