‘’i wanted to study an exotic language.’’ tylo dirksmeyer said after the award ceremony. he speaks german. french and has been learning russian for three years. he said he had plans to continue studying russian. the best way to do it is by staying in russia. teenagers from 28 countries had the opportunity to communicate with people in russian during the 10-day olympiad. it was the ninth international olympiad for the russian language and literature for schoolchildren. it brought to moscow 215 young people aged 8 to 19 who studied russian as a foreign language. the first competition took place in 1974. the german teenager tylo dirksmeyer was one of the winners of the international olympiad. when a russian professor called his name, he jumped up and ran to the stage of the moscow pushkin institute to collect a gold medal for his excellent russian language skills. some of the most talented older participants of the olympiad will be given stipends and the opportunity to study anything – not necessarily russian language – at any russian college. participants had to show their reading and conversation skills, their knowledge of russian culture, and write an essay. a special textbook was put together by the pushkin institute for the olympiad. there were passages from classic and modern russian writers in the textbook. напишите как читается, по .