Rocket Languages Reviews

(Japanese, Level 1 review) Methodically located somewhere between Pimsleur, YesJapan/Japanese From Zero and Japanesepod101, Rocket Japanese provides a strong, content-rich guided learning experience that can serve as a backbone to any serious self-learning effort. Of all the programs I have tried (including Rosetta Stone, Textfugu, WaniKani, Living Language, the Genki textbooks and those mentioned above), this is certainly the most comprehensive and challenging from the start.
Conversation exercises, which are at the core of the program, are very well executed and the speech recognition system ensures that there is a degree of accountability here. For auditive learners such as myself, these work just as well if not better than Pimsleur, which is an old but effective way to memorize phrases and gain some initial conversational skills.
The main weakness of Rocket Japanese comes in the lack of a spaced repetition system. I STRONGLY advise learners to use an external flashcard software (such as Anki) or analogue flashcards for their vocab learning. Since actually creating flashcards is in itself good practice, however, I wouldn't deduct any points for this given the overall strong showing on display.

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The format is very interesting and easy to learn. The lessons are in bite-sized chunks and easy to memorise. I started about a week back and I am happy with the progress I am making. Thank you Rocket Languages!

Your program is fine and efficient. Nevertheless the dialogues are a little boring ("Beijing seems to be a big city" , well, who doesn't know it?) and there is a BIG mistake in lesson 5.5 Places worth checking out in Beijing (the quizz) : the Great Wall of China CANNOT be seem from the moon ! Check it if you don't believe me. It's a myth !!!

Good morning,

I have recently purchased Rocket Italian and Have just started Module 1. It seems there is a glitch in the audio depiction software every time you are asked to repeat the numbers one, two, three.

Though this does not seem like a big deal, it is to me because it prevents me from getting 100% on the lesson. Being I found this so early on can I be expecting to see more glitches with future modules? Please advise on how to rectify this issue, I am dissatisfied with this product already in its early stages.

Thomas Attilio Casella

Rocket Languages is an awesome way to learn German or any language. It is light years ahead of the way I learned French at High School long ago.

In place of learning lists of words, you are given phrases to use so that you learn idioms rather than setting yourself up to use stilted expressions that don't accord with actual usage. You can still build your own vocabulary lists and export them to a file in your computer; and you can create your own notes to accompany these lists to gain understanding of how the words are used and case modified. I was offered .csv but would prefer .doc, but this is a minor matter.

The ability to download the initial conversational lessons is a great plus along with also being able to download .pdf files so that you can refresh yourself in these lessons again in a different context such as in your car.

Learning to say words, phrases and sentences from native speaking German tutors ensures that you learn to speak with a minimum of foreign accent, and the repetition with variations speeds the assimilation of the language. This experience is enhanced by your being able to record and re-record your rendition of a recording made for you by a tutor.

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This is the most effective Japanese program I've tried so far. I love the reinforcement after every lesson. I have Duolingo and listen to the Pimsleur learning course through Audible, and I think the Rocket Japanese course really puts everything together nicely. Already, I feel like my Japanese has definitely improved.

I completed the trial of Rocket Italian and was suitably impressed to invest in the full course including levels 2 and 3. I really enjoy the lessons and have made more progress with this course than any other I have tried. I particularly like the ability to interact with the dialogue, the voice recognition, and the mobile app so that I can review/continue my lessons when on the move. Although I initially hesitated making a purchase because of the price, I rationalised the decision based on the fact that Rocket Language offered something better than learning from a book/CD audio course, and it's a lot cheaper and more convenient than attending classes or personal 1-1 lessons. I also realised that making the purchase confirmed how serious I was about wanting to learn Italian and sealed my commitment to doing it. In fact, given the quality of source material, and the ingenious use of tech, I regard my purchase as 'good value for money' and would certainly recommend Rocket Italian to others. There has clearly been a lot of work given to making this course as good as it is.

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PROS: I like the layout and the reinforcement. Some might say the course is repetitive, but I find that it actually takes that much repetition to actually stick.

CONS: The German narrators are a little too "peppy" which can get annoying, but that's ok. I would love to see the special characters (non-English) as easy buttons at the bottom of the text box, instead of having to open the keyboard every time. It really slows down the learning to do that.

Rocket Languages has done more favours for me, I have got to how to write,read and knowing it to . A great thanks to rocket languages for the offer to learn.

The package is very well organized and well-planned, but I find it confusing. After completing Duolingo and Santamaria's Synergy Spanish, I'm not finding my proper level in Rocket Spanish and the system doesn't let me move ahead. The first third seems to me not useful to someone who is at the early intermediate stage, and I can't find a way to get into the second level. Instead, I keep getting just the intro material, which I already know. Even at the intro level, some problems jump out at me, such as the sudden addition of past tenses, when presumably the beginner doesn't know the present tense yet.

At first, I was able to record, but that suddenly quit on me, and now I can't. It doesn't matter too much, since I was getting 100% every time on my accent. I will try to manage without that feature. Headphones wouldn't help, since I can hear fine; I just can't record. I would like to advance, but don't see it happening.