I don’t know whether to laugh at or to be annoyed with my Japanese course on CD-ROM.
First of all, they have animations of people talking as the words are spoken. Problem is, it’s what you’d call “stock footage.” It offers no actual tips on pronunciation and it’s basically just for show, which is distracting.
Secondly, the words are just too easy for someone’s who’s taken one year of a Japanese course. I can pass the “hard” test without even having looked at the vocabulary list for that section (as a matter of fact, the hardest part is matching the pictures.) Some of the tests don’t even depend on any knowledge of the Japanese language. In the section entitled “Countries,” the “easy” test consists of the program showing you flags. And then a map of the general area the country’s in while they say the country’s name. It’s flag recognition test, not a vocabulary test.
Thirdly, you can only hear “Atari!” and “Yoku dekimashita!” so many times before it starts to threaten your eardrums. And quite possibly your sanity.
Although I shall admit that the dictionary program that comes with it is quite useful.
「生きてることも愛されることも 当たり前じゃなかった」