Instant Immersion French Deluxe v3.0

by TOPICS Entertainment

Product Features

• With the help of a complete language learning system, Instant Immersion Deluxe v3.0 will help you achieve your goals in record time
• Features instruction in all essential skills: vocabulary, grammar, speaking, listening, reading, and writing arranged from easiest to most challenging
• Over 300 hours of instruction, complete with quizzes to test your learning and voice recognition to ensure correct pronunciation and accent usage
• Exclusive Instant Immersion Bonus material--interactive Eurotalk DVD & interactive mystery solving CD-Rom game Who is Oscar Lake?
• Additional bonus feature--includes 5 in-depth audio instruction CD's for learning on the move

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0011DQ1S0
• Item model number: 80950
• Date first available at Amazon.com: December 17, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,746 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #25 in Software > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > French
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com

Instant Immersion is the world's most popular language system with more than 20 million units sold. The combination of audio, video and software will have you on your way to fluency fast. Learn all the essential skills including vocabulary, grammar, speaking, listening, reading and writing using innovative methods and the exclusive technology Immersion Method & Spoken Error Tracking System (S.E.T.S.).

A combination of audio, video and software will have you on your way to fluency fast.

Comprehend a new language in greater depth and add to your vocabulary with Instant Immersion's wide range of learning tools. Click to enlarge.

Features state-of-the-art speech recognition technology to ensure correct pronunciation and accent usage. Click to enlarge.

Language immersion in an interactive game format with "Who is Oscar Lake?" Click to enlarge.

The Next Generation of Language Instruction
Expand on your previous exposure to a new language and move from basic phrases, words and greetings to true fluency. Comprehend a new language in greater depth and add to your vocabulary with Instant Immersion's wide range of learning tools and find yourself thinking, reading and speaking with ease.

Over 300 Hours of Instruction
Instant Immersion's programs are utilized by government agencies, powerful businesses and some of the world's finest academic institutions. Regardless if you work for a Fortune 500 corporation, small business for yourself, improve success with increased foreign language comprehension. Gain a competitive edge for your career or augment your current skill set with the Instant Immersion system.

Includes:

• 1 Language Program DVD-ROM
• 1 Interactive Video DVD
• 1 Who is Oscar Lake? CD-ROM
• 5 Audio Instruction CDs

Interactive DVD
Learn a new language the EuroTalk way, using broadcast quality video and the latest interactive techniques. Ideal for travelers, families, business people and students.

• Works with your DVD player and TV
• All phrases & dialogues spoken by male and female native speakers
• 10 Quizzes to test your comprehension
• Selections include: greetings, at the restaurant, on the phone, business and more

Who Is Oscar Lake?
You're a fugitive in a foreign city, falsely accused of the heist of a precious diamond, in Who Is Oscar Lake? This interactive mystery game allows you to clear your name by following clues in this new language to find the missing jewel.

• Language immersion in an interactive game format
• 3 possible endings that increase in difficulty
• 70+ hours of fun language learning

Get More Out of Your Trip
Before you take off, learn the basics for getting around: greetings, food and beverage vocabulary, navigation terms and local verbiage. Instant Immersion Deluxe v3.0's more than 26 games and activities, and oral and written lessons make learning easy.

Get Ahead in Your Career
It's a small world out there when it comes to doing business. Government agencies, Fortune 500 companies and small businesses are all utilizing Instant Immersion language learning software to improve their success in today's global economy. Learn gender agreements, calendar terms, greetings and introductions from the basics to advanced learning levels. Instant Immersion Deluxe v3.0 features state-of-the-art speech recognition technology to ensure correct pronunciation and accent usage. Audio curriculum also makes learning while traveling easy and efficient.

Take Language Learning to the Next Level
Expand on your previous exposure and move from basic phrases, words and greetings to true fluency. Comprehend a new language in greater depth and add to your vocabulary with Instant Immersion's wide range of learning tools and find yourself thinking, reading and speaking easily.

Product Description

Instant Immersion is #1 in language learning software, with content reaching over 20 million users worldwide. Developed by international linguistic and language experts, each program is strategically designed to meet specific language learner goals and different educational styles. Key Features: The quickest way to learn a language, guaranteed - The world's most popular language system - Easy, comprehensive instruction at your own pace - Play audio on your Ipod

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not well structured, August 13, 2008

By 

Gary D. Walborn (Youngstown, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Instant Immersion French Deluxe v3.0 (DVD-ROM)

I'm still struggling to find how to navigate the lessons in this package. I had expected something that would provide a structured set of lessons that would help me learn French. What I've found so far is a loosely bound set of tools and disjointed exercises. While it may be possible to learn French with this package, it's going to require a lot of work on my part just to figure out the best way to use the materials. I'm somewhat disappointed and wondering whether I should have bought a more expensive package that would have "taken me by the hand" and taught me French.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars #1 in Language Learning Software!?, March 18, 2010

By 

Ghetifal "Jono" (San Mateo, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Instant Immersion French Deluxe v3.0 (DVD-ROM)

Where does one begin? It seems that the people behind this software had trouble grappling with the same question, because you start up and there's no real method. There's a bunch of stuff, a lot of French, but real teaching interface. It seems like I got all the drills that were meant to go with some main program. I read the user manual and all it says is that beginners should start with the lessons workshop. OK, sounds good. But where are the lessons? So far as I can tell, their teaching method in "the next generation of language instruction" is to have you read a French-English glossary until you feel answering questions in French. There's a $2 French English dictionary you can get on amazon called 1001 Most Useful French Words if you feel that browsing a glossary is the best way to learn a language. Don't get me wrong, a glossary or dictionary can be one of the most important tools to supplement language learning, but it shouldn't be where you learn a language from.

This review might sound ridiculous given what the company claims about their product, but I am not exaggerating. Let me take you through the first steps of using this software if you don't believe me.
The nice flash animation at start up makes you think that this product has potential, and there is a nice little sign in box. Then the home page loads up, this is where it all goes down hill. You are greeted by a "tips" box that you can choose to have come up on start up with a new tip every time. The thing is, there are only 9 tips, and they tell you what the options button does, what the next activity button does, what the help button does, what the next exercise button does, and how to click and drag words, etc. No substance or guidance at all. Every item on the list is self explanatory.

After exiting the box (and checking the option not to have it pop up at start up), you are on the "Vocabulary Workshop" page. Maybe you click glossary under the resources heading at the top of the page, and you see its exactly what it was described as, a glossary. At this point you think, cool, here's the vocabulary for the first lesson, but where is the actual lesson. The whole joke of the software is that this IS your lesson. A list of words in alphabetical order, not even by topic. OK, so you notice you can break them down into different groups. You click the drop down menu of "lexical group" and down drop 4 French phrases to choose from. "Well heck, I don't know French, this isn't helping. Now you see a flag-like button that will translate any French on the page into English. If you found the list of tips laughable, you now wonder why they couldn't at least tell you about this button under the tips. Now you see "Daily Life", "Intellect and Reason", "Society and Institutions", and "Prfoessional life". When you highlight any of these, another drop down box of 6 to 15 subgroups drop down. Each of these also produce a few subtopics, or you can choose to view all of these subtopics at the same time, in alphabetical order, one letter at a time (you have to click each letter to pull up words that begin with the letter, rather than just putting them all on one page and letting you scroll down the list or click a letter to "jump down" to it. A minor annoyance, but its stupid when there's sometimes only one word per letter.

Now you know how to navigate a really interactive glossary. If you have been waiting to start learning French, you are still frustrated to find that this doesn't really provide any kind of starting point. So now you actually go to find the PDF User Manual. They dedicate 2 out of the 10 pages to how they suggest using the software. They tell you to start with the lesson workshop, and start with the reference works and then progress to the pronunciation guides, then show huge tables of all the activities you can do.

FINALLY, you think, I can start learning with the lessons workshop! Why didn't I notice that. They probably should have started you at that window, but at least I'm out of the woods. You go to lesson workshop and select lesson 1:A B C.

The page finishes loading an a man's voice says (with the French text on the screen):
"Bonjour, nous parlons de lettres aujourd'hui ! Est-ce que vou connaissez la lettre 'a' ?"

Now you are instructed to speak via a text cue. I felt like a deer in the headlights. Thinking that they were teaching the alphabet (since the lesson was titled "A B C"), I say "a", trying to mimic the pronunciation of the speaker as clearly as possible. The only words I got out of his statement were "bonjour" and "la lettre 'a'". It tells me it can't understand me. I think maybe I just have terrible pronunciation of the "a" sound, but then again why wouldn't it rate my pronunciation and give me some feedback, rather than just saying it doesn't understand.
I should mention that there are two French sentences written below, but you cannot click on them. They have speaker icons next to them and if you click them, you hear a French speaker speak them. They are:
"Dans 'avril', il y a lettre 'a'" and "Comme dans le mois de mars ?"
I can hardly pronounce foyer correctly when I see it written down, and now they want me to accurately reproduce a whole French sentence. I keep listening to them trying to be able to repeat one word more each time until it accepts the answer and goes to the next page. I also remembered the flag button that gives translations. If this seems vague and confusing, its the software, not me. The translation of that dialogue is:
"Good morning, today we are going to talk about letters! Do you know the letter 'a'?"
"In 'avril' (April), there is the letter 'a'." and "Like in the month of 'mars' (March)?"

There are 11 questions in this first "lesson", which cover the letters a, b, p, and r, some days of the week, and some seasons. Interesting choice of first phrases, I think to myself. OHHH!!!, I was supposed to go to the reference works first, but the software loaded the pronunciation activities first. Who programmed this? They never take you to the page that they recommend going to. Couldn't they have designed it to START you at the Lessons Workshop, and from there, start you at the reference works? Regardless, I keep my hopes up that this software can teach me French in a state of the art, innovative, way using the latest pedagogical methods. I look under the Reference Tools drop down, and lo and behold, the lesson GLOSSARY! THATS IT!?? Thats the latest pedagogical method!? A glossary again! But wait!!! Under that is the "grammar explanations for this lesson". Here they show you the words for the and introduce you the concept of gender of nouns (which I was used to from my knowledge of Spanish). They also provide a list of the French alphabet, WITH NO AUDIO EXAMPLES. I really am at a loss to figure out who developed this. It seems like a great start to an excellent French reference program (note the word reference program, not language learning program). But somewhere along the line they said, hey, you know there's such a huge demand for language learning that we could just sell this fancy glossary with exercises for those who already know French, and it will be gobbled up by the thousands for $50. Then of course Amazon, who knows how to find the right price point on things, put this on sale for under $10. And that is this things value. No, the $8 tag is not a steal, its a legitimate starting point for this product. Unfortunately I bought it last week when it was still prices at $12.

I'll finish describing lesson one to get the point across, we're almost done. After showing you the letters of the alphabet, they show you the list of sounds in the French language, again with no audio, only IPA notation. Then there is a sentence construction section that tells you that French sentences start with subjects and verbs, and that there are adjectives too, but that this isn't always the case. End of lesson. Go back to those exercises.

I'm not leaving anything out. I checked out the other lessons and they are taught the same way. The only instructional material is less than a page of text with no audio.
This program seems it would be valuable if you already knew a good amount of French and wanted to review, as it is minimal on instruction and loaded with 300 hours of drills (which they advertise as 300 hours of learning, then have the audacity to say there's a world of difference between their software and Rosetta Stone's, which only has 200 hours of learning.)

Then they use a table to indicate all the things that they have that rosetta stone doesn't, and they also throw berlitz on the table for good measure. Basically Rosetta Stone scores a "no" on every item while instant immersion gets a "yes" on everything and berlitz gets a yes in 2. What a joke. I have used Rosetta Stone software before at a friend's house. It teaches. It guides you. It doesn't use rote memorization of translations from a glossary. It uses state-of-the-art, innovative, pedagogical methods that work. Instant Immersion uses memorization and drills, the least innovative and probably most obsolete method of foreign language learning. Unfortunately, I don't want to spend a few hundred dollars on Rosetta Stone, so I will continue my quest for a way to learn French.

Instant Immersion is a great glossary and reference work, but does not teach. For under $10, you might consider purchasing this to supplement a language learning program or refresh your French if you know it and want practice. Other than that, I question the integrity of the developers of this software and their advertising campaign and will for now on avoid Instant Immersion products.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars pretty good...., January 11, 2009

By 

ellafan (MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Instant Immersion French Deluxe v3.0 (DVD-ROM)

...but there are better,albeit MUCH more expensive programs to buy.
This particular course of study is pretty thorough,and is interesting and as it says,you are immersed in the language...which is the best way to learn a foreign language.I also watch French movies and documentaries,without the subtitles first,then with,and I also buy books to read which are in French and English,side-by-side,parallel text.
However,if you can't see springing almost 400 bucks for that other language course,this one is a pretty good alternative.