H. C. Klinkert
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H.C. Klinkert Hillebrandus Cornelius Klinkert (June 11, 1829 – November 20, 1913) was a Dutch Mennonite Missionary and Translator. He was born in Amsterdam and worked as an engineer in a machine factory at Rotterdam and on a Rhine barge before he contacted the DZV (Doopsgezinde Zendings Vereeniging) in 1851 with a request to be sent as a missionary. Klinkert was also known for his ability to translate the Bible into different dialects of Malay so that the Javanese people could access the Gospel, and completed his first entire translation at the end of 1878.
Education
Was educated as a surveyor, and received training in the seminary of the Nederlandsche Zendeling Genootschap (NZG) at Rotterdam for his future missionary service. In February 1856 before Klinkert had finished his schooling, seminary director H. Hiebink requested that the DZV withdraw him. Klinkert was an older student and it was therefore more difficult for him to accept guidance but S. Hoekstra who was the pastor of the Rotterdam Mennonite church would defend him. The problem was settled and they would land in Batavia, Java in 1856. He would arrive in Jepara early in October where he would study with Pieter Jansz. When Klinkert was accepted by the DZV to work alongside Jansz in October of 1863, he took two years to study the language before he started his work on Bible translation.
Family
He married a Eurasian girl, Wilhelmina Louis Kahle on October 5, 1857 who couldn’t speak Dutch but helped him contact more Malay speaking locals. Klinkert and his wife moved to Semarang at the end of May 1859, which was temporary. Klinkert’s missionary work and translating would take his family all over Java for the next several years until he arrived in Tanjungpinang at Riau in June 1864 where he would live with his family for two and a half years under terrible conditions. These conditions brought illness and isolation so he informed the NBG that he could do his translations in the Netherlands as his wife was suffering from tuberculosis so they moved to Amsterdam in mid 1867. His wife died in 1870 and he married Willemina Samuela Diderika Roering (1844-1929) shortly after who brought a child of her own and they would have ten more children together.
Missionary Work
After some studying with Jansz, Klinkert took over a small Javanese school that Jansz was leading and they visited close villages together on horses and he started to lead house services in the Malay language. While in Semarang, Klinkert started a new missionary effort there in 1863 and would be selected to work alongside Jansz with most of their work focused on translating the Bible. Klinkert founded a general newsweekly in 1860 called Slompret Melaijoe, which existed until 1911. The Bible Society drew his attention to a teaching position at the Municipal Institute for Education of Civil Servants for the East Indies. His profession was a lecturer and he worked at the University until 1904 teaching Malay and literature to first and second year students. Most of Klinkert’s travels and missionary work led him back to translating the Bible. He wanted the Gospel to be available to all and made it his mission to translate the Bible into Malay, which he completed in 1878. He collected and published data about indigenous medical treatment and would continue to do linguistic work until he was quite old.
Bible Translation
Klinkert began by translating Old Testament stories, and later parts of the New Testament into the local Malay dialect while he was in Jepara. At the end of 1859 he was going to translate the whole New Testament into that language spoken by many different races. The other translations had two many faults which inspired Klinkert to do this. Klinkert received little support but was still able to translate the four Gospels in 1861 through his own funding, and finished the rest of the New Testament two years later by the help of a grant he received from the NBG. In 1866, Klinkert started to give his full attention to translating the Bible. He was going to translate the Bible into a form of pure Malay. His translation into pure Malay replaced Leijdecker’s older one everywhere except for the Moluccas. In 1876 Klinkert decided to try and complete his full translation in one year through direct contact with the Malaysians. He would return just over half a year later and would complete the full translation of the Bible in Latin characters shortly after that. Klinkert would revise his Malay translation into Arabic characters for the Bible Society in 1886. In the Old Testament Klinkert used Allah as a translation for the Hebrew elohim, and used ilah, as well as dewa, and berhala for gods. Klinkert made these theological decisions without a good knowledge of Hebrew. Klinkert knew that a good translation was only possible with the cooperation of others, but he felt easily insulted when others critiqued his work.
List of Works
- Nieuw nederlandsch-maleisch woorderboek
- Nieuw maleisch-nederlandsch woordenboek met arabisch karakter, naar de beste en laatste bronnen bewerkt
- Facsimile’s van eenige maleische handschriften : ten dienste van hen, die zich in het lezen van maleische-arabische letterschrift willen oefenen
- Nieuw Maleisch-Nederlandsch zawoordenboek, ten behoove van hen, die het Maleisch met Latijnsch karakter beoefenen
- De Pelandoek dijinaka of Het guitige dwerghert : naar een ander Maleisch handschrift voor de pers bewerkt
- Niew maleisch-nederlandsch woordenboek met arabisch karakter
- Spraakleer can het Maleisch
- Maleisch-nederduitsch woordenboek
- Wasijat jang baroe ija-itoe segala kitab perdjanjian baroe atawa indjil toehan kita Jesoes Kristoes
References
- Friesen, Peter M. The Mennonite brotherhood in Russia, 1789-1910. Fresno, CA: Board of Christian Literature, 1978. p. 657-673.
- Hoekema, Alle. Dutch Mennonite Mission in Indonesia: Historical Essays. Occasional Papers, 22. Elkhart, IN: Institute of Mennonite Studies, 2001.
- Hoekema, Alle. H.C. Klinkert: Missionary, Journalist, Bible Translator, Linguist.