A SCHOOLGIRL from Wokingham has been named as Britain’s most talented young linguist after winning a national language learning competition.

Angel Mendel–Idowu from Godstowe Preparatory School beat over 2,000 competitors to claim first prize in The uTalk Challenge.

The nine-year-old has learnt eight languages, including English, French, Spanish, Khmer, Kinyarwanda, Latin, Mandarin and Zulu.

Angel said: “I like languages because if I go to a country where people speak a language I have learnt, I can use it.”

Her brother Tudor won the competition three years ago at the age of ten, Angel has taken on the element of sibling rivalry by winning the prize a year younger than he did.

The event took place at Olympia in London, where primary school children took on a series of language challenges in aid of charity.

The winner added: “I feel very happy and excited to have won the competition. It has been a great experience. There has also been quite a bit of pressure.

Angels mother, Gold said: “Angel taking part in the competition has been absolutely brilliant. There’s been a bit of in-family rivalry, but it boosted her and its been great fun.

Her father Tolu added: “We are so very proud of Angel. She has done fantastically well. The competition was exhilarating, exciting and nerve-wracking, all in one go.

“She has done all this language learning on her own. She will get an extra Christmas present from us this year but her main goal has just been to lift that winners cup.”

Primary school children battled it out in a picture based language game, quizzed on Kinyarwanda which is spoken in Rwanda and had to excel in Spanish and Khmer, the official language of Cambodia.

Angel won the prize of a holiday worth up to £5,000 for her and her family to meet pupils and visit a school in Malawi that is supported by the ‘onebillion’ charity.

Richard Howeson, Chairman of uTalk said: “Angels performance was fantastic. Just knowing a few words in another language can raise a smile, start a friendship and make you part of a big community.”

The nine year old said that when she’s older she wants “to become prime minister, a very famous tennis player and a really good pianist.”