The 2022 Edition has arrived!

Bonjour tout le monde !

We are all very excited and proud to announce the launch of the 2022 Edition of Rocket Languages.

This Edition represents a lot of hard work from the whole team, with more than a few late nights, plenty of caffeine and several long debates :)

I am sure that you will enjoy the new version as much as we do presenting it to you.

In saying that, there may well be the odd bug that has crept in during the design implementation process. So, if you do see anything strange then make sure you let us know in the comments below, or email customer support.

If you think you are still seeing the old version then you may need to hard refresh your browser (click Ctrl and F5 on Chrome, or hold down the "option" and "command" keys then press "E" on Safari).

As per my previous blog post, the next cab off the rank is an update of the Android and iOS apps.

Update! (Mar 15th)

We have just released dark mode! You can activate this here:

Also, note that the points widget has been moved to the top bar. You can show/hide the widget via your Profile.

Update! (March 28th)

We have added in a Setting that lets you slow down the tutors audio on Rocket Record. You can access it via the Settings.

Update! (April 7th)

We have added in a filter at the top of the Dashboard. This filter makes it easy to see each different type of lesson at once.

Thank you for your support.

Jason and the team
Rocket Languages

WOW!!!  Very streamlined and neat looking.  Great job!

Thanks Claudia!

Looking good! The navigation is much more intuitive now, thanks!

And I just LOVE that I can disable the romanization everywhere now! That's amazing!

However, I cannot seem to find my custom flashcards anymore in the tools section. Did you move them, or even remove them alltogether (I really hope the former, they were a great tool.)? Also, (maybe for 2023?) a dark mode would be awesome! :P

Kind regards

Edit: I cannot play back what I recorded anymore. There used to be a play button next to the record button, it's gone for some reason. I hope you are aware and fix that, as without playback, I can't make any use of the record function (which was a great tool).

Hi MB - Thanks for the feedback. The Custom Flashcards have been removed for now. The maintenance on that system has proven problematic. 

Good news though… dark mode is on the list to sort out in the coming months!

Hello Jason,

Thanks for the new look of Rocket German 2022 edition. Go to Level two Rocket German but seems like the content is still the old one;  just want to confirm if the Rocket German Level two will also be updated as the level one? Danke!

-Linie

But you deleted the “survival kit”  lessons you previously bragged on and I paid for.Pletty lame!

You jut removed 1500 verbs I had in my flashcards .Thanks for the heads up.

Hi Jason

I'm  still a fan, but removal of the Flashcards is a major setback. Can I maybe go back to the old system?

Cheers

Barry 

The German lessons

I think the new look is very good. There was a lot of wasted space on the left of the screen in the old edition, and good use has been made of it. I like that tools are no longer hidden in the account section.

It seems easy to navigate, but it is a shame about the custom flash cards.

Also I couldn't find a way to adjust the difficuly in the speech recognition. However I don't thik this did much in the old edition.

The previous version let us easily go from any lesson to any other lesson easily within the same language, regardless of module or level, however now I find the newer system a little more unwieldly to change between lessons, doubly so if I need to go back to course selection and choose a different language. 

Previously you could also choose to see only the Audio Lessons, or only Language and Culture, and at a glance could select between all of those on a level, whereas now we can only select which module and then select a lesson from that module, so unfortunately in the redesign we seem to have lost quite a bit of functionality.

I like it! It would be nice to always see my current day's number of point at the top of the screen, though.

I think in arabic edition, the font size is a problem as the English translation is larger than that of arabic words. 

I would like a larger arabic word than those English translation! 

Also, the conversation dialogue does not respect the right to left rule of arabic. I do think that learning a foreign language is to respect and immerse in it. 

There are some suggestions: 

• allow us to customize the font size of both the language to be learnt and English translation 
• or make the English translation smaller 
• rephrase the orders of the sentence from right to left 

Thank you! 

The new layout is completely different from the previous one. But that is something getting used to and will not be a problem. But I really don't like it that the custom flashcards have been removed. I used the custom flash cards to repeatedly go through problems I had with each lesson and as a refreshment without the need to go through the whole lesson. So they were an essential learning tool for me. This is a mayor step back.

Echoing some comments already made: 

• (1) I prefer the design.
• (2) The absence of the audio playback is a notable loss, so am hoping that can be reincorporated.

Chris

Adding to the feedback - getting rid of custom flashcards is a personal tragedy. Especially since I just finished making mine yesterday. I had over 3000 words across dozens of sets and now all that work is gone and inaccessable.

I'm all for upgrades and new features, but removing features and content will always make the change a lot harder for people to swallow.

A few other notes about my experience with the update - 

I do think it looks very nice, and as a person who is currently only learning one language, I don't mind the new way the courses are laid out. However, the mobile experience is not very good. The UI is scaling to my phone well, but the content is visably cut off on the right side. It looks better in Desktop View, but that's impractical on the phone.

The Tools are also a little hidden. You have to be inside a course to view the tools link, and all of the tools can only be found after you reach the tools page. The update is quite nice looking and I can see that effort was put into streamlining, but I hope that Rocket takes some of the feedback here into consideration. 

Ha! Well, I asked and I received... :)

Thank you everyone for your feedback and suggestions. I will try and summarize the issues/responses here.

Custom Flashcards: I will see what we can do here. We may be able to liven it up for those that already have custom sets made. Ongoing support may be an issue though.

Rocket German: Linie - Level 1 of Rocket German was upgraded about a year ago. The project to rewrite Levels 2 and 3 has just started!

Survival Kits: These are still there! If you go to your Dashboard you will see them at the bottom of the Modules.

Voice recognition settings: We removed the "Easy" setting as technology has advanced to a stage where the algorithms we use are much more accurate, so this setting was not really doing much.

Points at the top of the screen: We will have an internal discussion about the placement of this!

Arabic font/script: KaL1075 - I will email you about this as it looks fine for us! There may be something else going on. Please try a hard refresh on your browser (Ctrl + F5).

Audio playback: ChrisM108 -  This feature hasn't changed, so should be working as it always has. I will email you about it.

I have the same problem as  ChrisM108: The Audio playback function is gone. Could you please help me solve this issue? 

Hi Patricia - Are you also using Chrome on a MacBook?

Hi, 

no, I am using Microsoft Edge on a Windows laptop. The button to replay your own voice recording is simply gone. 

Update: The issue was solved - Thank you so much! 

Thank you for continuing to update your services!

A couple of notes I have are: 

1. 1. The sale popup at the top of the screen returns every time I switch between the tools and modules screens, and is very distracting. It would be nice if the website remembered if you dismissed the newest announcement.
2.  
3. 2. I miss the background/sidebar images for the Japanese course. They were very pretty, and made me feel more immersed in and excited about learning the language. I like that you are trying to use screen space more efficiently, but replacing that delightful photography with blank space makes the website a bit boring.

Once again, thank you for all the work, and I hope you guys are doing well!

Hi Chris/Patricia - This should be sorted for the both of you.

Hi Alec - The top banner is a bug we are sorting out. Sorry for the inconvenience! We liked the previous imagery as well but it just didn't work with the current design.

Hi all Custom Flashcard enthusiasts!

You should be able to see your Flashcards under the Tools section. Note that this only works for those who have already created a set. 

Hi All

Have read all the comments and have to agree with some. It is pretty I have to agree and it will take getting used to. Still a great learning experience, have not found one that beats Rocket. I use a Mac and prefer FireFox to Chrome and have noticed that on the new edition the forum buttons don't work on Firefox, I have to switch to Chrome to read or post. Any idea why? The rest seems to work on FIrefox. 

Sebongela

It would also be cool if the playback speed were represented as a dropdown, a slider bar, or a group of radio buttons instead of a single button that one has to click through until they reach the desired speed. 

I like how you guys made the speed increments smaller to suit more individuals' preferences, but it added to the time it takes to recover when I accidentally click past my desired choice. Dispalying all choices up front would significantly improve workflow.

Hi Jason

Return of the Custom Flashcards is hugely appreciated. Thanks for being so responsive.

Now that I've been using it for a while, my only other comment is that, like Janet, it would be good to have the daily running total visible while I'm working.

Again, many thanks. You've every reason to be proud of yourself (and the team)!

Cheers

Barry

Re playback of audio for all commenting on that: all working fine now for me with MacBook Air and Chrome.  Many thanks to all the team for an amazingly prompt fix.

Chris

Hello

I also have the same problem as ChrisM108.  I'm using a Macbook but not Chrome, could you please tell me how to fix this issue as it seriously devalues the product now.  Thank you.

Wait - we can change the playback speed? How?

 Update to my last email reporting the same issue with voice recording, I think the problem is with Firefox.  I have switched to safari and the voice recognition now works fine but the recording process is just unresponsive using Firefox. Anyway its a fix if anyone else is still struggling to get this working. 

I like the new interface though.

Thank you so much for listening to and addressing our feedback, and so quickly! It really is appreciated.

Hi All

My phone app has stayed the same (thank goodness). Can anyone tell me if this is also going to change? I go between my computer and phone and like the fact that the phone app hasn't changed

Sebongela

Likes:

1. Clean look

2. More intuitive navigation

3. Larger font size (except when typing in the “Write It!” section.)

4. The info button which tells you the keyboard shortcuts is very useful (maybe I missed it in the old version).

5. Thanks for being so responsive to the flashcard issue!

Don't like:

1. Loss of custom flashcards is/was huge (by far the biggest issue and greatly changes the product). I greatly appreciate they came back for current users. I suspect that means they will not be available for new users, which means they could go away again in the future. I hope you hear how loudly that concern was voiced by the community. One bug(?) is I can no longer import the words I saved from the lessons when creating a new set. I did just notice (looking around), you can go to that section, download it as a CSV and then upload it to the flashcards, but I though you could just select an import of saved words in the old version.

2. As mentioned several times, I would like to see my daily point total in the top bar. Scrolling to the top of the lesson is suboptimal.

3. I also liked the tools option on the top bar, but not a huge issue.

4. Please make the font bigger in the typing section of “Write It!”. As you can see in the example below, it is not dramatic, but it is a bit smaller, making it hard to see the accents (at least for me and my vision is not awesome).  It would be really awesome if we could tweak font sizes within each page (to make it more accessible to people with visual challenges) but we have hacks around that.

5. In the “Write It!”section of Spanish, the accent correction looks very strange (see example below). I liked it better in the last version where it replaced the unaccented version of the letter with the accented version (and changed the color).

6. Also in the “Write It!”section, turning only the tilde red is almost impossible to see. Turn the entire letter red (like the j to g change below) or do it like the accent corrections are currently done (but I hope #5 gets fixed). The example below has a tilde correction, but sure doesn't leap out at you.

7. Not a change, but still not good at recognizing 21 vs twenty one when it is evaluating the correctness of what we said.

8. Not new, but sure would be nice if spellcheck existed in the forum posts.

Bugs:

1. 1. Some inks are broken. One example is lesson 2.5 of Spanish has a link to the tener lesson, but it doesn't take you there (it takes you to the beginning of the lessons where it shows the various levels).
2.  

Hi I also miss seeing my points at a glance. Is it possible to change that?

Sebongela

Hi Alec
- The banner issue should be fixed.
- Good idea re play speed. We will look into it.

Hi Barry/Sebongela and others
- We are looking at the positioning of the points widget!

Hi Julie/Sebongela
- Firefox has very low usage and it doesn't support voice recognition. We recommend using either Safari or Chrome (or the Android/iOS apps). In saying that we will get Firefox working but it's not on the top of the list.

Hi Scott
- We will look into the Write it! font size.
- The accent issue/s looks like a bug. Will get that looked at.
- Will also look at the internal linking issue

Thanks for the hard work. My observations on the Italian course

Good

The ability to make notes that autosave. Even better if we can underline or bold

The big chunky headphone and microphone icons

Not so Good

The new colours used as background for text are a real strain on the eyes compared to old colour scheme. Can we have darker more sedate colours like dark grey or dark colours in warm spectrum.

The easy to hard icons in flashcards not as good as old ones which are bigger, bolder, darker. They stand out more

Suggestion

It is difficult to search for answers given to grammar questions on forum. Could we have the option to search the grammar section using keywords. Or maybe there is a way of us asking questions linked to lessons and there being a place on the lesson page where we see answers related to that lesson.

---------------------------------------------------------

I don't suppose there is a way of me logging into the old RocketItalian version for now?

Thanks.

Hi DavidS - Thanks for the feedback. Dark mode is coming so that may help with your perception of the color pallette.

You can search the forum (and everything else) using the search icon in the top nav.

We do have it on the wishlist for members to be able to comment on specific lessons, however there is a bit of groundwork to do with things like moderation to consider first.

Hi Jason

You really have put the cat amongst the pidgeons in this new addition. I appreciate the changes you have made. And I also realize that you will never please everyone. And I will work with all this. I am quite happy to switch between Firefox and Chrome to meet my needs and for me personally am happy as things are in Firefox.

I really do like using Rocket, as it is a wonderful resource and I thank you for that. Was just a bit of a shock when I realized how different it all was

Sebongela

I am very happy that additional grammar lessons have been added. I need them. 

Hi Jason, 

The new design is very inutative and looks good! 

Is it possible to hide the navigation menu in any way when “studing”? I have a small laptop and not the best eyesight. Utelizing the whole screen when completing modules is/was to a great benefit for me personally. 

Thanks!

Hi Jason

I wanted to thank you for the changes you have made. I am impressed and am also really happy with what has been done. I can work with this version. Not often one gets this kind of service and once again I thank you

Sebongela

Hi Borgen - We are still looking at some responsiveness issues with smaller screens, however I can't guarantee we will introduce a feature like showing/hiding the navigation!

Hi Sebongela - Thanks! And recording on Firefox now works, however, as mentioned previously we strongly recommend Chrome or Safari for full functionality.

Another bug for you. No correction to the lack of space between ciento and dos. 

Edited to add a second one - a period after a missing y (instead of underlining the y).

Sorry Jason, but just noticed this.

I really liked when my points total turned green when I hit my target. That seems to have gone away.

I am not crazy about the new look, I prefer the way the old one looked better.  Also, the old design was more functional, I preferred having everything on the same page, rather than having to click on tabs.  And the new design is really annoying to use on mobile, it doesn't format properly and sometimes I just can't use it.  The kanji reading is also harder because the symbols are smaller now, harder to read.

Can you just switch back to the old design, or give users an option to switch back?  I prefer the older design.  Thanks!

 

I personally miss the old version very much and would love to switch my account back to it. Please let us choose wich edition we use.

Hi Scott - We will look into those issues!

Hi Brion et al 
- I think you just have to give the new design some time. If you do I think you will end up finding it a superior experience. There is no way to switch back to the old design. 
- If you are using the members area on a mobile device then we would always recommend using either the Android or iOS app. In saying that, we are working on a few responsiveness issues at mobile screen sizes.

Overall, I really like the new interface, but there seems to be a glitch in the flashcards, where when you try to change them to French on the front, it just shows blank with English on the back, and when you try to change it back, you can't.  Until this is sorted I can't use the flashcard sections.   As mentioned there are also a number of problems with the Write It corrections regarding spacing and accents.

Also, I second the comment that a dropdown list or sliding scale would be great for the speed option in the audio section, as you have to click a number of times to get to the speed you want then if you go over have to cycle through them all over again.

Thanks.

I do not like this new version for the Italian courses. You deleted or eliminated a lot of stuff that was important to me. I want to have access to the old version. Please let me know how to access the old version,

Thank you.

Jose Russo