Janssen, Susanna: Words: How We Learn What They Mean When They are Spoken and Heard
Words: what they mean to the speaker and what they mean to the listener are the bedrock of human communication and cultural understanding.
In this edition of Radio Curious, we talk with Susanna Janssen, the author of Wordstruck! The Fun and Fascination of Language. She discusses the multiple aspects of the meanings of words, how they translate from one language to another, and how Janssen sometimes seems to have a different personality in different languages.
Susanna Janssen is dedicated to changing the linguistic culture of America by advocating the learning of foreign languages. She is a foreign language educator, as well as author, speaker, and newspaper columnist on all topics related to words, language, and culture. She is particularly interested in the benefits of learning two or more languages, and how doing so affects brain development, especially in early childhood.
This interview was recorded on February 5, 2017. The book she recommends is A Book of Roads: Travel Stories from Michigan to Marrakech, by Phil Cousineau.
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