Success Story: Sonica van Rooyen

"What I enjoy most about the programme is that I can determine where the priorities lie for me, and work according to those."

I have been deployed on a military assistance mission in the DRC for the past 10 months. I am a South African and, before coming here, have had no ties with the French language since it is not a language traditionally spoken or taught in school.

My deployment came at very short notice and there was no time to study any French before I deployed. Arriving in the DRC with no prior knowledge of French held serious consequences for me.

I regularly attended meetings, in French, with an interpreter, who was completely inexperienced. My deployment came at very short notice and there was no time to study any French before I deployed. Arriving in the DRC with no prior knowledge of French held serious consequences for me. I regularly attended meetings, in French, with an interpreter, who was completely inexperienced.

I realised that I had to do something and did some research on the Internet, where I found your Rocket French programme. The programme seemed to be exactly what I needed and I immediately bought it. What I enjoy most about the programme is that I can determine where the priorities lie for me, and work according to those. For instance, it became clear to me very quickly that I had to concentrate on understanding French, rather than to be able to speak it fluently.

This is because most people that I came in contact with was able to understand English quite well, but did not feel comfortable speaking it. So now I speak in English and they reply in French - and the meeting or conversation can carry on without the slow process of interpreting. Now that I understand most of what's happening around me, I find that speaking French is slowly becoming easier and with the help of Rocket French, I'm getting there.

The Rocket French Programme is succeeding in making a truly complicated language far easier to grasp. I will definitely carry on with the programme until I feel comfortable speaking French.

Thank you

CAPT(SAN) Sonica van Rooyen
Pretoria , South Africa