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Instant Immersion Spanish v2.0 Review

Instant Immersion Spanish Language-Learning Program!

"Not only is Spanish similar to English, but Spanish is approachable in many ways. If you are an English speaker and you want to learn a language, and you're over 12, go for Spanish. That's the one that will beat you up the least." John McWhorter, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, in Lecture 34 of "The Story of Human Languages" published by The Teaching Company

Over the years I have used or reviewed a number of different Spanish language learning courses. Some I found were quite good, others were very poor indeed.

While I do believe that learning Spanish while living in a Spanish speaking country is still the best way to become fluent, that is not practical for most people.

Nevertheless, I have found that there are several Spanish language learning programs that can get you to a decent level of proficiency if you are actually serious and follow the programs as designed. These programs can even be used to prepare yourself prior to going to a Spanish speaking country to learn Spanish if that is the learning approach you choose.

While there are some programs that stand out above others, there is no program that is perfect for all situations and needs.

If you are going to take the time and make the effort to learn Spanish, which Spanish language learning programs offer the best approach to meeting your goal? In this series of reviews we'll take a look at the top self study Spanish language learning programs, discuss their strengths and weaknesses, and provide you with our recommendations.

Popular Spanish Language-Learning Programs
Based on our research and customer feedback as of June, 2008

Instant Immersion Highlights
5 Cds covering...
Basic vocabulary
Beginner & Advanced Grammar Books
Pronunciation
Printable Dictionary
Recording feature for speech comparison
Adjustable speed stories
Printable worksheets
2000 Word dictionary
Speaking
Grammar
Listening
Dictation
Comprehension

Instant Immersion^TM Spanish v2.0
www.InstantImmersion.com/spanish

Overall Rating
Not Recommended

Here is what the publisher has to say about Instant Immersion v2.0: "Instant Immersion Version 2.0 moves you from a beginner to an intermediate speaker with a five CD-ROM course of study. Including Talk Now!, Talk More, and World Talk from Eurotalk, you will focus on basic vocabulary, phrases, and accurate pronunciation through the use of video technology features. Supplement your study with the Interactive Picture Dictionary, featuring 2,000 word entries. Finally, test your linguistic skills with Who is Oscar Lake, a challenging interactive mystery game."

However, I have been disappointed with Instant Immersion products. I do not find the quality very high. The software products tend to be full of bugs or errors and lack instructions to give you direction. I have purchased both the standard and deleuxe levels and cannot recommend them.

The product includes CDs on...

Alphabets and sounds
Greetings, days of the week and weather
Numbers, colors, time/hours and telephone numbers
Adjectives, prepositions and verbs
Shopping terms and methods of payment
Talk Now CD
Talk More CD
World Talk CD
Who is Oscar Lake? CD

But they are not very useful. The methodology is classic memorization. First a list of words or short phrases is read (you do not have a transcript to see how the words are spelled), then they are read again with a translation into English, followed by a reading of them again only in Spanish. You are expected to recall the meaning of all the words during this last reading. Short stories, poems, or other interjections which are read complete then translated are thrown in here and there. Imagine having a full page read to you in a foreign language and then after being finished, it is then read to you in English. Would you be able to make an association with all the words?

One advantage is that the program is cheap (it is not expensive), a major disadvantage is that it is cheap (poorly put together, lacking good instruction and documenation, and not well thought out). Quizzes may ask a different number of questions than what they grade you on so you can't get a 100% even with all answers correct. Other quizzes will ask about something that was never in the lesson or any other lesson up to that point. Product quality control is lacking in their production process.

Pros:

Cheap (not expensive)
Native Spanish Speakers so you learn correct pronounciation

Cons:

Poorly organized
Poor methodology
Poor quality control

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