Feb 22 2017
Wordstruck! The Fun and Fascination of Language: a Book Talk by Susanna Janssen

Wordstruck! The Fun and Fascination of Language: a Book Talk by Susanna Janssen

Presented by Ukiah Library at Ukiah Library

On Wednesday, February 22, at 6:30 pm,  the Ukiah Library is hosting Wordstruck! The Fun and Fascination of Language: a Book Talk by Susanna Janssen.

Can one book speak to the brain, the heart, and the funny bone??

It defies categorization, but it delivers on all three.

Here’s a sampling of what just a dozen of the sixty short chapters of Wordstruck! contain and a hint at what Susanna will talk about at our event on 2/22:

Which are the most treacherous two letter words in our language.

How over 100 people have awakened from head trauma into a whole new linguistic life.

Why hello and goodbye were once very controversial words.

What are the seven things Americans do differently than the rest of the world (Metric is only one).

What are London cab drivers and Swedish military recruits doing to grow bigger brains.

Why Shakespeare is a superstar of the English language and how he learned to do the Hokey-Pokey.

How the most American of words—denim, jeans, and dollar—originated in faraway lands.

Where you might end up if you go to Italy and ask to dine al fresco.

What’s the best month to travel abroad for weird, wild, and possibly dangerous local traditions.

Why it’s never too late to learn another language and how the brain thrives on it.

What’s the most common sound in our language and how it makes English impossible to spell.

How every one of us is already multilingual with dozens of words.

Author, Susanna Janssen, is a foreign language educator and newspaper columnist on everything about words, language, and culture. She is an Emeritus Professor of Spanish at Mendocino College and, prior to moving to Ukiah, taught at UC Davis and Sacramento City College. In her life as a writer, speaker, and teacher, she is a passionate advocate for the benefits of bilingualism at any age for your brain, your career, your bank account, and your world view. As a college professor, she uncovered what she calls “The Secret to Everything”, and now applies this simple strategy to language learning and motivating people to achieve their goals in any area of life.

Susanna continues to teach Spanish and Italian, coach language learners on skill development, organize group travel abroad, work as a volunteer translator at a medical clinic in Mexico, and develop learning resources to make foreign language acquisition practical, fun, and effective. She writes a light-hearted column for The Ukiah Daily Journal, called A Word in Edgewise, on lexicon, linguistics, and travel lore.

Dates & Times

2017/02/22 - 2017/02/22

Location Info

Ukiah Library

105 N. Main Street, Ukiah, CA 95482