Rocket Languages Reviews

What I like about this course is the great emphasis given to pronounciation, since it is so difficult to speak french. But Paul greatly annoys me in those introduction audios to each lesson, because he talks too much...!! He's such a time consumer... I tend to keep jumping many "ten seconds" to dig into the proper french..

I have been using Rocket Spanish for a while now, beginning with the second level, then, when I realized it was too advanced, moving back to level 1.

Overall, it has been very helpful to me. I like practicing the conversations, and once I got my microphone to work, the voice activities were great.

However, there are a few issues. First, until just recently, you were able to flag vocabulary words as you moved through a lesson that would then be stored in your saved vocabulary. But now I can't do that. I've reported the problem and have heard nothing back.

I did not get a "deal" when I joined, so I paid full price, which was a bit high compared to other programs.

Not truly rating yet, Really, I just started it. Only on lesson 1.1. Not sufficient to judge. Using this along with other sources, Penguin book, Living languages CDs and Duolingo and Master Russian online, plus a few other lesser sources. Plus I'm already familiar with the Cyrillic alphabet as I used it in the Air Force back in 1962-4. I'm 76 now and not in a hurry as I have no place to use Russian, just keeping the brain active. Thus most of the vocabulary and some of the theory of lessons 1.1 and 1.2, I already am already familiar with from the other sources. Each course also has differing additional vocabulary. Having said that, I do like being able to hear and mimic the pronunciations and working through the exercises to help remember the vocabulary. It is impossible to rate a program so soon. I would prefer to do my rating after a month or so when I really know what to rate. Stay tuned.

I found that I would prefer to see the written words as well while learning the pronunciation, i did not see this on the trial so i opted out

Unfortunately I am one of the Rocket Languages failures. I spent my first few months doing what I believed the course asked me to do -- one lesson per day with extra study. After 4 months I had finished the first level of Spanish. I could say hello to folks, order a simple meal in a restaurant -- check in to a hotel, etc., but when I met with my Spanish speaking friends I could not understand what they were saying . So following the recommended learning path was not working for me.

I also noted that the course admins reward points as an indication of learning. Yet, in my case, I could not see any relationship between points and my knowledge of the material. Also a glaring weakness is that one can earn points by repeatedly answering the same questions. I found that I was memorizing the answers to all of the questions. I then thought if I could present the materials to myself in a different way, I could learn the materials better. I began pulling down many of the lessons at one time -- taking them into a little program I developed that would then present the material to me in various ways. My hope in doing this is that by so doing, I would more effectively learn the materials.

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Voice recognition is very variable with certain short words. eg un, deux trois. The rest of the numbers appear fine. How do you get better than 35% on a one word answer eg être?
Overall I think the programme is very good

Not as structured as I'd like. Some of the lessons seem unnecessary, as I wouldn't use them in everyday life. I have previously used Pimsleur but thought this was a better deal. I prefer the lessons with the interactive audio kind of like Pimsleur. the other lessons aren't super helpful, but I guess they are nice to have... I wish there was more repetition of phrases instead of single words. Interface on both app and browser are outdated and could use some major updates (especially the app). Kinda buggy, but that is forgiven. I also use the hellochinese app, and it is great. Might go back to Pimsleur if it wasn't so overpriced.

The course is fine and the french lessons are in good taste but for a developing country like Brazil the prices are absurdly high and literally makes it impossible for me to actually buy the course.

Although I like the system employed, and it is certainly better than the so called market leader, there are some elements which could be improved.

The most frustrating thing for me is the translation facility which is sooooooo slow. How much better it would be if the translation could be downloaded somehow instead of relying on a live connection.

The other obvious point is that it is not possible to use Rocket Language if there is no internet connection

Rocket italian is not bad, but it could be so much better.

I'm still studying Level 1 - Unit 3 but I have noticed several issues:
- The audio tracks are a bit long for my taste. They take from 20 to 30 minutes and are spoken very slowly. The website and the app don't allow you to speed it up, so you have to download the tracks in order to do it;
- The conversations are between a native italian and a heavily accented american. I am not a native english speaker and several of the rocket students also aren't so I don't see why not using only native italian speakers on the audio tracks
- There are several small translation mistakes and inadequacies, over time they start being annoying;
- Some audios should be reviewed/updated, the other day I heard one that made reference to the year 2008.

Also, Rocket Languages is oblivious to the existence of potential students in developing countries (as in my case) when establishing their pricing strategy. These courses are way more expensive for me, for instance, as they are for my american or european counterparts, when purchase power is concerned.

Rocket languages also does not give meaningful discounts when you enroll in more than one language.