Rocket Chinese Reviews

This reviews Rocket Languages' Chinese Premium and Premium Plus. The program is well organized in its audio and website. Audio lessons use a typical conversation to teach new words and basic grammar lessons. Lin Ping, the teacher for the course, has a good clear Northern Chinese accent and speaks the majority of the time. It is peculiar that she converses with Dave, an Austrailian with a good accent, but not one I'd try to imitate if I was trying to blend in while visiting. This is fixed in the Premium Plus section. There is some English to introduce the subject and context, but the majority of the lesson is repeating words while you can follow a written transcript in Pinyin and I think Simplified characters. Then you practice memorizing by repeating sections of the conversation, hearing and identifying words, and speaking the words in Chinese knowing their equivalent in English. (hard!) The only major complaint is a lack of a translation dictionary to double check if the words you are adding to your vocabulary have the right definition (the audio tapes breeze through definitions only once); when looking up a word you will most often find it used in other lessons/sentences.

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So far I like that method better then the pervious I have tried. It is simple and interactive. I like the voice recording revision. I would suggest to give a choice of traditional Chinese as well.

This program is awesome as it allows you to adjust to different learning styles and discover which is best for you! Right now I am living in China and this program is very accurate compared to the real thing. I bought this program because of its many styles of teaching but also because of its accountability!

I started using the Rocket Chinese program, only used three of the lessons so far. However this product is phenomenal, its perfect for starting to get to know the basics and then can move on to the advance stuff.

I liked how they allow you to come back and do the Hanzi, or you can do it together. This depends on the level of Chinese you are at.

Very thorough review of each lesson but it starts to move too quick and shove too much in each lesson one you hit the 2.0's. It is hard to add up to 20 new words in one lesson instead of building a few at a time.

It's the easiest, fastest way I have found to learn. Step by step, lots of reviewing, which is ultimately the way to learn languages. I am really enjoying the lessons and the audio files - easy to navigate. Thanks Rocket.

Rocket Chinese fits the way I learn, and I was very happy to find it. I like the way it gives me options for learning and review instead of just drilling me. And I can go back and review anything I need to, anytime. The way the program is designed, I control my own learning, and I like that. The order of teaching makes sense, the cultural information is very helpful, and the reminders by email from Lin Ping help keep me focused and encourage me to add some variety to my program.

I think the best feature is the ability to record myself and compare it both aurally and visually with the teacher's recording of the same word or phrase. In level one, even though Dave is fun and very good, I do wish both teachers were native speakers for an accurate accent, at least for the recording parts of the lessons.

I've just started learning to write the characters, and so far, that teaching looks great too. I haven't gotten into the games too much, but I think they're helpful for stretching me beyond my comfort level. The point system encourages me to reach for the next goal, and that's fun and rewarding.

Overall, I love the program and I would recommend it to any English speaker who is motivated to learn Mandarin Chinese.

I've tried a number of other courses, including the big names and found them very disconnected from real world experiences. I did have a basic understanding of French previously, but the Rocket Languages course was an excellent way to brush up and lean more.

Great value for price! I like the browser but was really impressed with the app on IOS. Since I am on the go quite often, it is nice to learn Mandarin and check things off right on my phone. The more exposure to the language the better, and now I don't have to just sit at a computer all day and learn. Despite a few little bugs it has been more than I expected and I would recommend Rocket over Rosetta Stone anytime.

I've been trying lots of systems to learn chinese. None of them got so amezed as the Rocket Languanges. My chinese skills got a lot better only by using well (I mean every day, for about two hours) the trial version.