Nikolay Ilminsky

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".

Nikolay Ivanovich Il’minskiy
Николай Иванович Ильминский
Born	5 May [O.S. 23 April] 1822 Penza, Penza Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	8 January [O.S. 27 December 1891] 1892 Kazan, Kazan Governorate, Russian Empire
Resting place	Arskoe Cemetery, Kazan, Russia
Nationality	Russian
Alma mater	Kazan Theological Academy
Occupation(s)	Turkology oriental studies Biblical studies
Employer(s)	Kazan Theological Academy, Imperial Kazan University
Known for	orientalist, pedagog, missionary
Notable work	Ilminsky's alphabet
Awards

Following a highly successful career as an academic linguist, he devoted himself to missionary work on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church. Based around his view that mother tongue 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, 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.[1] Ilminsky is also described by Nicholas Zernov as being a major contributor to translations of bibles to many Asiatic languages. Nicholas also comments that Ilmisky could speak Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Tatar, Cheremis, Chuvash, Kirgiz, Mordvin, Yakut and more Asiatic languages. [2]

He worked closely with the educator Ilya Ulyanov and his model of education, described as "national in form, Orthodox in content" can be considered an influence on Ulyanov's son Vladimir Lenin who developed an approach which was described as "national in form, socialist in content".[3]