Instant Immersion English Pro 7 CD Platinum

The central component of the package is the four-CD Tell Me More collection. Consisting of a single installation disc and three increasingly challenging "lesson" CDs, Tell Me More is a multimedia extravaganza of video snippets, still photographs, interactive dialogue, written and verbal exercises, and edutainment games. Intended only for those who speak Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, German, and English, the program offers everything from strict text-based phonetics and conjugation instruction to lighthearted games of hangman and fill in the blanks, wherein incorrect answers generate a chorus of boos and proper responses prompt wild applause. Unfortunately, Tell Me More does not always understand the spoken word as well as it should, and therefore may award average or failing scores for perfectly enunciated passages. Furthermore, the program's many interfaces are not particularly easy to navigate.

Such is not the case with English Vocabulary Builder, a single-CD application structured for total rookies and especially appealing to children. With its uncomplicated flash card format, warm and fuzzy illustrations, enthusiastic verbal delivery, and customized printable certificates, this is a great beginner's tool and a lot of fun to boot.

Two other CDs complete the collection. The first, English Plus, works in similar fashion to Tell Me More but is substantially less interesting and versatile. The material seems sensible and the instructors do enunciate clearly, yet its mouse-heavy navigation is dated and its sense of repetition when compared to Tell Me More is quite obvious. The seventh and final disc, Road to Citizenship, is not a full-blown language tutor but a primer for those who want to become citizens of the U.S. Updated in 2001, Road to Citizenship helps determine eligibility, offers numerous governmental contacts, and even teaches users how to read and speak some of the most common naturalization interview questions.

Instant Immersion English Pro delivers a wealth of material for a budget price. Despite its foibles, there's still very much to like in this instructional yet entertaining language tutor. --Gordon Goble

Amazon.com Product Description
Start speaking, reading, and writing English today. Whether your study is for business, travel, school, or U.S. naturalization, Instant Immersion English Pro's teaching methods and technology combine to create a language experience that delivers results. This seven-CD set features four Tell Me More language learning CD-ROMs, an English vocabulary builder, English Plus with 22 interactive lessons, and the Road to Citizenship CD-ROM--a tutorial for U.S. naturalization.

Tell Me More's four-CD-ROM suite offers beginning, intermediate, and advanced lessons, and forms the core of this comprehensive English language series. You'll be guided through lessons complete with video clips and animations on vocabulary, grammar, phonetics, conversations, conjugation, cultural traditions, and more. Interactive speech recognition even corrects pronunciation and intonation. And because everyone learns at his or her own pace, lessons can be personalized.

The English Vocabulary Builder combines visual and memory learning to maximize retention. Use the recording feature to practice vocabulary and compare your speech to that of a native speaker's. English Plus covers speaking, reading, writing, and listening, helping you grow more comfortable with using the language over its 22 interactive lessons. Explore tenses, culture, directions, and more.

Geared towards students preparing for U.S. citizenship and naturalization, the Road to Citizenship CD-ROM offers sample tests, practice interview questions, and more. It even helps you find the closest INS office and prepare for the U.S. history and government test.

I tried the CD 5, a vocabulary builder. I realized it was for real rookies (read: grade 1 kids). The flash cards had cards for such mundane words like: eating, drinking, supermarket, trees etc... hope you are getting the drift. At about 200 words/flash cards maximum - taught through 9 different entry points, the content doesn't justify 600+MB of space it occupied on the CD (Remember Microsoft Encarta originally came in 1 CD). Amazing is that how they wasted valuable space to store .wav files for nearly 3 dozen languages to teach from! As noted by other reviewers, this is a hotchpotch collection. If this is what I sampled, I am not even wasting my time opening other CDs.

You are better off reading books.


this program is clumsy   July 27, 2002
14 out of 14 found this review helpful

I brought this program for my relaitves who came from India and I found it very clumsy and difficult to navigate and use. The applications on the different CDs are not cohesive and I find the whole process of using the applications difficult to use 1) I can't click on the different options too well 2) It teaches only very basic sentences 3) Does not teach any grammar. I was better off teaching my relatives by myself.


Don't buy this program!   March 31, 2002
Mark Swanson (Pembroke Pines, FL USA)
30 out of 32 found this review helpful

This program is terribly unfriendly to the first time user. I speak perfect English and it gave me fits. I pity the fool who doesn't speak English and tries to use this. It requires the patience of Job. Actually this is not at all a unified program, but several separate programs offered as a unit. When you try to install it, it wants to change your computer. I had to uninstall everything after making the mistake of letting the program adjust the computer's resolution. It forced me to reinstall Windows before I could get it to work at all. Disk 1 is for instalation only, to work disks 2, 3, and 4. Don't think you learned anything when you finish #4. Numbers 5, 6 and 7 are completely different and you have to start from scratch with each one, if you haven't thrown the whole thing out by then. If the producers of this product had any sense, they would have built some uniformity into the program to make it easy to install and use, put good labels on the icons to describe each action, and made it flow with easy to follow progression instead of the chaos they provided. Bad, worse and terrible describe this program. And you can tell them I said so.


Plus See; Minus Touch   February 11, 2002
2 out of 51 found this review helpful

I am not a native speaker of English living in the US since a couple of months, and I am still learning English. My teachers say I am smart enough to learn English very quickly, and I could teach my native language to Americans. Well, I believe these CDs are what I want, but I cannot afford to buy them now, because I spent some money on buying a book on language from amazon.com (the best web site for such stuff) yesterday. I can just see the CDs on your web site and dream of having them in my hands some day. I wonder when this dream is gonna be come true.