Instant Immersion Japanese

The first CD, Talk Now! Japanese, is where any beginner should start. The program contains very little documentation aside from what's on the box, so we had some trouble figuring out where to begin. However, the interface is intuitive enough that you'll be able to get the gist of the program after clicking around a bit. The sections are broken up into areas such as numbers, colors, first phrases, and foods, and the repetitive activities allow you to go as slowly or as quickly as you need. Each area of study is then broken up into five lessons, including listening comprehension and word repetition, and two games of varying difficulty to test what you learned. As closure for each area, you can print out all the words covered in the lesson for reference.

It's a pretty big leap from the first CD to the second, World Talk Japanese. Though it's meant to be a natural progression, we think beginners will have trouble making the move fluidly. This program, though it includes the same familiar lesson-and-game learning system as Talk Now!, is entirely in Japanese, including the lesson instructions, so it's incredibly hard to follow at times. While it forces you to pay attention and quickly learn what they're saying, it may be confusing at first. But if you're really lost, each game has English text instructions hidden away on the screen that we unearthed after clicking around.

The only gripe we have with the first two discs is that no Japanese grammar is taught, leaving the student with a basic comprehension of the language, but no way to know how to construct a simple sentence. With this in mind, the suite might serve a student better as a supplement to a course in grammar and a study of the written language.

The remaining two discs serve as independent utilities that augment the lessons taught in the first two. JquickTrans, in particular, is worth the price of this package alone. It's a comprehensive dictionary, translator, and kanji (Japanese characters) reference that will, through motivated individual learning, help teach new students about kanji and Japanese writing. The last program, Voyage in Japan, is a nice, though clunky, introduction to Japanese culture. It features short video clips and beautiful photographs with brief bits of text about the Japanese people, land, history, and traditions. We found the interface to be pretty unintuitive, so be patient while navigating the program.

At such a low price, you won't find a better deal for an introduction to Japanese. Although the four discs don't necessarily offer a linear or intuitive course to follow, any user will be able to pick out the pieces they're most interested in to get a solid introduction to Japanese. Ganbatte! --Ara Jane Olufson