Tell Me More Japanese Review

Tell Me More Japanese--Tell Me More Review--TellMeMore Language Software

Tell Me More Japanese; my first real investment in learning Japanese

Well, I've already put up a few posts about some of my first forays into learning the Japanese language, but now I'm gonna post about my first big investment into learning the language. The primary reasons that I chose Tell Me More Japanese over Rosetta Stone, Instant Immersion, or Berlitz were cost and reviews. Tell Me More Japanese cost nearly half as much as Rosetta Stone, and it scored similarly on many reviews, and higher than many of the other programs as far as content and quality. The only downside that I saw in any of the reviews I read (including the ones on Amazon.com) was that Tell Me More Japanese did not have an interface that was as user-friendly as that of Rosetta Stone. After reading a rave review by a native Japanese speaker who was now teaching Japanese to college students in America and said that she used this program with every class, I finally took the plunge and ordered the program.

My first impressions of Tell Me More Japanese

Well, it installed easily and beautifully, it came with a headset/speaker to work on the hearing/speaking portions of the program, and it came with a couple handy booklets; one to help with installation and other help issues, and one with a brief history of Japan and a couple hiragana and katakana charts. That was promising. When I ran it immediately upon installation it had this cute "menu" that was set up like a movie set with each section of the program attached to a related item or icon. So far it was all pretty straightforward. The only thing I did notice was that, unlike the language learning software I had used in high school for German and Spanish, this was not set up in specific lessons, but each individual section of the program was at a beginners level, and you have to master all of the sections in the first "lesson" level to get them all to move up to the next "lesson" level. It's a little weird and confusing at first, but it makes sense. In a way, it's almost better for me because I like being able to tailor my lesson when I sit down to work on my Japanese, instead of just having to follow a pre-made lesson plan based on the average person.

My current impressions of Tell Me More Japanese

I've discovered that one of the coolest features of Tell Me More Japanese is the speech correction portion of the program (you speak into it and it lets you know how your pronunciation is). While, to be perfectly honest, I don't feel like I've made much progress with the program, I do feel more confident about my decision to purchase Tell Me More Japanese. I think part of the reason that it felt so intimidating the first time that I used Tell Me More Japanese is that the program seems to presuppose either a little bit of knowledge about Japanese, or a teacher or workbook being used in conjunction with the program. This is great for me because I am more motivated to learn Japanese by being able to use multiple language learning workbooks and programs. This means that if I get overwhelmed, confused, or just bored by Tell Me More Japanese I can switch to another program for a while, and then come back to Tell Me More Japanese. I think it's awesome, and if you are really committed to learning Japanese you might too. If you prefer tailor-made mainstream lessons, Rosetta Stone may be for you, because many language learners do not want to have to think about planning their own Japanese lessons, but if you are willing to put in the effort (and want to save a few hundred dollars) Tell Me More Japanese is for you!