Customer Reviews

Instant Immersion Japanese

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I found the first disc of this course to be a lot of fun, and I learned a lot of words very quickly. It has a simple format and the game was fun. The first disc had something the second lacked: if one wished, they could look up the words used, see them in kanji, kana, and in romaji. This helped emensely in figuring out how to say the words properly and remember them. The leap from the first disc to the second however is something akin to leaping the Grand Canyon. Because no grammar or verbs were taught in the first, it's almost impossible to figure out what is going on in the second. Not totally useless, but for me, far too frustrating to use.

The JQuickTrans however...wonderful little program! It'll give you the gist of Japanese sentences, and seems to work best when kana and kanji are imput into it. It also translates English words into Japanese, and provides a very handy kanji look up by every method imaginable, including by radical. Best of all, it provides flash cards to use for memorizing kanji and kana. I used it to learn both kana, and am using it still to learn kanji.

In all...the package is saved by the inclusion of the translator, but I'm finding I need to get a different program if I actually want to learn to read a sentence.

There are two universal truths of acquiring a second language. First, there is no "quick method." It takes time and work. Second, self-study only gets you so far. Language is about communication, and that requires more than one person.

With this in mind, "Instant Immersion Japanese (4 CD-ROM)" is a fine supplement to Japanese learning. While you will never learn Japanese solely from this product, the CD-ROMs will help you study and practice. It is definitely one of the best of it's type.

The games are great vocab builders, and are a nice break from memorizing lists. The first disk has simple single-word games. You will learn the names of food, clothing, parts of the body and a few simple phrases. Keep in mind, you will not learn how to sting this vocab into sentences. The second disk is a large leap from the first, and most people find it confusing (myself included.) The dictionary is great and very useful, while the Japan tour is a little fluffy. Don't expect to gain any great insights.

I recommend this as a supplement for anyone taking a formal Japanese language course. The price is right, and the games are fun. Gambatte Ne!

I really enjoy using The Instant Immersion C.D. Roms, but it really is for people who have already begun learning Japanese using books or other methods. The first C.D. Rom starts you off with learning colors, numbers, and other simple beginner stuff but the second jumps right into speaking in Japanese and may be difficult for someone who hasn't learned beginning grammer such as Who, what, when, why, ect. in Japanese. The C.D. Roms are fun and is a good buy for someone who is interested in learning.

This program is really top notch! Espically, if you really want to learn Japanese pretty quickly. This program has great interactive menus, as well as pictures that go along with the words so that you can associate a word to a picture. However, the only downside to this product is you must be willing to spend a great deal of time if you want to learn the language quickly and efficently.

For those that bought this product thinking they were going to learn how to speak Japanese, it's no doubt they were disappointed. There is no easy self-taught way to fluently learn a language - you need a teacher and classes.

This program is wonderful for those who've had at least some Japanese class room experience, and are looking to build their vocabulary. The dictionary is great, and has really helped in my vocabulary and speaking, which I will need for an upcoming trip to Japan.

If your anything like me you see the price on this product, your excited, many of the reviews make it sound great. I'm sorry to rain on your parade but the truth is this not a very good program. The first CD "talk now! japanese" is a good vocabulary builder, teaches a bunch of sections with little sections inside, for example, there will be the shopping section which teaches some random house hold items. Once you enter this section (or any other section) you have 4 choices- a list of the words, another part where you can record your own voice (very handy for pronunciation), then an easy game, and a hard game. All while I was using the first CD i was VERY happy, I felt like i was finally gonna be able to learn a good amount of japanese...WRONG!
On to the second CD, it wis ALL in japanese, with the exception of english directions. You have to realize you aren't taught any verbs in the first CD. Now I dont know how anybody else's brain works but mine needs directions and pased learning. The CD is set up in sections of games in different areas and I found myself guessing most of the answers and I didn't feel like I learned anything.
On to the third CD called Jquicktrans, didn't understand how it worked, gave up because I had better things to work with. difficult though.
On to the fourth CD, this is just a bonus program as I see it, learn some things about japan's culture, it is interesting, nothing special.
I learned some nice vocabulary, some stuff about japan's culture, some kanji. now I'm off to see if i can find a better method...

I didn't learn anything through this program and I would not suggest anyone buy this.

A four CD set with lots of cute games, a travel sorta photo/video/music collection and a very powerful dictionary/translation aid program.

Covers a wide spectrum from very beginner level word games to translation aid tools which link to the Windows clipboard and do automatic lookups of kanji.

The price seems amazingly low for the number of packages assembled in this collection.

I guess my version (which I just bought at Best Buy) is different from this one as Voyage in Japan is replaced with Human Japanese, which is the only disk I've yet to find helpful, other then JQuick. Human Japanese starts at the very beginning, explaining how all the sounds work and how Japanese is different from English. It teaches you all the letters before any words, so it acts a lot like a normal Japanese language class would. Very useful!!

I was torn between Instant Immersion and Rosetta Stone. Well, I.I. was 49 bucks while R.S. was 300 bucks. I tried I.I. I really did not enjoy this instant immersion software. Euro Talk could have done much better. Very poor interface, looks like a 10 year old programmed it. No real voice recognition, just a record/replay feature. Doesn't help. i quickly sent it back to the company for a refund and ordered R.S. no contest, R.S. wins by a landslide!

I sure hope I can get my money back for this. I got the "Deluxe" edition from Costco and it comes with no documentation. I tried one of the programs and it was not intuitive (no way to back up) and only covered about 25% of the screen. Yuck!