Instant Immersion French (4 CD-ROM)

The software package includes two other skill-level-dependent CD-ROMs. For absolute beginners, you'll start with the "Talk Now!" CD-ROM and learn basic words acontextually for colors, food, numbers, and basic phrases. You hear the French pronounced while an image of the concept is shown. Most teachers actually prefer this, so that students associate the French sounds and words directly with a concept rather than the English translation. Intermediate students will start with the "Word Talk French" CD-ROM, which has a variety of games for practicing vocabulary and a few more dialogues; you can also take dictation exercises or use your computer's microphone to repeat after the audio and compare your pronunciation to the recording. (It's painful, we know, but it helps.) The fourth CD-ROM is "Webster's New World Five Language Talking Dictionary"--a nice perk for pronunciation practice but not a real replacement for your handy Collins Gem.

Caveats: First, the various CD-ROMs are not truly sequential, so do not necessarily expect to graduate from the beginning and intermediate CD-ROMs to the "Voyage in France" tour. Second, the software is no ersatz for a competent French teacher and loads of homework, so do not expect similar results. The pedagogical approach here does not emphasize student production of French, either in speech or writing, so you will learn more to recognize spoken and written words and phrases than to speak or write them yourself. Overall, however, Instant Immersion French is a strong and, above all, affordable vocabulary-building resource--and it will take the doldrums out of memorizing new words. --Erik Macki

Amazon.com Product Description
In Europe, it's no secret that the vast majority of people are either bilingual or trilingual. The Euro Method is the easy and simple way so many Europeans learn to speak a second language. Based on the same proven techniques that allow a 4-year-old to learn to speak a language long before that same child can read or write, the Instant Immersion French package is guaranteed to be the best method for learning to speak a foreign language quickly. For years, linguists have known that an immersion environment is the fastest way to learn a second language--the concept is based on being surrounded by native speakers and new culture. Unfortunately, most of us cannot afford to spend six months in France, so the Instant Immersion method is the next best thing. In this easy-to-follow boxed set, you get four CD-ROMs, with each one complementing the others. The first two CDs are from EuroTalk, the leading publisher of language-learning software in Europe. Talk Now and World Talk will take you from being a beginner to an intermediate speaker faster than any other language-learning software on the market, and they are fun and easy to follow. The Webster's Five-Language Talking Dictionary is a real time pop-up dictionary that allows translation from English into French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Dutch. Finally, to round out the immersion experience, Voyage in France is a fascinating look at the language and culture of France.

OK I wrote that about 3 months ago, and I want to totally change my opinion by editing my review. After "passing" level 1, level 2 jump up way too much and I couldnt even understand half of it. It breaks down almost eveyday, it doesnt work with Windows XP, you can't have any other programs running at the same time, and overall its not any helpfull anymore.


Worst software ever   August 23, 2001
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This must be one of the worst purchases I have ever made. First, it came with no installation instructions, and the program froze all the time. Even when it was working, there was nothing to learn, other than colors and French translations for objects. How anyone could learn a language from this is beyond me, I definitely could not. If you can, more power to you.