14 units of increasing difficulty to take a learner from beginner to intermediate level. Grammar is slowly introduced so it does not distract from the more interesting task of learning words and phrases.

For all I know, this might be the best Russian language program ever invented. But I'll never know it--I could not for the life of me figure out how to use this software. There was no instruction booklet, and when I opened the program, I simply had no idea what to do. I clicked on an icon or two, and my computer started jabbering at me in Russian. I didn't have the foggiest idea what the program wanted me to do--repeat, type something, or whatever. It was completely unusable.

Lest anyone think I'm computer illiterate, I'm a 28-year-old doctoral student who was using gopher and mosaic to surf the Internet before Netscape Navigator existed and long before this website was even a twinkle in Jeff Bezos's eye.

Purchase at your own risk.

Rating: (1 / 5)

Not terribly expensive, but still not worth it. The Rosetta Stone software is far superior, albeit costly. If you're on a budget and MUST have software and are willing to put up with a klunky interface and poor quality, buy this. Otherwise, save your money.

Rating: (2 / 5)

The LanguageNOW! series happen to be very good. It greatly improves your listening and reading skills. Russian happens to be one of the hardest languages in the world. Even many Russians have a hard time with their language.

As for as Grammar goes, this software puts you on the right track. The only way to actually learn grammar is to buy a grammar book. I suggest Shaum's Outlines: Russian Grammar - it is probably the best!

Rating: (5 / 5)

This program deserves the 5-star rating for several reasons.
1) Has a grammar turtorial (something a lot of language software is lacking)
2) Uses technology to its fullest with video, amazing audio(you can listen to over 10,000 words in Russian) , and voice recognition to help correct your pronunciation.
3) Good conversation practices
4) Extra learning material offered online
5)Uses native speakers

Overall, this program is a very impressive learning system unlike any other out there and I highly recomend it.

Rating: (5 / 5)

Good program overall, I have no complaints at all. I really like how the program is set up and the games are fantastic practice. Videos are real good and when paired with the audio, they offer unparalled realism. The audio is extremely well done due to the fact that you can hear every word in the program said to you by a native Russian speaker. You can also have the program match your pronunciation to the native speaker's for comparison. You truely can not go wrong with this program.

Rating: (5 / 5)

I'm a native Russian speaker and a lang.teacher. What really amuses me is how many useless expensive courses are out there..
Russian is one of the most difficult languages in the world with a complicated grammar that means you should take some private lessons/ group beginners course with a teacher, preferably native speaker.
Ok, so you know now how to ask about the bus station direction. Will you understand the answer?

Rating: (1 / 5)

I'm a native Russian speaker and a lang.teacher. What really amuses me is how many useless expensive courses are out there..
Russian is one of the most difficult languages in the world with a complicated grammar that means you should first take some private lessons/ group beginners course with a teacher, preferably native speaker or a bok, like "Russian for Beginners".
Ok, you bought this course and know now how to ask where the bus station is. Will you understand the answer?

Rating: (1 / 5)

This product, Russian Now V9 by Transparent Language, is great for language learning. Being able to hear the words pronounced greatly enhances ones ability to correctly learn the right way to speak Russian. Russian Now emphasizes the important language skills of listening, speaking, reading & writing and vocabulary & grammar. The games are excellent and help to provide good practice. The product provides a CD interactive learning experience. Adding to this is Transparent Language's free web-based learning resource that will support and expand your learning. Overall, this is a well put together and useful learning tool.

Rating: (5 / 5)

My father bought this program for me a few days ago, and I started to use it and I can't say I'm impressed or unimpressed. It is a good product but not the best. If your like me who language is a hard deal to learn, and want to learn everything so you can speak fluently in a short time, this maybe not be your best buy.

You start off by saying, 'these are your friends' or 'they are her friends' but what happened to just learning the basics like the plurals themselfs then already putting them into sentances. I wanted to learn grammer not by their handy dandy notebook, which is by the way better orginized than any book, but why can't I have games along with it?

It might be good for advance or intermediate, since it starts right to the sentances. But who doesn't even know the alphabet? It took me three days to learn it, three more days to learn the sounds of each of them. I bet if they included a alphabet game it would have taken learning that easier.

I can't say I'm thrilled about this product. I'm still using since I can learn some phrases to talk, but if you want to make up your own sentances to describe yourself, skip this, get a dictonary, and any book that is right for you since everyone is different in learning.

Even though I am not that impressed, I am continuing to use it and hopefully I can learn some fundmental russian like 'there is the toliet', and 'where is red square'.

Rating: (3 / 5)

I have found the Russian Now program to be an excellent resource for learning Russian. It is especially useful when used in conjunction with other resources. I have found it most useful to use this program as my main resource and use two or three other publications as reinforcement.

For the complete beginner, it is an excellent resource for learning the Russian alphabet and pronunciation. The program gives you an opportunity to listen to either individual words or complete sentences from a selected title. After that, you can record your pronunciation and analyze your speech against a native speaker. There are also several different word games with varying levels of difficulty that accompany each title. You can use whatever features of the program that best suit you.

There are also grammar resources, but they are not that intuitive. They are about the equivalent of reading a text book on the subject.

The largest drawback to the program is the lack of truly beginner titles. This is probably the reason that I see the need for reinforcing material. Overall, though, it is an excellent program and definitely worth the price that is charged for it.

Rating: (4 / 5)