5 comments about Instant Immersion Japanese.

1. I love this its excellent for beginners and intermediate alike. I have had it for about 3 months and i almost completed the hiragana phase. Use these cd in the right order and you will be fine.
   1. use cd#3 that teaches the characters and gives pointers on gerneral japanese
   2. use cd#1 this teaches you basic words and saying + numbers
   3. cd#2 teaches you intermediate to advanced japanese, be sure to get all 1800 points in the cd#1 then go to cd #2
   4. Cd#4 gives you quick translations and their characters.
   Get this it is definitly worth it and at a great price for all the cds and info it comes with!!



2. Disk#1 - too few words
   Disk#2 - starts with based on reading; but there are no lessons on how to read
   etc



3. I'm not sure if this is the exaxt same product, because the one I have has 6 cd's in it, but it's Instant Immersion Japanese, so I'm going with it.
   
   This was given to me by a friend who's trying to learn Japanese because he found it worthless, as in way too difficult for a beginner. I also found it too difficult. I gave it to a japanese friend of mine and he said it's correct but there's no way a westerner is going to learn Japanese from it.
   
   I found the whole approach ineffective. They didn't lie when they said it's instant immersion, they just immediately start speaking Japanese at a normal rate and don't let up, rarely if ever pausing to let you know what they said. I can learn more Japanese by watching imported DVD's than I can with this, at least there you get some some context clues and some gesticulation if you're observant.
   
   I know it's cheap, but you generally get what you pay for. Pimsleur is expensive but worth every penny. It's only weakness is that you have to get your expanded vocabulary elsewhere, but the grammar and pronunciation are outstanding. Rosetta stone is great for vocabulary, but weak in grammar...the two work fantastic together if you don't mind the cost - but education is expensive. You're better off spending the money for one or two good programs than you are dropping 40 or 50 dollars a pop on cheap programs over and over until you find one you can actually learn something from.
   
   This may be a very good addition to an ongoing study, but don't get your hopes up if you're a complete beginner and this is the only program you're planning to buy. You'll be lucky if you learn how to hail a taxi.



4. Sorry it's so looong =D
   This is the worst teaching product I have EVER seen! It is simply an illogical way to teach a language. They really do mean "Instant Immersion". The first disk is okay.They really start you off on a beginners' level(basic words, phrases, numbers, foods, and all that other good stuff...).The second disk is completely in Japanese, and sure they give you a clue or a hint here and there, but there is no way for a beginner to understand what is trying to be said. The Third disk is a pretty good book, but it doesn't cover everything, and the fourth disk is a translator that is hard to figure out unless you read the guide for it.I have read a couple of the previous reviews that people have written, and I am shocked that some of them think that it is the BEST possible program you could buy!For an example of what some people said:
   1)It's an inexpensive program -sure it's cheaper than others but it will also give you a cheap(poor)education in the language!You get what you pay for and the cheapest programs may not be the best. I'm NOT saying that all of the expensive ones ARE the best, but I'm saying that you should do more reasearch into something before you buy it. You know, find out all of the pros AND cons.If a LOT of people say it isn't good, then I wouldn't buy it.
   2)It's fast -I hate when companies promise something that works fast. I can understand being a busy person, but if you think you can learn something without having to do a little work!Just because something is fast doesn't mean it's the best quality...and half of the companies that promise fast results are usually the ones that don't come through.Besides half of the programs that you learn faster with are the ones that no one is willing to use(example: BOOKS!!!).
   
   Personally I'd just buy a book.If you have enough time to waste on this program, you should have enough time to read a book.If you're looking into it, I have found that "Genki: An Intergrated Course in Elementry Japanese" works best.It's kind of expensive, but it is worth it's weight in gold.In one review for Instant Immersion someone said they learned hiragana in 3 months and in a review for Genki someone said they taught themself hiragana in about 1 week.If you're really serious about learning Japanese then you should buy Genki.If you want some personal advice: before you buy this,or any other program (or anything!),I'd research into it- find the BEST programs and the BEST deals you can get for them.



5. From the descriptions of the programmes on the box, I thought that this could be helpful--at least, that "Human Japanese" would. This is NOT the "quickest way to learn a language"; if it's quick, it's only because it teaches you very little.
   
   "Talk Now" is VERY basic. It teaches greetings, colours, numbers, food, etc. words by saying each word/expression for you (and showing it on the screen--though it tends to use kanji, which I don't find too suitable, especially if you keep in mind that the people using this CD are complete beginners, many of whom aren't even completely familiar with romanisation) with a rather scratchy recording. Then you can record yourself and then listen to see how you match with the example speaker(s)--but this is not like the more expensive software in which the programme itself actually compares the two. Then there's some practice, and you go on to the next category. Again, you only learn REALLY basic words--"hai," "iie," "konnichi wa," "konban wa," "takushii," "koohii," "sakana," "Nihon," "Amerika," "aka," etc. And in the end, most people probably won't be able to remember too much of what they "learned"--so much for "instant immersion," especially when there isn't any context for the words. Seriously, it doesn't seem too practical to teach people the names of random countries without even giving them a sentence (pattern). What are you going to have people do--walk up to maps and point as they name the countries they know from the CD?
   World Talk may utilise "immersion" (finally--something as advertised), but unless you have at least some background in the language, you'll be quite confused--and this "background" CANNOT be attained in what is basically a basic word list which is the "programme" "Talk Now." Even right at the beginning, when they ask you to type your name: What's the point of writing it in Japanese? A beginner will probably EVENTUALLY figure out what they're supposed to do, but really, the Japanese text is completely unnecessary. I doubt beginners will be able to learn much if they can't even pick up a single word. There needs to be a CD in between these two to "bridge the gap."
   As for Human Japanese, I only looked at a little of it, but already I began to disapprove of it. Again, it's very basic (though at least it introduces SOME grammar), but it does not "link" AT ALL with the previous two CD's. What irks me even more is that words which SHOULD be written in katakana are written in hiragana. The programme itself seems to be quite low-cost--from interface/design to the content itself. You should get a real textbook instead, unless you just want some basic knowledge--though this doesn't exactly teach grammar very well/in-depth.
   Translators in general do not work too well. I only used it once, but wasn't really impressed. After all, you can always get something translated for free (and inaccurately, as almost all of them do) on the internet.
   
   Overall, very disappointing. I would not buy it unless I really had no other book/programme/CD's to get.

5 comments about Power Japanese (Jewel Case).

1. The psycology or approach of the "Lessons" is excellent but the programmer was sloppy. The S/W introduces you to the Kana characters pronouncing each and has the option to draw for you each character. Where there might be similarities the S/W shows both Kana for your comparison. The S/W then tests your knowledge of the Kana, writen and verbal.
   My low rating is against the programming. I had to install it a second time. The first time The S/W called a different font than the Kana fonts. it did not have the Kana font up on "Typed" pages but a roman font which did not make sense in either language. Also, On some pages, primarily intoductions or side bars, a few characters or highlights are out of place.



2. IMO working through every module of this program will take 4-6 weeks so $50 is a pretty good deal. However some of the sentences taught are iffy: "Kanai udon desu." This translates to "My wife is a noodle." The graphics are nothing to write home about but the kana drills are excellent because they really force you to make fine (aural) distinctions between similar sounding kana. Overall Im satisfied with this purchase but wish they would: 1) upgrade their 1980s graphics 2) use correct grammar 3) choose more relevant (to every day life) katakana example words



3. Have been using this for 2/3 weeks and was satisfied - not deliriously - but not unhappy - until tonite when it decided to no longer present the Kana but a jumble of Western characters where the Kana should be. Program now useless.



4. I'm running on Windows XP and the language program does not work correctly every time I shut down. In order to see the kana characters I have to reinstall the program all over again. The manufacturer needs a fix for this asap. Without being able to see the kana characters the program is totally useless. Any help with a fix for this would be greatly appreciated. Unless there's a fix, I would not buy this program.



5. I wanted to use my pc to learn Japanese so that I could have audio and visual lessons at the same time. The first thing that bothered me about lessons I've tried is the use of Romanji. I thought it was be easier to use English phonetics to sound out Japanese. With Power Japanese, I found it makes much more sense to learn the sounds that go with the kana symbols (they start with hiragana). I already had Kana Pictographix Kana Pict-O-Graphix: Mnemonics for Japanese Hiragana and Katakana(using mnemonics to learn had been my learning style in school), a great complement to this product. The lessons point out the mistakes English speakers make when learning pronunciation (like su is said more like the Si in silk, rather than 'sue'). Then you move to the section that has you pronounce what you see with a 'playback' button and definition button for the word. The next screen has you type the hiragana based on what you think you heard. It keeps score and reminds you take take breaks every 20 minutes (to avoid cramming). I've only begun using this software, and I see no need to look for others. (*I should also note that I use the above mentioned Kana Pictographix, Pimsleur audio lessons, and Japanese films [not anime] together to learn Japanese-approaching from every angle). Hope this helps you in your search.

5 comments about Power Chinese (DVD Case).

1. I love this program. It's visually entertaining, and the text is entertaining, too. The author has a sense of humor. You click on a shivery little button (the buttons jiggle until you click on them), and read some humorously phrased piece of information. Each page is like an adventure game where you click on things and learn some surprising new fact. Plus the material is very clearly and logically presented - in addition to being entertaining.
   
   I know that some people think that you should just jump into speaking without understanding anything, but I have an analytical turn of mind, and I like understanding stuff. That said, I don't want to be overwhelmed and bored with technical grammatical terminology. This program balances explanation and practice perfectly. For example, in an exercise to learn Chinese sentence structure, you rearrange pictures (e.g. of a man, and eye to represent "see") in the order a Chinese would say it.
   
   I could go on and on about how much I like this program, but I think you get the idea. I went to the Transparent Web site to see what else they have, and ended up downloading the free version - and then buying the enhanced version - of "Before You Know It - Chinese". It's an excellent electronic flashcard program with a clever design that allows you to add modules.
   
   Power Chinese is elegant, well-done software - a great self-teaching tool to learn Chinese. People always talk about Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone... They should be talking about Power Chinese!!



2. If you're will to put in the time and effort to learn a completely new and unique language, then this software can help a lot. After only getting through the first 6 screens of lessons, I learned simple words which I actually used when visiting Shanghai, and I impressed those I spoke them to - and I only knew a few words.
   
   The structure of this program seems to be well thought out and it teachs words and phrases, as well as providing nice facts about the language and culture of China. This software does a great job for the price.
   
   If you can borrow this from a library which might hold this type of software, try it out before buying, but I'd recommend it as long as you seriously want to put the time and effort to learn. As other reviews noted, no one method works the best for all people though.



3. First off, with respect to the compatibility issues, a quick stop at www.transparent.com shows that the program must run at 1024x768 or at 800x600. This is unfortunate, and it is annoying to have to change my monitor's resolution, but it seems a small price for an interesting and useful program.
   
   
   
   Pimsleur is a great tool for learning the spoken language and the pronunciation. Where it falls down is the lack of additional resources if you're not sure what you're hearing. This program provides those resources in spades. You get to see the actual Chinese characters, as well as their pinyin equivalents. This makes it much easier to validate your ears. The ability to see the stroke order for characters adds to the value of the program.
   
   
   
   The examples and exercises are excellent. The discussion of the progression of the Chinese characters for king, jade, and country (whether true or not) truly helps to "cement" those characters in your mind. The exercise where you see the character, play its sound, then position it under the correct table heading--depending on which of the four tones you hear--is extremely valuable. The same can be said for the exercises in which you must select which consonant you are hearing. This ear training, combined with the visual link to the characters and the pinyin, adds a great deal of clarity to the learning process.
   
   
   
   Since I'm already using the Pimsleur CD's, I cannot say whether or not Power Chinese is adequate to stand on its own as a Chinese language learning tool. I can definitely say that it augments Pimsleur quite nicely.



4. Power Chinese is relatively inexpensive introduction to the chinese language.If you devote enough time to study you will learn the same language skills that more expensive DVDs may teach you.



5. Power Chinese is good, but you need to know that with it you will not be able to create your own original sentence in Mandarin. For this reason I suggest you take Amazon's recommendation of 'Better Together' and order this along with Behind the Wheel Chinese (Mandarin), Level 1: Learn to Speak Mandarin Chinese Quickly and Easily! (8 One Hour CDs). If you can only order one at a time then begin with Behind the Wheel Chinese (Mandarin), Level 1: Learn to Speak Mandarin Chinese Quickly and Easily! (8 One Hour CDs) and then move on to Power Chinese.

1 comments about Instant Immersion Chinese Deluxe v3.0.

1. 
   
   
   I wish I could give this product a good review, but it would have to run on my computer in order for me to do that. If you have Vista beware. The customer service folks tried to help, but they finally gave up. I asked a few questions that would allow me to do it manually, but they ignored those and pointed me in totally worthless directions.
   
   They finally offered me a refund, but I haven't taken them up on it yet. I was able to run on my office PC running XP. I copied the disk to a thumb drive and then burned a DVD on my own computer. That ran, but did not install correctly, and I don't think their customer service people are that technically savvy to be able to help.
   
   In the the areas that I could get to run, I noticed the people speaking were using Taiwanese versions of Mandarin, not Beijing as I was expeting.

1 comments about Instant Immersion Chinese v3.0.

1. I love this software.It's easy to use and comes with alot of features.Has a printable dictionary can be changed to the language of your choice.Fun language games including Out to Dinner & Lottery Numbers.I love the Recording feature that allows you to compare your speech to native speakers.It also has audio lessons for your iPod or MP3 player.Comes with a bonus Multilingual Video Phrase Book disc.If your looking for software to help you learn chinese this is a great one.

No comments about Instant Immersion Japanese Deluxe v3.0.

No comments about Instant Immersion Japanese v3.0.

5 comments about Rosetta Stone V2: Thai, Level 1.

1. We both tried it. Too obtuse an approach. We believe in immersion learning but had no idea what the words were we were learning. The photos show too much activity and conflicting items/images. Some of the speakers were slower and more distinct in their diction than others. We gave up. Instead we will proceed to Thailand and live with a non-English speaking Thai family for three months while we are in language school. However, we can now say "hello" with the proper hand and head bowing greeting thanks to the Buddhist monks in our local wat.



2. I'm going back to Thailand for vacation and wanted to learn a little more Thai this time around. I've tried several different things and Rosetta Stone was the worst.
   
   Learning Thai from scratch requires a base knowledge of sentence structure and tonality rather than just vocabulary. Take tonality for example "maa" said three different ways, it can mean three different things. It can mean: to come, a horse, or a dog based on a slight tonal difference.
   
   Thai sentence structure is "backwards" from most English, so I don't see how they could teach that either. For example in English you say "Is this your house? in Thai you would literally say "house you isn't it?" Asking and answering questions is simply different than how we speak English and this program doesn't teach those things.
   
   Even plain vocabulary is difficult with this program. The local speaker speaks so quickly, it's difficult to catch on to what they are saying. A lot of the vocabulary is useless for day-to-day tourist interactions if you're just planning a visit there. So what if you learn "the man is riding a horse", or "the boy is under the table."
   
   Thais also seem to shorten what they are saying and don't make long complete sentences like we would.
   
   Pimsleur audio is another alternative, but after repeating what I learned on the CD to a friend living in Thailand he laughed and said, people don't talk like that here! Way, way too formal.
   
   What's worked for me is Thai for beginners book, with the CD (I don't see how you could do it without the cd) as a guidebook. I then hired a thai tutor living in Thailand to teach me via voice chat online. Her hourly rate was very inexpensive, and I got loads more practical language skills than any software program.
   
   Bottom line, don't waste your money on this program if you're wanting to learn for travel.
   
   I do agree with the other positive reviewer in that if you are planning on studying Thai indepth, possibly to live there this may help build your vocabulary.



3. I live in Thailand and have tried various phrase books, language media, as well as an English-Thai dictionary (which i still use for reference) and feel the need to give RossettaStone its just due. After reading the other reviews i could not understand what the problem was. RosettaStone does not use translation (which is the worst way to learn a new language!)but instead uses a "mothers tongue" or acquisition approach. This approach may take some getting used to but once the learner feels comfortable using the RosettaStone method one should see progress rather quickly. Yes Thai language is very different from English such as different sentence structures, lack of tenses, adjectives following a noun instead of preceeding a noun, a whole set of personal pronouns that change depending on the sex of the speaker, and then a whole seperate set for royalty, etc, etc. but this should not discourage a person from learning Thai. I will agree that to shell out the money for RossetaStone may not be practical if one is just visiting Thailand on holiday, a phrase book would meet this need just fine since you probably wont get the tones right anyway but hey its Thailand and Thais are very tolerant. If you are planning on spending more than just a holiday,( like if you live in Thailand)then RossettaStone can be of benefit as well as taking a formal Thai language course. It's also important to keep in mind that the RosettaStone programs are not designed to learn a new language in a week which would be totally unrealistic but more like several months to a year.



4. Even though i've only gotten to start a few lessons now, I think that this program is exactly what i've needed to learn Thai. Starting without explicit instructions, each lesson takes you through learning Thai in the way you learn your first language - pictures, sound, repetition, and associating words together through context instead of pre-determined vocabulary lists. The way they designed the program is genius! I highly recommend this instead of over-used language tapes and workbooks.



5. I've taught French for 30-odd years and have always wanted to learn an Asian language. No, I'm not looking for a compendium of useful phrases for travel, but rather a working knowledge of the language. Oh, and as a proud autodidact, I want to do it on my own. I've been at it for a couple of weeks now, using Rosetta Stone as my core tool. I've supplemented it with a grammar, a dictionary, and more patience than I thought I had. I'm finding the Rosetta Stone approach necessary but not sufficient -- it's much more useful for speaking and listening comprehension than for reading and writing, the Thai alphabet being what it is. the For the latter two skills, I'm in search of a tutor, not so much to teach but to fill in any ambiguities in the written texts. All in all, given the "at mother's knee" philosophy of Rosetta Stone's method, I cannot imagine the pedagogy being carried off any better. I wish only that there were level II and III versions!

3 comments about Rosetta Stone V2: Vietnamese, Level 1.

1. Rosetta Stone language products are one of the most effective ways of learning
   a language on your own. I really treasure my Vietnamese software. I'm getting long
   in the tooth so learning a new language, especially a tonal one, is a real challenge.
   Being able to hear the words over and over and practice sounding them out in the
   privacy of my home makes learning this language much more feasible.
   I'm saving to buy the Mandarin software next.



2. I have been using this software for a while and it is my favourite tool to learn vietnamese. It really takes a lot longer than I would of thought, but this software really drills the words into your head in such a way that you remember a lot of it. Also, you read and hear the words so often that you just end up knowing them by heart, remembering how to say them, read them, etc. Unlike the flash cards systems though you don't get too bored out of your ming using it. I think it still makes sense to take an actual language class where you can practice conversation, but I really recommend this product. My kids use it sometimes for fun and it's pretty amazing how they walk around the house repeading the sentenses they learned in the sofware after, it does not seem that age is really a factor for using this. The only thing that does not work well in my experience is the voice recognition portion, it just doesn't do very well on my laptop because it does not recognise the sentences often, even though I know I didn't say it that bad. I tried it on desktop and I did not get better results, so I think this feature needs improvements; I just stopped using it. I would also like to be able to type the words using my keyboard in the writing part, instead of clicking on words. Regardless of this though I think the method is so nice that I give it 5 stars.



3. I work with a lot of vietnamese people at my job. That is why I got this product and it has helped communicate better with them. It is a great and very helpful product. I love the way it teaches and makes learning the language easier.

5 comments about Rosetta Stone V2: Korean, Level 1.

1. The oft-touted six-month money-back guarantee is no good if you buy this product on Amazon. We found that out the hard way by calling Rosetta Stone. The representative said that any of their products are not guaranteed unless bought directly from their website or stores. Ouch!
   The reason we wanted to return it is that the written portion of the program is in Korean characters and not Romanized. Therefore, it's very hard to understand the details of things being said. We turned to a different system and it's working much better!



2. So this is the software so highly recommended? Well my rating for this software would be 0/5 if I could. I began this software already knowing hangeul so that was not the main problem. The main problem was when using the program, the pictures can have multiple meanings (and there is NO english translation to let you know which of your guesses is right). I understand their concept of total immersion but when the pictures can be so vague in meaning, it makes it not a very good program. And considering that I read hangeul, if you were to have a beginner who did not know hangeul this program would NOT work. Rosetta Stone is not what it is all cracked up to be.



3. I've used these for other languages and did know hanguel, the Korean writing system, so I didn't encounter the problems others did. I'm a rather intuitive learner and prefer this to sitting in a class waiting for others to catch on. Here I can go at my own pace.
   
   It's important to start with the guided exercises and then do the tests or other activities. That way you get better hints on what the answer is. You do that till you feel you've mastered something, and then move on. You are able to choose the order and time you spend on something and can hear a lot of Korean.
   
   Much better than a tape series in my opinion.



4. This software requires the CD-ROM to always be present to play. This does not work on my laptop when the CD-ROM drive is removed.
   
   This limitation was not listed anywhere that I found and was not apparent until after installation.
   
   The learning process was exactly the same a the Web version, except there is no tracking of progress or test results in this version.



5. The only better way to learn a language is total immersion. But since this requires growing up with the language, or spending two or three months hearing and speaking nothing but the target language,it is not a practical solution for most of us. Rosetta stone is the next best thing. You learn the language in the same manner of a child growing up in it, or by total immersion only without the need to survive as an added incentive. With Rosetta Stone, you go as fast as you are able. For the first time learning another language is actually fun for me.