Learning English

Writing of his days at the university in the city of Cork 60 years ago, my favorite columnist, Con Houlihan, had this to say today in the Irish Independent: "You can teach such subjects as mathematics and Latin: English must be evoked and implanted."
Con Houlihan

I would agree. I believe I have learned more about the English language from reading and writing then any teacher ever instilled in me during my school days.

Me too.

One has to determine if we're talking British or American English. Either way, it is not easy.

This may seem a bit odd, but I found that I learned most about English when I studied French. Finally I learned about the about the rules, quirks and structure of it in a way that made sense. Studying linguistics later in life didn't hurt either.

Too bad studying languages or linguistics didn't make me equally as smart as things like physics and rocket science.

PAM,
why do people equate anything difficult with "rocket science?"

I don't get it.
Latin is a language as well. Wouldn't Latin be "evoked and implanted" too?

English was my first language.

In Mexico I took Spanish as my language course (linguistics, spelling, grammer). English was my foreign language class.

When I returned to the United States, English became my language course. I took French as a foreign language.

According to the definitions, I would think all languages require some amount of "evoking" and "implanting".

Definitions (The Free Dictionary):
e·voke play_w2("E0256200") (-vk)tr.v. e·voked, e·vok·ing, e·vokes 1. To summon or call forth: actions that evoked our mistrust.
2. To call to mind by naming, citing, or suggesting: songs that evoke old memories.
3. To create anew, especially by means of the imagination: a novel that evokes the Depression in accurate detail.

im·plant play_w2("I0060400") (m-plnt)v. im·plant·ed, im·plant·ing, im·plants
v.tr.
1. To set in firmly, as into the ground: implant fence posts.
2. To establish securely, as in the mind or consciousness; instill: habits that had been implanted early in childhood.
3. Medicine a. To insert or embed (an object or a device) surgically: implant a drug capsule; implant a pacemaker.
b. To graft or insert (a tissue) within the body.

v.intr. Embryology

JoElle,
Evoking and implanting English seems proper considering it is the language of the country. The only problem with that is the tendency to ignore and often discourage the use of any other language. America is a conglomerate of people from all parts of the world with a variety of languages as their heritage. I admire people who try to learn the language of their forefathers. Learning a foreign language helps with understanding the English language as you pointed out.

Abe F. March wrote:

PAM,
why do people equate anything difficult with "rocket science?"

Abe,

I love the term rocket science, partly as an idiom and partly because I know a rocket scientist and he is some smart dude. Really.

English in America involves many, many dialects and pronounciations of the same word. I find it amazing that the same words are pronounced so many different ways. When I came across the country from Arizona, which has a fairly pure version of American English, and ventured into Louisiana, the language was almost foreign. The southern drawl was just that, a drawl.
Every state must have an accent on the same words that makes the word sound a bit different. It is what this melting pot of people in this country is all about. Many countries and many cultures influencing the language. It is wonderful.

Love,
Betty

Right, Betty. In Ohio we have Vy-enna (Vienna). Roosha (Russia), Berlin - no empasis al all, Rye-oh Grande (Rio Grande) and on and on.

In Indiana we have Rooshaville (Russiaville), Chy-Lie (Chili),
Gal-VEST-on (Galveston), Bray-zil (Brazil), Pee-roo (Peru) and on and on.

I think the Irish columnist meant that pure maths and Latin (a pure language) and other subjects could be studied academically but English should be taught to inspire children to write imaginatively and not merely understand the structure of the language. He was using the third listed meaning of evoke:

3. To create anew, especially by means of the imagination: a novel that evokes the Depression in accurate detail.

... and the second listed meaning of the word implanted:

2. To establish securely, as in the mind or consciousness; instill: habits that had been implanted early in childhood.

Thanks Noelle for finding the definitions!

Right on, Shelagh.