4 stars (A useful and fun programme) - After studying Russian, by myself, for about six months, I found that although my knowledge of the grammar and the vocabulary had progressed, my speaking and listening skills remained poor. I decided to buy Rosetta Stone Russian in order to learn how Russian words and sentences sounded. The programme was easy to install and easy to use. Best of all, I really enjoyed using it. The programme begins by showing four pictures and a word. The task is to pick the picture corresponding to the word. It is possible to choose whether the word is spoken or written, or both spoken and written. Gradually as you progress you meet simple phrases and eventually sentences and whole paragraphs. This method works really well as you are continually tested, while the whole learning experience feels more like a game than studying. While the listening and reading elements of the programme work well, I found it was less successful with regard to speaking and writing. The speaking part of the programme involves attempting to imitate a native speaker. The programme compares the sound you make with what the sound should be. I generally found it almost impossible to imitate the Russian speaker in such a way that the programme considered I had done so successfully. I therefore found this aspect of the programme more frustrating than useful. The writing part of the programme unfortunately requires using a very fiddly onscreen keyboard, which makes the whole process very slow and tedious. The key thing anyway with writing Russian is learning how to form the letters by hand and no computer programme can teach you to do this. I would suggest that someone beginning to use this programme should at least already know the Russian alphabet and ideally some of the grammar. Moreover to complete some of the exercises a dictionary is essential. There is no doubt that working through all the exercises is very useful. I found the programme especially good at helping ... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: russian :: level :: 1 :: 2 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: software :: mac :: rosettastonerussianlevel1-2win-macpersonaleditio :: Rosetta Stone Russian Level 1 - 2 Win-Mac Personal Edition
1 stars (very SLOW way of learning japanese) - I don't recommend this software for several reasons: 1) You're learning words by associations frame by brame, picture by picture. Think about this. A baby will spend at least 2 years of immersion before he can speak anything that makes sense. As an adult, how much comprehension will you get from this software by spending 1 hour a day? 2) The set of pictures that you're shown is flawed and unintelligent. In most cases, you can get the right answer by process of elimination. The same set of pictures that you see in this Japanese version is also shown for French and other languages. This software is systematically put together without any specific focus/customization for the Japanese language. 3) The pictures themselves are sometimes unclear. At times you really don't know what the japanese sentence is referring to in the picture. This can get very annoying and frustrating! 4) The software gives you no insight as to how to read kana and kanji, and of course none on japanese grammar. If you want immersion, you'd be much better off watching a Japanese soap opera. This software does have some usefulness when used in conjunction with other learning methods, but for its price, it's really not worth it. 4 stars (Good if you already know some Japanese) - I love this software, because it has helped me understand a lot more Japanese than the tapes from my textbook. The language is very natural, and the fact that you can see pictures and read the sentence being spoken at the same time helps significantly. You can repeat the lessons as many times as you want to help you master the content, without the exercises becoming boring or excessive. I practice almost two hours a day, and after a week I started to notice improvements. Now when I want to say something in Japanese I don't do any translating in my head first, I can feel the Japanese words coming together. However, I already knew some Japanese before I bought ... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: japanese :: level :: 1 :: 2 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: software :: mac :: rosettastonejapaneselevel1-2win-macpersonaledit :: Rosetta Stone Japanese Level 1 - 2 Win-Mac Personal Edition
5 stars (unlike any other!) - This program is amazing. We have an apartment in France, and for five years have been attempting to learn the language. This is a fun and different approach with which we have made more progress in a month, than past years of memorization and boring drills. 5 stars (Fantastic Program) - I have been meaning to learn French for quite some time and have picked up some books and audio tapes but got quickly frustrated and discouraged. However, after ordering this software I am starting to think that I may actually be able to learn French. As a little background I have never been good at languages and I was not very good at my foreign languages in school (could barely speak a word). I am an absolute beginner at French an was very nervous that my past performance in learning languages would prevent me from learning French. I was also a little nervous when I read some of the other reviews that said this might not be the best program for beginners, but I ordered it in the hopes that I could at least try something new. I am extremely happy with my purchase. The proram walks you through French in a very intuitive manner, and though there aren't any explanations it starts you out so slowly that you are easily able to figure out the meanings of what you are seeing on the screen. There is something to be said for learning a language by recognition and repetition rather than learning the grammer rules first. I do use my grammer book occasionally (I bought it before this) but only to satisfy my curiosity about certain thins like feminine and masculine articles, and singular and plural nouns... Honestly this is a fantastic program that teaches you how to speak and hear French with amazing success. You do learn the grammer rules, but you figure them out for yourself by comparing phrases and by building on earlier lessons. It really is similar to the way a child learns to talk (without ever having to know what a past participle is). Bottom lin... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: french :: level :: 1 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: software :: mac :: rosettastonefrenchlevel1win-macpersonaledition :: Rosetta Stone French Level 1 Win-Mac Personal Edition
5 stars (Don't be confused by hate!) - For any true loyal flash programmer/designer this is the update to get. Major improvement from MX, and MX04. Dreamweaver 8 starting to look like homesite which is the better. Don't let hate comments confused your choice, this is a well worth upgrade. 5 stars (My Top 8 Reasons to Buy, or Upgrade, to Macromedia Studio 8) - 1. CSS layout visualization Dreamweaver 8 now gives you visual aides at design time to outline CSS layout borders or color CSS layouts to reveal complex nesting schemes and improve selection. Click on the CSS layout for valuable Tooltips, such as ID and padding and margin and border settings. 2. Code collapse Dreamweaver 8 allows you to focus only on the code in use. Hide and expand blocks of code by selection or by tag to stay organized. 3. Compare files Dreamweaver 8 can quickly compare files to identify what has changed, whether it is two local files, a file on the local and remote, or two files on the remote server. 4. Alpha channel support Flash Professional 8 now has support for a true alpha channel at run-time. This revolutionary new capability provides the unique ability to overlay video composited with a transparent (even semi-transparent) alpha channel over other Flash content. Create dynamic presentations such as splashing water, smoke and fire effects, as well as presenters shot in front of a blue screen. 5. FlashType - high-quality font rendering engine Flash Professional 8 has a revolutionary new font rendering engine that provides clear, highest-quality font rendering, FlashType makes small fonts look amazingly clear and greatly improves readability. Choose from several options for font rendering, each optimized for different use cases. Optimize font rendering with the new custom anti-aliasing feature in Flash Professional. 6. Filters With Flash Professional 8, you can create more compelling designs with built-in filter effects like drop shadow, blur, glow, be... Macromedia :: macromedia :: studio :: 8 :: upgrade :: win-mac :: macromedia :: software :: mac :: macromediastudio8upgradewin-mac 13 september :: 2 :: Macromedia Studio 8 Upgrade Win-Mac
5 stars (Easy Italian) - My husband and I have been taking Italian for several months and were looking for something we could do at home that would enhance our classroom experience. The Rosetta Stone program is so much more than we ever expected. We easily spend an hour or two a day studying Italian. We wouldn't give up our live Italian instructor, but this program easily leads us through building language skills in a way that nothing else we've ever tried could. We also love the various ways of teaching, hearing, seeing, writing, reading, virtually all of the ways you need to learn any language. Since we're going to be permanently relocating to Italy next year, it's important for us to learn the language as quickly and efficiently as possible. Rosetta Stone provides all of the tools we need to do that. 4 stars (Great but will not stand alone) - I haven't gotten that far in it but I'm far enough to see the strengths and weaknesses. On the plus side, what I did learn is really well ingrained. The picture/word association really works - I find when I see something in my daily life that I have seen in the rosetta stone program, the italian word just pops into my head on it's own. There is no "translation" process like you ordinarily go through with language tapes. On the downside, anything that does not show well in a photograph doesn't fit the mechanics of the course. Words like "who, what, where, why, how" greetings "hello, goodbye" abstract nouns like "love, wisdom, pain, happiness, etc) subjective adjectives like "pretty, kind, cold, risky, etc.)and many verbs like "to know, think, want, wish, prefer, etc" and relative modifiers (more, most, least, -er, -est) are important parts of daily conversation and just don't fit the image/word association method. I think this is barrier to total fluency by the rosetta stone method. However, it's a great vocabulary builder, boasting 40,000 words by completion of the course. Not all the words will be useful in coversatio... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: italian :: level :: 1 :: 2 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: software :: mac :: rosettastoneitalianlevel1-2win-macpersonaleditio :: Rosetta Stone Italian Level 1 - 2 Win-Mac Personal Edition
5 stars (Excellent) - I couldn't be more pleased with my purchase of Rosetta Stone French 1 and 2. It is by far the best language course I have ever had the pleasure of studying. It is most complete in it's scope of study in that you have the opportunity to hear, read, write and repeat the French you are learning in each lesson module. I find the feedback on my pronunciation most useful; it's also a lot of fun! Highly recommended. 2 stars (too much hype and overpriced) - This is good for learning vocabulary, but NOT good at all for learning how to speak french. In fact, you wind up speaking poor disjointed french as a result of this. It is a good concept that unfortunately is more hype than any good. The price is rediculous considering other better products exist out there that are at lower prices (although they won't claim to have been used by NASA). To me, this is just another churned out, language product, created from a template, and to a budget. They have obviously good marketing skills, etc, but this is definately not created for the customer, ... I think the best word to describe this product is: gimick. 5 stars (I will tell you all about this program,so read this reveiw) - The first the you may notice is how high the price is. Well, it is absolutly worth every penny. If you complete both level one and two you'll be equipped to go to france.Now some of you that have read previous reveiws heard that you need a headset to do a part of the course, and that absolutly true. with the headset come a little microphone. A native speaker will say a word then you will say it back. You immediatly get feedback on how you did. It tells you how close you came to sound like the native speaker. So if you keep practicing that you will get closer and closer to speak the accent. And this is a must. You must be able to speak the french accent for it to be totally complete ,and thats what the headset is for . it will make you master the accent. so you may be saying where do... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: french :: level :: 1 :: 2 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: software :: mac :: rosettastonefrenchlevel1-2win-macpersonaledition :: Rosetta Stone French Level 1 - 2 Win-Mac Personal Edition
5 stars (Good item, poor service) - The item I purchased is great, but it was very difficult to get it since I am overseas and had to send it home then send it out again!!! Would suggest this product to anyone, but would not suggest someone buying it from amazon if they are out of the country. Regards TJ 5 stars (Rosetta Stone Spanish Level 1&2 Personal Edition (Latin America)) - I bought this product for my two kids, ages 6 and 8. It has been very user friendly and my kids enjoy using it. It does not teach grammar, per se, but my kids pick it up. They need no help from me to do their lessons, and are learning good pronunciation. I am very satisfied with the program and would recommend it particularly for children. 5 stars (The Best Way I've Found!) - I cannot say enough about this program. You don't even have to try to start learning. Lessons fly by and once I've learned a word, I think about it automatically, instead of trying to make associations with how the word sounds or something. (Example: instead of thinking "Rice... think of an arrow going into a bowl of rice... oh, yeah, Arroz" - I just see rice and think arroz. I'm not translating from English to Spanish, I'm thinking in Spanish. When I had to take Spanish classes (required for classroom credit) I found that not only did the little I had done in Rosetta Stone helped me excel, but that my pronunciation was unbeatable because I had been constantly using the Rosetta Stone program. While other students struggled to put together sentences, I said sentences almost as quickly as if I were speaking in English, because this program does that - It Helps You THINK in Spanish! This is not because I am any smarter than anyone else; historically in classes I have been an unremarkable student. I personally didn't use the voice recognition part as much, but it also helped. It wasn't as much that I was exactly copying the voice as it was the fact that I could hear how it was supposed to be pronounced... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: spanish :: latin :: america :: level :: 1 :: 2 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: software :: mac :: rosettastonespanish(latinamerica)l :: Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America) Level 1 - 2 Win-Mac Personal Edition
1 stars (Nothing New - Don't "updgrade") - Quicken Mac 2006 is not much of an upgrade. Compared to the 2004 version, the only change I can see is the color on some charts and some very minor changes. Quicken for PC is an excellent program. Quicken for Mac is mediocre. If you don't have any finance software and have a Mac, Quicken might still be your best bet. But don't pay for an upgrade if you have an earlier version - you'll get zero for your dollar. (I will give Quicken credit for backing their lame product with a money back guarantee ... and I will take them up on their offer.) I'd be happy to pay $99 for a Quicken Mac comparable to the PC version, but this isn't it. 1 stars (Full of bugs) - I've been using Quicken for more than 10 years. I started as a Windows user, and transferred to Quicken for Mac (QM) when I switched to the Mac in 2001. Sadly, QM appears to be the red-headed stepchild in the Intuit family. QM is consistently buggy. The user interface is dated (even moreso when compared with a current version of Quicken for Windows). My current issue with QM is that I cannot switch between Quicken data files without it crashing. I have two separate data files: one for my personal finances (which has my personal bank account, my credit cards, my retirement accounts, and a couple of individual stocks) and one for my household finances (which has a joint chequing account and credit cards). Switching between the two data files is guaranteed to crash QM. I'm using the latest version of OS X, and I'm using the latest patch for QM. Furthermore, QM displays several screen-painting issues that make it unreadable. Sometimes hiding the application fixes the issue, but oftentimes I have to quit QM and start it back up again. I'm beginning to feel like I'm using a Windows machine all over again. Please, Intuit, give QM some attention. It seems unlikely that they will, though; QM has been buggy for a few releases now, and they have barely bothere... Intuit Inc :: quicken :: 2006 :: mac :: intuit :: inc :: software :: mac :: quicken2006(mac) 05 august :: 2005 :: Quicken 2006 (Mac)
2 stars (It may be effective for some, but it is not the program for me) - Rosetta Stone was the first Spanish language program that I had tried. (I have previously studied French, Latin, and ancient Greek.) I ordered it from the company directly but returned it after about a month. It has some interesting unique features but it was not for me. Here are the positives: 1. The pictures are colorful and memorable and will help you learn many words quickly. 2. There is an interesting effective feature which allows you to listen to a word or phrase in Spanish, record your voice, and playback. Then a scale tells you how close your voice came to that of a native speaker. But I would not spend extensive time repeating the same word or phrase because it is very difficult to meet their standard for "native speaker." These are the negatives: 1. There is a great emphasis on sentences that are not practical for an adult tourist, business person, or employee wanting to speak Spanish with native speakers. In addition, most of the sentences have verbs in the present progressive tense; there is not enough practice in all the Spanish verb tenses. There are many sentences in Spanish about boys under the table, girls walking, women waving, and men falling. 2. Because I work at a computer all day at work, I am not motiviated to sit at a computer for long during my spare time. Because I am eager to learn useful Spanish quickly, Pimsleur is more effective for me. I can listen to the CDs in my car or at home. In addition, I have learned more sentences that I may want to use such as how to find a bathroom, restaurant, or pharmacy; or how to order food. Rosetta Stone may be a good program for a child who likes to use the computer or an individual who has never studied Romance languages before. 5 stars (rosetta stone spanish) - this program is wonderfull for anyone that want to learn any spanish.I seen many other programs but by far this is the best.it cost more b... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: spanish :: latin :: america :: level :: 1 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: software :: mac :: rosettastonespanish(latinamerica)lev :: Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America) Level 1 Win-Mac Personal Edition
2 stars (Boooring) - I have been using this product now for almost a year. The only reason I insist using it is because I feel really bad for wasting my money. First, this is not worth $300 bucks. There are only still pictures and sound. No movies or any fancy graphics, so why the price? Second it is very repetitive and it does not advance in a very logical way so that you recognize the grammatical structures behind the ever changing sentences. Third, the sentences that you have to repeat over and over are not practical at all. You keep memorizing thins like "the boy is under the airplane" or "the ball is on the boy's head". Initially I thought, well this is because it progresses very slowly which is not necessarily bad. But then I took a look at the last lessons; you just keep repeating useless senteces like these without real things used on a dialogue. I cannot recommend you another course because I spent so much in this one that I do not want to try again and get disappointed. Don't be fooled by the wonderful reviews like I was. This is definitively NOT worth 300 dollars. It is not even useful for basic converstion. I have learned much more from simple travel books and cassettes from the library. Ah, and if you think that by repeating these structures alone you will understand german grammar ... 1 stars (Don't Buy ..Save your money) - This software ranks 5th among the top ten German language software.I bought Instant Immersion German and it was superior at only $39.95. I had to send back this software after 1 day of use and paying $300.00. It was very boreing and really not that exciting to keep you wanting to go back and learn more , not to mention some compatibility problems..Instant Immersion was so much better and more interesting and retainable..I don't know what NASA was thinking about when they bought this software for the astronauts? It would be great if you only had to say HI or Bye 278 miles above the earth with the Russians..Please don't put $300.00... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: german :: level :: 1 :: 2 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: software :: mac :: rosettastonegermanlevel1-2win-macpersonaledition :: Rosetta Stone German Level 1 - 2 Win-Mac Personal Edition
