Instant Immersion (Italian) Reviews

As an immersion approach, Instant Immersion promise to get you 'thinking in Italian' as well as covering the basics (reading, writing, talking and listening). They do this through the use of natural image association techniques to get you learning Italian as easily as you did your first language. This technique is claimed to be the most efficient for helping users achieve fluency and confidence in expressing themselves in spoken Italian; arguably the most important aspect of any language. Instant Immersion covers levels beginner to upper-intermediate level and various interactive activities make learning interesting and engaging as well as stimulating different areas of the brain which can optimize the language acquisition process. Flashcards, a tried and tested vocab learning tool, allow users build up a base of vocabulary which, when applied to grammatical structure, can be used to express a range of concepts and ideas through increasingly complex sentences. Speech recognition technology allows users to practice verbalizing what they have learned; vital with the immersion approach. 

After taking some time to work out Instant Immersion's user interface, which was not very user friendly, we found the actual activities enjoyable and effective. We especially enjoyed playing the bonus game 'who is Oscar Lake'; a rare opportunity to learn Italian socially as you can play this interactive game with friends. Also, the audio disk makes Instant Immersion a highly flexible learning solution as you can take it with you wherever you go; essential for the full immersion experience.

On the downside, it must be noted that the speech recognition technology was, although not in itself flawed, just more basic than that of other competitors because users cannot visualize their pronunciation of a word in an audio graphic.  Also, The grammatical explanations were pretty basic, not really enough to allow users to get to grips with the grammar. Furthermore, the immersion approach isn't even supposed to include grammatical explanations as users are supposed to 'learn like a child'. Overall, it appears as though Instant Immersion is simply jumping on the 'immersion approach' band wagon without offering a genuine immersion experience. Finally, if you should come across any problems with Instant Immersion, the customer support offered is poor. It is not made clear that the user interface only comes in English and there is no help line or Email address through which contact can be made. There is not even an FAQ or online support section, just the option to apply for some guidance forms. These significant drawbacks to Instant Immersion prevented it from achieving a top ten spot.

Despite its drawbacks, Immersion Italian is undeniably cheap and will enable you to learn the basics of Italian quickly. Advanced users, however, will need to supplement it with other language learning tools if they want to achieve anything approaching fluency. A broad range of simple yet effective activities make learning fun, certainly not a chore, and for the low price is seems reasonable not to expect the interactivity and cutting edge technology offered by more expensive competitors. Also, it must be noted that a lack of personalization, evaluation or tracking tools may leave you slightly unsure of whether or not you are actually making progress at all! Although we were not overly impressed with the Instant Immersion Italian software itself, at a very attractive price it does represent one of the best price-to-features ratios in this category and may be good for someone who wants a variety of features for a low price.

Check out our #1 rated site instead! Why not check out Rocket Italian, our top rated Teach Yourself Italian Guide and winner of our prestigious Gold Award! You can also check out our Top 10 Teach Yourself Italian Guides here!

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