Competitions · Humanities and writing · HKLO
HKLO, the Hong Kong Linguistics Olympiad.
Free to enter, no linguistics background needed, and papers in both English and traditional Chinese - you choose which to answer in. It selects the Hong Kong teams for the international and Asia-Pacific olympiads.
Read this first
You must be at a Hong Kong registered school.
This is a regional qualifier, and its eligibility is defined by where the student studies rather than by nationality.
Registered with the Hong Kong Education Bureau
Entrants must be studying in Secondary 1 to Secondary 6, or the equivalent year, at a school registered with the Hong Kong Education Bureau.
And you may only enter in one region a year
A student eligible in more than one place - Hong Kong and another country, for instance - must choose one and may not enter twice in the same year. The organisers state this as a fairness rule.
It costs nothing
Entry is completely free, with no fee of any kind. That is rare among the competitions on this site.
And it leads to two international olympiads
HKLO is officially recognised by both the International Linguistics Olympiad and the Asia-Pacific Linguistics Olympiad, and selects the Hong Kong teams for both.
At a glance
The essentials.
HKLO is hosted by the Faculty of Humanities at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Its problems are built on logical reasoning and require no background in linguistics or in any foreign language.
- Who can enter
- Students in Secondary 1 to Secondary 6, or the equivalent, at a school registered with the Hong Kong Education Bureau
- Cost
- Free
- Prior knowledge
- None. The problems need logical thinking, patience and problem solving rather than language knowledge
- Official language
- English
- Papers provided in
- Both English and traditional Chinese
- Answering
- Choose one of the two languages and answer in it
- Regional entry rule
- Students eligible in more than one region may enter in only one per year
- Where it leads
- Selection for the Hong Kong teams at the International Linguistics Olympiad and the Asia-Pacific Linguistics Olympiad
- Host
- The Faculty of Humanities, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
The bilingual paper
Both versions, and you pick.
This is a genuinely useful arrangement and it is worth thinking about rather than defaulting.
The paper comes in two languages
English and traditional Chinese versions are both provided, and the entrant chooses which to answer in.
Which removes a barrier that is not the point
The competition tests logical reasoning about language data. Reading the instructions in a second language is not part of what is being assessed, so the choice removes noise.
But the international rounds are in English
IOL and APLO both work in English. A student who intends to go further should practise in English even if they answer the qualifier in Chinese.
And the puzzle type is the same either way
Language fragments plus enough data to derive the rules. The reasoning is identical in both versions.
How it fits with IOL
One of several routes to the same olympiad.
The International Linguistics Olympiad requires each participating region to run its own selection. HKLO is Hong Kong’s.
Hong Kong students use HKLO
Free, bilingual, and run by a university faculty. It selects for both IOL and the Asia-Pacific olympiad.
Mainland students use IOLC
A separate route with its own regional round, national round, interview stage and team of eight - described on our IOL page.
And you cannot use both
The one-region rule means a student eligible in more than one place picks one for that year.
Both converge on the same competition
The International Linguistics Olympiad itself, where each participating country sends up to two teams.
Preparation
How Hanlin prepares for a linguistics olympiad.
Because no prior knowledge is assumed, the preparation is entirely method - which makes it one of the most teachable competitions here.
Working through past problems
The problem types recur: writing systems, morphology, number systems, kinship terms, phonological rules. Recognising the type quickly saves most of the time.
Building a systematic method
Tabulate the data, form a hypothesis, test it against every example, record what fails. Intuition solves the easy problems and stalls on the rest.
Practising in English if you plan to go further
Even if the qualifier is answered in Chinese, IOL and APLO work in English. Building the habit early costs nothing.
And working under time
Linguistics problems reward patience, and patience under a clock is a different skill from patience without one.
Why Hanlin
Preparation for HKLO at Hanlin is taught by full-time subject tutors, on a course tier chosen by placement paper rather than by year group.
Programme formats
Five ways this is taught.
Group size is the whole difference between these. It decides how much of the tutor's attention a student gets and how far the course can bend to them, so it is worth choosing rather than accepting.
| Format | Group size | What it suits |
|---|---|---|
| One-to-one | One student | Content, pace and emphasis set by what this student actually needs rather than by a syllabus. The only format that can be rebuilt mid-course. |
| Small group | Three to eight | Opens at three. Frequent discussion, and the tutor can slow down or move on according to what the group has absorbed. Most students chasing a higher award are taught in this one. |
| Class | Eight to twelve | Taught by the subject lead or a medal coach. Less back-and-forth, so it suits a student who will say when something is unclear. |
| Large class | Ten to twenty | For students in the middle of the placement range, and a way to try a competition before committing. Students often move to a small group or to one-to-one afterwards. |
| Past-paper class | No cap | Past papers worked through in sequence in the weeks before the sitting. Free to students already enrolled. |
Course length for HKLO is set after a placement paper. The gap between where a student is and what the paper asks for is what the course has to close, and that gap is not the same for two students in the same year group.
How it runs
Six steps, four people on your side.
The same process for every student, so that nothing depends on one tutor remembering to do it.
Step 1Pre-course assessment
A placement paper before anything is booked, so the course tier is chosen on evidence rather than on a year group.
Step 2Tutor matching
A subject tutor is matched to the result, and their full background is provided before you agree to it.
Step 3Plan and group
A study group opens with four people on one student: the tutor, a planner, a supervisor and an academic manager.
Step 4Scheduled teaching
The teaching office sets the timetable around the competition date and school term, and teaching begins.
Step 5After-class reports
What was covered, and how the student handled it, reported after every lesson.
Step 6Homework follow-up
The teaching assistant and the form teacher both check that homework is done, which is where most preparation quietly fails.
Free resource pack
Past papers and preparation pack
The same material our own HKLO students work from. Scan the code, say what you need, and an advisor sends it.
Tell an advisor which competition and year group, and the material comes back the same day. Free, and you do not have to enrol in anything. If we do not already hold what you need, we will go and find it.
- PDFPast papers, every year the organiser has released
- PDFWorked solutions, where the organiser publishes them
- PDFThe syllabus on one page - every topic, and how heavily it is examined
- PDFEntry checklist and the dates for the current cycle
Teaching team
Who would teach it.
Three of the twenty-two tutors on the published Hanlin roster - the ones whose subject this is.
Lu
Master's in education from the University of Pennsylvania and a double major in psychology and philosophy at Mount Holyoke. Cross-cultural teaching experience across China and the US, with research work in child and adolescent development, cognition, and international students' identity.
Yang
Educated at American Heritage School, then English literature and philosophy at the University of British Columbia and a master's in language education at Toronto. Eleven years in North America, with a close working knowledge of the international curricula and overseas admissions.
Dr Zhuang
PhD in mathematics from the University of Denver, working in mathematical logic, after a first degree in applied mathematics at Southeast University. A repeat conference speaker on his research, with three years lecturing and assisting on undergraduate mathematics at Denver.
Where it is taught
Hanlin learning centres.
Teaching runs from Hanlin's own centres in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hangzhou, and online for students elsewhere.
Talk to an advisor
Everything Hanlin does for HKLO, in one conversation.
Entry, planning, coaching and the past papers. An advisor will tell you which of these a student actually needs, including when the answer is none of them.
Competition entry and planning
Which competitions suit this student, in what order, and by when - then we handle the registration, including the ones that can only be entered through a school or a centre.
Competition coaching
Taught by full-time subject tutors, on a course tier chosen by placement paper rather than by year group.
International curriculum tutoring
IB, AP, A-Level, IGCSE and the US high school curriculum, taught alongside school and timed around the exam calendar.
Competition past papers, free
A large library of past papers, mark schemes and syllabus breakdowns across every competition on this site. No charge and no enrolment.
Scan to add an advisor
Say which competition or course you are asking about. Replies in Chinese or English.
Or call +86 21 6352 6630FAQ
HKLO, briefly answered.
What students and families ask before entering.
Who can enter?
Students in Secondary 1 to Secondary 6, or the equivalent year, at a school registered with the Hong Kong Education Bureau.
Does it cost anything?
No. Entry is completely free.
Do I need to know about linguistics?
No. The problems are built on logical reasoning and require no background in linguistics or in any foreign language - only logical thinking, patience and problem solving.
What language is it in?
English is the official language, but the paper is provided in both English and traditional Chinese and entrants choose which to answer in.
Can I enter in Hong Kong and elsewhere in the same year?
No. A student eligible in more than one region must choose one, and may not enter twice in the same year.
Where does it lead?
HKLO is officially recognised by the International Linguistics Olympiad and the Asia-Pacific Linguistics Olympiad, and selects the Hong Kong teams for both.
Who runs it?
The Faculty of Humanities at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
What if I am at school in mainland China?
HKLO requires a Hong Kong Education Bureau registered school. The mainland route to the International Linguistics Olympiad runs through its own regional and national rounds - see our IOL page.
Related
Linguistics and reasoning competitions.
Where HKLO leads, and what runs alongside it.
HKLO enquiries
Free, bilingual, and it needs no background at all.
For a student at a Hong Kong registered school this is the cheapest possible way into an international olympiad - and the puzzles need nothing but logic. Tell us where the student studies and an advisor will confirm the route.