Instant Immersion Japanese Reviewer's Comments

Instant Immersion Japanese Deluxe 3.0 is a great program for learning Japanese, but this is mostly because it uses the #2 product, Tell Me More Japanese, as the main teaching element. The Instant Immersion curriculum also includes some audio lessons and an interactive DVD for practicing vocabulary.

Instant Immersion Japanese works just as well as Tell Me More, but we were disappointed because it doesn’t include an interactive adventure game that other language versions of the Instant Immersion suite include. The audio lessons are useful though because they can be put on an MP3 player for learning on the go.

While the extra lessons and DVD were a nice addition to the learning program, they weren’t enough to make Instant Immersion a better Japanese teaching program than Tell Me More. That’s ultimately why Instant Immersion didn’t rank higher in the review.

Instant Immersion Japanese Screenshots. Click for more
       


Features:  

You can easily check your progress and your performance in Instant Immersion, although the progress report may be a little confusing at first because of the numerous bubbles that show scores. You can also customize your learning regimen in any way you want, but conversely, there is very little structure regarding where to start. Instant Immersion may be a little daunting for beginners because it is so unstructured.

The Instant Immersion audio lessons that are included with the program are also useful because they can allow you to learn anywhere you go.

Fundamentals:  

Instant Immersion teaches all the fundamentals you need to learn Japanese, though the learning curve is pretty steep at first. While images and voice clips are used to teach vocabulary, the program relies heavily on grammar texts for teaching how the words are used. This may be difficult for people who need a more interactive learning environment. Conversation and pronunciation are practiced through the Instant Immersion speech recognition program, which is useful but not as accurate as the ones in other language versions of Instant Immersion.

Ease of Use:  

Instant Immersion suffers from the same navigation problems that Tell Me More has. This means that it is difficult to know exactly where to go for different modules and exercises, but gets easier with practice. Additionally, the extra CDs and DVDs in the Instant Immersion package are useful but equal more disc swapping.

Teaching Tools:  

Most of the teaching is done through images, audio of native speakers and the speech recognition system. However, Instant Immersion adds in some video with narration in Japanese, which is nice for breaking up the routine. The cultural lessons are fairly sparse but still useful for understanding the basics of Japanese culture.

Word Tools:  

Instant Immersion includes some useful ways to translate words if you get stuck. Most activities allow you to do it without leaving the screen you are on, which is especially useful. You can also display words in the Japanese alphabets.

Tech Support:  

The manufacturer, TOPICS Entertainment, has pretty poor technical support when compared to other Learn Japanese programs. There is only email support for technical problems, and the FAQ is a horribly convoluted database of various documents about the program. You must register a question and then receive a list of suggested documents that may or may not answer your question.

Summary:  

Instant Immersion enjoys most of the benefits of the parent program, Tell Me More, but even with the additional audio and DVD content it isn’t quite as useful as Tell Me More. It’s still a great program, but if you want the best in Learn Japanese Software, try Rosetta Stone.