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Summary: American Sign Language on CD Rom
Review: ASL onCD Rom has great videos of each sign which can be repeated as often as you need and at your own pace. The explanations are also written but do not always match the video. In order to see the sign you must type in the word. You are not able to type in a description of a sign and find out what it means. This is an important missing part. The fingerspelling section is good for beginners but not for those who need practice in speed.
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Summary: A Must Have for Students of ASL
Review: I absolutely love Martin L.A. Sternberg's mammoth ASL dictionary, and I refer to it quite often when studying. But if a picture is worth a thousand words, a real-life moving one is priceless! ASL dictionaries are good in a pinch, but there is nothing like seeing a real-life model "sign" the word you are looking for. This CD is awesome! There are over 2500 words that are categorized for easy reference. You can record your sessions for testing later. This CD uses different models who not only sign, but utilize facial expressions as well. Dr. Sternberg has put together an outstanding resource that will greatly advance the signing skills of any ASL beginner. Highly recommended...5+stars!
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Summary: don't make the mistake I did
Review: I bought this from amazon.com. Once I received it I installed it on my mac powerbook 3400c running os 9. It ran horribly, the quicktime images overan half of the screen window of the program so it was impossible to use on my mac. Because it also has a windows version of itself on the cd I then installed it on my husband's pc. It ran much better on his pc (which upset me even more since it is supposed to be able to run on a mac), however the screen was still very small, the quicktime images choppy and the viewing area incredibly small. After trying to see if I could tweak it on both the pc and mac I have had dismal success with it. Knowing what I know now I would not have bought it. The software that runs this program from the cd is achingly old as well.
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Summary: No reccommendation here!
Review: I bought this software to help me familiarize with basic fingerspelling. I'm going to college in 4 months to be an interpreter, and this wouldn't even work on my computer (Hewlett Packard Pavillion M50) I have windows 98, it kept saying their was a default something and to contact the vendor. Or it would say, that it had performed an illegal operation! It was a waste of money, I'll never know if this could have helped me.
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Summary: Do not purchase this CD if you have a Mac
Review: I have a G4 with ample memory and storage space... This software was slow and trying to make it work was painful. The images would merge with the text. The software was clearly written for WinTel machines. I'll rely on my human instructor for my ASL needs.
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Summary: Good concept, bad Mac implementation
Review: If you have a Macintosh, don't bother buying this product. I just got version 2.1 running on MacOS 9.0.4, and it is just awful. The engine for the product is a FIVE YEAR old version of Macromedia Director, and has serious problems running on current MacOS and QuickTime software. The video clips get shown in the main window before getting properly positioned in the video frame, which obscures text and buttons. The operation is so slow (even on a fast G4) that it would be effectively unusable even if it worked correctly. I'm returning my copy. Michigan State University's "Personal Communicator" works much better, though the video clips are too small to see finger positions. For a great BOOK, try Lou Fant's "American Sign Language Phrase Book".
Rating:
Summary: Good concept, bad Mac implementation
Review: If you have a Macintosh, don't bother buying this product. I just got version 2.1 running on MacOS 9.0.4, and it is just awful. The engine for the product is a FIVE YEAR old version of Macromedia Director, and has serious problems running on current MacOS and QuickTime software. The video clips get shown in the main window before getting properly positioned in the video frame, which obscures text and buttons. The operation is so slow (even on a fast G4) that it would be effectively unusable even if it worked correctly. I'm returning my copy. Michigan State University's "Personal Communicator" works much better, though the video clips are too small to see finger positions. For a great BOOK, try Lou Fant's "American Sign Language Phrase Book".
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Resource
Review: If you need an ASL reference or want to pick up some--buy this. This is a really well designed piece of software, and it's much better to see how to make the signs with video on your computer instead of flipping through a book and having to guess at some of the motions. Wholeheartedly recommended!
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Summary: Is it me or the software...
Review: Might just be me, but I find the software to be "dead" on my computer. I can access the dictionary, but the video does not come up at all. Perhaps my system is too new (Windows 98). I really want to learn to sign, but find this product to be tedious (and out of date??).
Rating:
Summary: American Sign Language Dictionary on CD Rom
Review: THIS CD ROM IS GREAT. I have told all my classmates how terrific this is, and 1/2 of them have ordered it and are happy they did. Along with a visual/video, it gives you the written description of signing as well as audio instructions and in some cases (where appropriate) has little light bulb helpers. Would recommend this for any age, anyone interested in learning ASL. You can test yourself on what you learn. Simple and fairly quick to download program on your PC. Terrific learning tool, worth the money, and of course great service from AMAZON.com.
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