Instant Immersion American Sign Language Description:

The Instant Immersion American Sign Language package is a four-CD-ROM set that will get you started in learning the language of the deaf. The four discs attempt to meet the individual learning styles and needs of students of ASL. The SigningAvatar Friends disc is the most visually impressive of the four. Using the same video animation as you'd find in some of today's popular games, the characters come to life and interact with you in sign. This is a flexible application, allowing you to adjust the signing speed and the angle at which you view the signs, and select the character you favor most. The characters can each translate phrases for you, of any length, or you can follow along as they tell you their life story. The SignLink disc will be a great supplemental resource for those looking to find specific signs for words in English or to learn about deaf culture. The lexicon provides over 2,000 signs, presented in clear, QuickTime format. Also on this disc are other sections that are much like a printed book, covering ASL parameters (like hand position, movement, non-manual behavior, and so on), grammar, and American deaf culture. This disc is definitely good for practice and felt very inviting to us. The other two discs, Personal Communicator and HyperSign Kids, were more disappointing. Comparing the high video quality and wide-reaching content presented in the first two discs, we found that these two had little to offer. There was little age-specific content on the Kids disc (other than a child's voice pronouncing each word); in fact, both of these discs shared poor-quality video and uninviting interfaces. The picture identification and matching games on the children's version were the best feature of both of these discs overall. A note about install: each disc functions as its own standalone package. Unfortunately, none required a system restart or indicated that one was necessary. However, we found that the restart is necessary after each installation and trying to install another package without restarting led to system problems for us. The SignLink disc had additional problems because it required the installation of a very old version of QuickTime (2.1) and would not proceed without installing it. Overall, we highly recommend the first two discs of this set as strong learning tools for those interested in learning American Sign Language and getting a sense of American deaf culture. --Emilie Herbst