Nikolai Ivanovich Il'minskii (russian: Николай Иванович Ильминский; 1822–1891) was a Russian professor of Turkish languages at Kazan University and known as "Enlightener of Natives". Following a highly successful career as an academic linguist, he devoted himself to missionary work on behalf of the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

. Based around his view that

mother tongue A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tong ...

instruction was the key factor in ensuring that animists, he developed the Ilminsky Method. In 1863, Ilminsky started teaching Oriental languages at the

Kazan Theological Seminary Kazan Theological Seminary (russian: Казанская духовная семинария) is the principal Russian Orthodox seminary in the Diocese of Kazan and Tatarstan. History Orthodox Christian Theological education has its roots dating ...

, with work on teaching aids for Tatars in the Tatar language. This is the site where Iliminsky deployed his idea of mother tongue instruction with the Ilminsky method. After this he helped co-found the translation commission under the brotherhood of St. Gurias. Which by 1904, produced works in 23 different languages. Ilminsky is also described by

Nicholas Zernov Nicolas Michaelovich Zernov ( - 25 August 1980) (russian: Никола́й Миха́йлович Зёрнов) was a Christian Russian émigré who settled in Britain, and taught theology at Oxford University. He wrote many books about the Ortho ...

as being a major contributor to translations of bibles to many Asiatic languages. Nicholas also comments that Ilmisky could speak Arabic, Persian, Turkish, ttar, Cheremis, Chuvash, Kirgiz, Mordvin, Yakut and more Asiatic languages. He worked closely with the educator

Ilya Ulyanov Ilya Nikolayevich Ulyanov (russian: Илья Николаевич Ульянов; – ) was a Russian public figure in the field of public education. He was the father of revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, who became a Bolshevik leader and founder of ...

and his model of education, described as "national in form, Orthodox in content" can be considered an influence on Ulyanov's son

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

who developed an approach which was described as "national in form, socialist in content".

References

Weblinks

Профессор Н.И.Егоров. Выступление на чувашском языке (Круглый стол, посвященный к 195-летию со дня рождения Н.И. Ильминского, 120-летию Н.Н. Поппе и 145-летию К.П. Прокопьева). Чăвашла.

* ttps://chuvash.org/content/3103-Сумбур%20вместо%20гармонии.html Agabazar: Сумбур вместо гармонии 1822 births 1891 deaths Russian orientalists Linguists of Turkic languages Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 3rd class Burials at Arskoe Cemetery {{russia-linguist-stub