 | |  | | | Instant Immersion Italian Levels 1, 2 & 3 | | | | | SKU:
Top-Italian123NewerV-B004M3EL4W | | In Stock | | Availability:
Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | The quickest way to learn - guaranteed! Instant Immersion uses natural image association techniques to help you learn as easily as you learned your first language. You will have more fun, save money and reach your goals faster - guaranteed! Whether you're learning for school, work or your next vacation, Instant Immersion's fun and effective exercises, interactive activities and challenging quizzes will help you achieve language fluency in less time than other language systems. You will think, read and speak your new language with ease. Italian Levels 1, 2 & 3 includes three levels of interactive language learning on a DVD-ROM, the complete audio course for transferring to your iPod or MP3 player, and a printable picture dictionary. Bonus content includes an interactive DVD and the Who is Oscar Lake? computer mystery game. Includes a six-month money-back guarantee! Level 1 teaches you the essential words and phrases so you can get around with ease. Learn more complex phrases in Level 2, plus pronunciation and how to converse. In Level 3, immerse yourself in advanced conversations, refine your language skills and retain what you learned. Why does Rosetta Stone cost so much more? Because we refuse to spend millions on advertising. So instead of paying for their expensive ad campaign, try Instant Immersion Levels 1, 2 & 3. We guarantee you'll be satisfied or we'll give you your money back! | | | |
List Price:
| $49.99 | |
Our Price:
| $36.41 | |
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| $13.58 (27%)
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| | Product Details | | Package Length: | 7.5 inches | | Package Width: | 5.6 inches | | Package Height: | 2.2 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.2 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 76 reviews |
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| | System Requirements | | Platform: | Windows Vista / Windows 7 / Windows XP / Mac OS X | | Media: | DVD-ROM | | Item Quantity: | 1 |
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| | Features | Perfect for travel, business or schoolFun and easy to use!The world?s most popular language learning softwareWindows & Mac compatibleIncludes: DVD-ROM, audio course for MP3, interactive DVD, Who is Oscar Lake? CD-ROM, and a printable dictionary
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 76 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 found the following review helpful:
 OK for the price, but revolting graphics and interface May 29, 2011
By Karl
I received a review copy of this product, which I was interested in for a future trip to Italy. I've learned several languages over the years and have a background in linguistics, and so had some expectations for what a decent language course should include.
This product includes four disks: (1) a DVD for use with your TV (or computer), (2) a CD with MP3 (digital sound) files that can be played on some car CD players, or copied onto any MP3 player, (3) a computer application DVD and (4) a computer "Where is Oscar Lake?" game CD.
The interactive DVD has cheesy graphics and marginal sound. My main complaint about it is that it says each phrase or conversation in English first, and then Italian. My experience has been that it is easier to learn a language when the other language is presented first or even solely (with English subtitles at most). Most annoying is that if you press the replay button, you have to listen to the English again, when what most people would want to repeat is the Italian as they fine tune their pronunciation and memory.
The DVD has menu buttons to go to the next/previous phrase, but does not have a home button to go to the main DVD menu - you must use your remote control for that, or if watching on a computer, your computer menus (right-click, or player menu).
The MP3 CD includes PDF files with the text of the audio content, making it easy to follow along and learn how things are spelled / written. Annoying stereotypical Italian accordion music precedes audio from a variety of individuals, some of whom have very poor diction, whether speaking English or Italian.
The computer application does not install on your computer, but runs from the DVD. This saves space on your computer, but means that there are long delays and you have to listen to your DVD drive spinning. The graphics, colors and sound effects are absolutely horrendous and amateurish; small children might appreciate them. Such a turn-off, that I simply couldn't go through the entire course. Bad as they are, the time delays to progress through the quizzes and lessons are just intolerable if you want to move along and learn.
The Oscar Lake game disk was equally pitiful. It displayed a 2 inch by 4 inch game screen on a black background on my 27" monitor. The Readme notes that it was originally written during Windows 98 days, which explains a lot. The game is kind of cute, but I had to read the PDF Help file to understand how to proceed. Sort of slow and awkward by today's standards. Can't say that I got very far though.
Because this is quite cheap, runs on Windows or Mac, has a DVD (TV) disk and an on-the-go audio disc, this course still offers a lot for the price. If I were rating purely as an instructional tool, regardless of price, I'd give this one or two stars. For the price, I give it three stars, meaning "it's OK".
13 of 14 found the following review helpful:
 Extremely high value for affordable price May 26, 2011
By Me2011
"Me2011"
The Instant Immersion series of foreign language products aims to offer as much or more value than Rosetta Stone, for a much lower price point. It succeeds.
Pros:
-- The content and format is similar to Rosetta Stone products, featuring interactive menus, and vocabulary and pronunciation drills.
-- The set includes not just the software on CD, but also an interactive DVD-ROM, a complete audio course on mp3 CD (so you can practice in your car or whenever you just have an mp3 player with you), and a wonderful mystery game on CD called "Who is Oscar Lake?" (comparable to the award-winning video game "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?").
-- Contains 3 different learning levels of content, and you can progress at your own pace.
-- Includes a business section on level 3 so you can learn crucial business vocabulary and phrases without purchasing an additional, business Italian program.
-- Extremely affordable compared to Rosetta Stone levels 1 and 2 (this product is only $49.99 retail, compared to Rosetta Stone's hefty $449.00 pricetag)
-- As a former foreign language teacher with an MA in Spanish, and a semester of university-level Italian under my belt, I can confidently say you will learn at least 1 semester's worth of college level Italian language content through this course.
-- Great product for home school enrichment in a foreign language.
Cons:
-- While the product is keyed to the same levels as Rosetta Stone, they aren't linked to ACTFL proficiency guidelines for speaking and writing, so there's no way to know if this product will make you "fluent" or just offer you a basic smattering of Italian at a very beginner level. (The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages revised the guidelines in 1999 and they are available for free on the ACTFL website, if you want to understand the different fluency levels to guide your own progress in Italian).
-- The Instant Immersion series doesn't offer a more advanced product in the Italian program if you master the content on this one and want to move up to level 4 or higher.
Summary/Tips:
Overall, I can find no real fault with this program. If you are an absolute beginner in Italian and need someplace to start, this is a very deep program with lots of content delivered in several formats, so you can go at your own speed and practice your Italian at home, in front of the TV, on your computer, on your stereo or mp3 player, etc. If you are interested in becoming fluent in Italian, I would suggest following up on this program by using the Pimsleur Italian 1, Italian 2, and Italian 3 audio programs --
Italian I
Italian II, Second Edition: Compehensive Compact Discs
Italian III, Comprehensive: Learn to Speak and Understand Italian with Pimsleur Language Programs
Pimsleur's foreign language audio programs are very thorough. They don't have all the interactive software features, like Rosetta Stone or Instant Immersion, but they can help you become a more fluent speaker after you have mastered the basics. The only better price point than this one is "free" - and there are many free Italian learning resources available on the web, through the BBC's Languages portal, and through the ItalianLessons101 channel on You+tube that can help you progress after you have mastered the content in the Instant Immersion program. For language study software, however, this program is the best I've seen so far for students of Italian.
14 of 16 found the following review helpful:
It works, molto bene! Aug 27, 2011
By Joanna Daneman
I just got back from Italy where I spent a week in Florence.
I spoke enough Italian after this course to:
Order meals
Order plenty of vino rosso
Choose several flavors of gelato
find a restaurant near our hotel
Negotiate the purchase of some glass beads at the Mercato Centrale
Take a cooking class and ask what flour is used in the salt-free Tuscan bread
Complain about someone getting into our hotel room and smoking a stogie there
Yell "You fat swine!" when I got pinched on the Lungarno.
No guarantee your results will be the same, or your vacation as fun as mine, but it's worth a try.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
The basics for learning Italian on your own Jul 16, 2011
By Just ask me!
"bronxgal"
No matter what advertisements claim, you're not going to become fluent in a language by following a computerized, audio or video course--not this one and not any other.
However, if your objective is to learn some basic Italian for travel or for communicating on an elementary level with speakers of Italian, this package provides several forms of media: MP3s which you can put on a Ipod type player and listen to anywhere, a DVD with basic words and phrases, all slowly and carefully delivered with the text onscreen, and a CD-ROM with interactive exercises for computer learning. An interactive game is also included.
Because my "regular" computer is now a netbook, without a CD-ROM drive, I would have preferred if the computer content were delivered on a thumb drive, but otherwise this set is first-rate. No educational program will work if you don't use it, but this "Instant Immersion" system is entertaining enough that you'll learn enough Italian to get by if you stick with it.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Outstanding Product Jun 04, 2011
By t.g. randini
I am going to Italy in a few months and this software completely lived up to its name! Instant Immersion indeed! I took a crash course over a few weeks and tried it out on Italian acquaintances that moved here from Italy recently and they thought I communicated extremely well after only one month of learning! Easy to use... comprehensive... enjoyable... what more can you ask?
And it beats a university summer course because you can learn at your own pace AND it is much less money. Great product!
See all 76 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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