Customer Reviews

Instant Immersion Italian 2 CD-ROM Set (Jewel Case)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought this as my first "cd rom software" to learn italian. I had started learning very basic italian through books.

The first CD is interesting.. as it gives you a menu of different subjects.. and with each subject, you can learn some words. Then you are tested on these words.

The second CD is ok, but i found that there was a whole step between CD 1 and CD 2. In CD 2, the host talks in italian and i could barely understand what she/he was saying. (i had to use a dictionnary for some parts)

I give it only 3 stars because of that step and because of the limited number of words and sentences in both CD's.. i figure that more could have probably been on those CDs. It's a good start, but now i'm looking for a full program on CD rom.

Instant Immersion Italian is the best cd that I have found for learning Italian. It is fun and easy. I actually wanted to sit down and learn after just learning numbers and playing the games. It helped me to learn the language on my own and you can't buy that feeling anywhere! This program is a fast and fun way to learn Italian...or any other language too. Classes are boring and they cost too much but this cd is fun and makes you want to learn. I highly recomend this cd and all the other Instant Immersion language cd's. (I'm also learning Japanese. Stick to Italian, trust me.)

My wife and I visit Italy often and thought it was time to at least attempt to learn the language. We ordered several books and programs to learn Italian and found the Instant Immersion program to be the worst of the lot. I would not recommend it for anyone that is seriously interested in learning Italian

Childish guessing games..no meat to this learning experience...do not recommend if you are anxious to learn the language...need more substance.

I was a language teacher for 17 years- Spanish being my mother language- and I have a degree in psycholinguistics. My excellent teachers taught me two fundamental things concerning laguage teaching:

1) Words have to be used in phrases
2) Phrases only acquire a real meaning when used within a context or specific situation.

This means that, without a context and/or situation(story, situation,conversation,paragraph,letter,etc) words and phrases are almost meaningless and/or useless.

What is the use of, for instance, knowing how to say "cat" in italian or in any other language for that matter? As an isolated word, it will help us achieve no communication goals. What is the use of leaning how to say "I like cats" in italian? Unless one intends to go around uttering isolated phrases (I like cats, I like cats, I like cats) like a zombee, these are also useless.

What is really useful, what we all need to learn if we want to speak ANY language, is the ability to maintain a short, MEANINGFUL conversation. (I love cats. Oh,do you? Yes, I have three. Oh, I don't have any cats but I have two dogs. etc, etc)

This is precisely what these "people" from Euro Method {Who are they after all??} seem not to know and, believe me, if they have not learnt this, they are NOT QUALIFIED TO SELL ANY METHOD TO ANYONE.

There are no good or bad language students. There are only good and bad methods. When a language method uses a MEANINGFUL APPROACH, and presents language items WITHIN A MEANINGFUL, NATURAL, USEFUL CONTEXT, then almost everybody will learn. Some will learn faster than others, but everyone will achieve their goal: learn a foreign language as naturally as possible.

In real life we do not use isolated words or isolated phrases. Every word and every phrase needs a very specific context and this is what this AWFUL "method" fails to provide.

There is a FANTASTIC method - ("Get into French" and "Get into Spanish" by the BBC and Cambridge University)- to learn French and Spanish. Unfortunately they do not have it for Italian. Otherwise I would highly recommend it to anyone.

I really liked the interactive part of the cd. Makes you actually learn the words via recognition. I have not been able to find any other software that teaches this way. The draw back with this title is how few words are available... I have been searching for upgrades additional cds of words but... so far they dont exist.... great way to learn limited by what is available.

I found this cd very helpful. It makes learning fun

it was great! i loved it! i reccomend this product.

I'm still lucky that Italians seem to speak english and like doing so.

The CD did help me understand more and if I had been a good student I think It would have been quite successful.