Instant Immersion Spanish (4 CD-ROM)

Instant Immersion Spanish (4 CD-ROM) Review

Instant Immersion Spanish (4 CD-ROM) Overview

While it's true that no better vocabulary-acquisition method exists than tried-and-true flash cards, they need not be of the paper variety. Instant Immersion Spanish is one solution: a set of four CD-ROMs that will take some of the pain out of learning new Spanish words simply by being quite a bit more fun than flash cards. In addition, the package includes the "Who Is Oscar Lake?" CD-ROM, a kind of interactive story game where different people give you clues to a mystery you must solve--all in Spanish. This will be entertaining for anyone who has had about a year of Spanish already, kids and adults alike.

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 contextually for colors, food, numbers, and basic phrases. You hear the Spanish pronounced while an image of the concept is shown. Most teachers actually prefer this, so that students associate the Spanish sounds and words directly with a concept rather than the English translation. Intermediate students will start with the "Word Talk Spanish" CD-ROM, which has a variety of games to practice 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 Oscar Lake game. Second, the software is no ersatz for a competent Spanish teacher and loads of homework, so do not expect similar results. The pedagogical approach here does not emphasize student production of Spanish, 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 Spanish is a strong and, above all, affordable vocabulary-building resource--and it will take the doldrums out of memorizing new words. --Erik Macki

Instant Immersion Spanish (4 CD-ROM) Specifications

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 tried-and-proven techniques that allow a four-year-old to learn to speak a language long before that same child can read or write, the Instant Immersion Spanish package is guaranteed to be the best method for learning to speak Spanish quickly. For years, linguists have known that an immersion environment is the absolute, 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 Spain or Mexico, 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. The other two, Talk Now and World Talk, will take you from beginner to an intermediate speaker faster than any other language-learning software on the market, and all the while, 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 to French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Dutch. Finally, to round out the immersion experience, Who is Oscar Lake? is a fun and challenging interactive language-learning mystery game.

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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Jun 18, 2011 11:10:33