Rating: 
Summary: Overall good -- but hard to get started with
Review: This software package is not as much a training system as it is a reference material and series of exercises in reading and pronouncing Russian. Despite its faults, its probably the best Russian language program on the market and is far better than trying to learn out of a textbook. The program admittedly has some neat features like hyperlinks to voice recordings of individual words and sentences, the ability to slow down the voice recordings, games and quizzes, a computerized comparison of your voice to a native speaker, etc. These are all really great features and really help you to learn. My biggest complaint is that these elements are largely unstructured and you really don't know where to start learning and what path to follow. Eventually, you muddle through it and figure things out on your own but with difficulty that could have been avoided through multimedia presentations. There are some obvious areas where the software could be improved. For instance, I've had a hard time learning the Russian alphabet. The tutorial on the alphabet consists of nothing more than a display of the alphabet with someone pronouncing the name of the letter with examples of a single word. If you are trying to sound out a word in another section, you have to close that section and open the alphabet - meaning that you can't look at the word while you look up the individual letters. I finally did a "screen print", pasted the alphabet in a graphic file, and printed it so that I could have a quick reference. Grammar instruction consists of nothing more than a few scant help files buried within the package; multimedia of some sort would definitely make this more interesting and enhance learning. The package focuses on learning 100 of the most common words - but doesn't really explain syntax (verb conjugation, word order, word context, etc) other than providing a few sample sentences. Overall, after using the software, I like it... but still see far too many areas for improvement. In addition, if you are serious about learning Russian, I recommend that you also buy a elementary Russian textbook that covers grammar and a dictionary for easier reference.
Rating:
Summary: Overall good -- but hard to get started with
Review: This software package is not as much a training system as it is a reference material and series of exercises in reading and pronouncing Russian. Despite its faults, its probably the best Russian language program on the market and is far better than trying to learn out of a textbook. The program admittedly has some neat features like hyperlinks to voice recordings of individual words and sentences, the ability to slow down the voice recordings, games and quizzes, a computerized comparison of your voice to a native speaker, etc. These are all really great features and really help you to learn. My biggest complaint is that these elements are largely unstructured and you really don't know where to start learning and what path to follow. Eventually, you muddle through it and figure things out on your own but with difficulty that could have been avoided through multimedia presentations. There are some obvious areas where the software could be improved. For instance, I've had a hard time learning the Russian alphabet. The tutorial on the alphabet consists of nothing more than a display of the alphabet with someone pronouncing the name of the letter with examples of a single word. If you are trying to sound out a word in another section, you have to close that section and open the alphabet - meaning that you can't look at the word while you look up the individual letters. I finally did a "screen print", pasted the alphabet in a graphic file, and printed it so that I could have a quick reference. Grammar instruction consists of nothing more than a few scant help files buried within the package; multimedia of some sort would definitely make this more interesting and enhance learning. The package focuses on learning 100 of the most common words - but doesn't really explain syntax (verb conjugation, word order, word context, etc) other than providing a few sample sentences. Overall, after using the software, I like it... but still see far too many areas for improvement. In addition, if you are serious about learning Russian, I recommend that you also buy a elementary Russian textbook that covers grammar and a dictionary for easier reference.
Rating: 
Summary: Etot bid prevosskhkodniy!!!
Review: This was excellent. I was able to learn English from this program from my native Russian, and this is a good thing. Whoever made this must be very intelligent. Those of you reading this must buy it. Whoever set this web site up is also very intelligent, for they have made it possible for me to learn English. For this they should be commended. Learn Russian, it is a good language to know, even if you do not live in Russia. This I know. I can be reached at tovarischwoofwoof@yahoo.com or on the Yahoo Instant Messenger service as tovarischwoofwoof. Thank you for reading this.
Rating:
Summary: Etot bid prevosskhkodniy!!!
Review: This was excellent. I was able to learn English from this program from my native Russian, and this is a good thing. Whoever made this must be very intelligent. Those of you reading this must buy it. Whoever set this web site up is also very intelligent, for they have made it possible for me to learn English. For this they should be commended. Learn Russian, it is a good language to know, even if you do not live in Russia. This I know. I can be reached at tovarischwoofwoof@yahoo.com or on the Yahoo Instant Messenger service as tovarischwoofwoof. Thank you for reading this.
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