| Annotation |
2022 marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of an outstanding orientalist and teacher Vladislav Lyudvigovich
Kotvich. His early days took place at St. Petersburg University, and his further fruitful activity (until 1923)
was associated with scientific and educational institutions of the northern capital of Russia. The article aims to
introduce into scientific circulation a previously unknown letter from the teacher of Chita Teachers’ Seminary Innokenty Porfiryevich Malkov to Vladislav Ludwigovich, which reflects the development of teaching the Mongolian
language in Transbaikalia. The letter reveals the name of the unfairly forgotten teacher of the Mongolian
language Innokenty Malkov, who was competent, responsible, understood the essence of teaching methodology,
its features, the importance of knowledge and ability to teach not only the written language of the Mongols but
also the variety of its dialects. This document can clarify little-known facts in the biography of V. L. Kotvich – an
organizer of oriental education in Russia. Thus, the letter under consideration is a source on the history of Mongolian
studies in Russia of the early 20th century, reflecting the development and state of Oriental education
in one of the border regions of Russia, where the teaching of the Mongolian language was of practical importance
– it was necessary to train translators for maintaining relations with China and Mongolia. The author of the
letter also emphasized the problems in training teachers of the Mongolian-Buryat language, such as the lack of
teaching staff and teaching aids. At the same time, the information presented in the letter proves the continuity of
the traditions of the Russian school of Mongolian studies established by O. M. Kovalevsky, which can be traced
in the description of teaching methods by I. Malkov. He described such methods as reading practical documents,
using materials of the Society of Oriental Studies in St. Petersburg. The Oriental Academy was founded under
the leadership of A. M. Pozdneev, an adherent of practical Oriental studies, whose teaching methods were introduced
by Malkov in the seminary: he taught the fundamentals of history, geography, literature simultaneously
with the study of the language and practiced reading business papers. Despite the remoteness of the region, the
seminary teacher strived to acquire textbooks from reputable mongolists in order to achieve success in teaching
the language. |
| References |
1. Nosov, D. A. V. L. Kotvich’s student – V. A. Kazakevich. Sixth Petersburg Mongolian Studies Readings.
November 24–25, 2022. St. Petersburg. Program and theses. St. Petersburg, Ulaanbaatar, 2022 (In Rus.)
2. Kasyanenko, Z. K. Mongolian studies at St. Petersburg University (1855–1817). Culture of Mongolia in
the Middle Ages and modern times (XVI-beginning of XX). Ulan-Ude, 1986: 141–159. (In Rus.)
3. Polyanskaya, O. N. Oriental education in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century: the activities of
A. M. Pozdneev for the training of Mongolian scholars – practitioners. Scholarly notes of ZabGU, no. 6, pp. 143–
148, 2016. (In Rus.)
4. Alekseev, V. M. Science of the East: articles and documents. Moscow: Nauka, 1982. (In Rus.)
5.Professor Władysław Kotwicz. The first president of the Polish Oriental Society (PTO). Orientalist Review,
no. 3–4(243–244), pp. 133–141, 2012. (In Engl.)
6.Tulisow, J., Władysław Kotwicz. Hemispheres, no. 2, pp. 199–215, 1986. (In Engl.)
7. Ulymzhiev, D. B. Mongolian studies in Russia in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries: The
St. Petersburg school of Mongolian studies. Ulan-Ude: BGU, 1997. (In Rus.)
8. Ermakova, T. V. Scientific connections of V. L. Kotvich and F. I. Shcherbatsky. Sixth Petersburg Mongolian
Studies Readings. November 24–25, 2022. St. Petersburg. Program and theses. St. Petersburg, Ulaanbaatar,
2022: 28–29. (In Rus.)
9. Polyanskaya, O. N. Scientific trends in Russian Mongolian studies (beginning of the 20th century).
Bulletin of the Buryat State University, no. 7, pp. 66–70, 2014. (In Rus.)
10. Kaluzynski, S. Władysław Kotwicz (on the centenary of his birth). Orientalist Review, no. 82, pp. 103–
114, 1972. (In Pol.)
11. Lewicki, M. Władysław Kotwicz (20.III 1872 – 3.X 1944). Orientalist Yearbook, no. 16, pp. 107–118,
1953. (In Pol.)
12. Yakhontova, N. S. Students – Sart-Kalmyks – students of A. V. and T. A. Burdukovs (based on the
materials of the Central State Archive of St. Petersburg). Sixth Petersburg Mongolian Studies Readings. November
24–25, 2022. St. Petersburg. Program and theses. St. Petersburg, Ulaanbaatar, 2022: 69–72. (In Rus.)
13. Pozdneev, A. M. On the issue of introducing a secondary school on the outskirts of the study of local
languages into the course ... Proceedings of a special meeting on the education of Eastern foreigners / Ed. by
A. S. Budilovich. SPb., 1905: 328–332. (In Rus.)
14. Tulisow, J., Inoue, O., Bareja-Starzyńska, A., Dziurzyńska, E., In the Heart of Mongolia. 100th Anniversary
of W. Kotwicz’s Expedition to Mongolia in 1912 (Studies and Selected Source Materials), Kraków, 2012. (In Engl.)
15. Tsybikov, G. I. P. Malkov. Obituary. Life of Buryatia, no. 1–2, pp. 106–107, 1925. (In Rus.)
16. Polyanskaya, O. N. Cooperation of V. L. Kotvich and Ts. Zh. Zhamtsarano in the study of the Mongolian
peoples. Oriental Studies, no. 9(3), pp. 140–147, 2016. (In Rus.)
17. Mamkina, I. N. Public education and pedagogical education in Eastern Siberia in the late 19th – early
20th centuries: Sat. Art. Young science of Transbaikalia. Part 1. Chita. 2005: 64–67. (In Rus.)
18. Kotvich, V. L. Lectures on the Grammar of the Mongolian Language. SPb, 1902. (In Rus.) |
