Marina Temina

Marina Grigoryevna Temina is a Russian teacher known for her work promoting the learning of the Nivkh languages through the development of learning aids such as textbooks and a mobile app.

Early life and education Temina was born and raised in Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, Khabarovsk Krai, in what was then the Soviet Union. Born into a Nivkh family, Temina spoke the Amur dialect of the Nivkh language with her parents, though her primary language, as well as the language of her education, was Russian. Optional Nivkh classes were not added to the curriculum in Khabarovsk Krai until Temina was in high school. Nivkh is spoken in the Nikolayevsky and Ulchsky districts of Khabarovsk, primary in small settlements along the Amur and on the shores of the Amur Liman, as well as on the island of Sakhalin.

After initially training as an English teacher, in 1994 Temina began studying Nivkh at the Institute of the Peoples of the North, under Nivkh linguist Lyudmila Gashilova. Temina's dissertation was on the significance of bear festivals in Nivkh culture.

Career After completing her course at the Institute of the Peoples of the North, in which she learned both Nivkh grammar as well as language teaching techniques, Temina began teaching English and Nivkh at the Nikolayevsk Pedagogical College (now the Nikolayevks Industrial and Humanitarian College). Temina specifically taught the Amur dialect of Nivkh, spoken in Khabarovsk Krai; she went on to co-author, with Irina Kravchenko, a first grade textbook on the language, followed by authoring a textbook used by third and fourth grade Nivkh users in the Nikolayevsky and Ulchsky districts. Temina is an associate professor at the Institute for Education Development of Khabarovsk Krai.

Temina is the head of the Association of Teachers of Native Languages and Cultures of Indigenous Peoples of the North in Khabarovsk Krai, Sakhalin Oblast and Primorsky Krai , founded in 2021. She was re-elected in 2024.

Recognition The Russian Museum of Ethnography recognised Temina, as well as Chuner Taksami and Galina Otaina, for their work preserving and documenting Nivkh culture, in its 2026 exhibition "Nivkh and Uiltsa: the unity of people and nature" .

In 2024, Temina received the first Amur Virgin award from the Legislative Duma of Khabarovsk Krai, given by the Governor of Khabarovsk Krai, to figures who have provided outstanding service to the region.