Rocket Italian Reviews

I am using Rocket Italian as a review to the Italian I studied "Molti anni fa" in college so that I can be more fluent and approachable when I travel. I like the pace and the ability to skip around. However, the American accent of Alex is distracting and there is too much spoken English. I can see if a beginner is trying to get traction it might be okay. I am looking forward to moving up into the later levels. Overall, hearing so much English and the English accent is distracting. There are also some grammar errors in the translations along the way. For the price, I would expect more flawless execution. However overall, I like the conversational approach and the ability to hop around to get what I need to progress.

I like the way review is spiraled into several lessons, so the words really stick. I also like the multimodal practice with each lesson. I expected to have some difficulty picking up Italian after many years of not practicing any language except English, but I'm learning more quickly and remembering more thorougly than I thought I would. Tutto bravo!

I've been trying to learn Italian for a few years now. I've tried everything from online classes to free programs like Duolingo. While I've learned some things, they all pale in comparison to what I've learned in just one week with Rocket Italian. I listen to the conversations while I make and eat breakfast, then I go to the program throughout the day to master the lesson. The following day, I review all previous lessons and then I move on to the next. I finally feel like I'm learning something!

I have tried a few different resources in starting out with Italian. I have to say that I am glad I completed Paul Noble's audio course before starting with this - as the pace of learning with Rocket is much faster. The downside is that I find the learning much less "sticky" - the audio lessons simply don't have enough structured repetition of material to make the words stay in your memory. I find a lot of the exercises pointless too - I really don't want to repeat "sto bene" or "ciao" 100 times - although the recording facility is useful (not much point in relying on the software to rate your pronunciation - it's actually more useful to listen to yourself back).

Having said that, the course is enjoyable, and it's nice that it uses contemporary subject matter as well as "real" Italian. I tried a few Pimsleur lessons too and that was really, really bad - very out of date, with some cringe-worthy material. Just awful.

I find the most useful lessons the non-audio ones , oddly enough. No one course is enough when you are learning a language - I supplement Rocket with Italian films, a fantastic audio resource which cost me 95 PENCE ! (Rilkey's 613 Italian dialogues) - reading Italian newspapers and short story books, Duolingo, and any opportunity I get to speak in real situations.

I'm not sure I would buy the advanced levels of the course - but I am enjoying using the first level partly as revision and partly to lean new things.

This is a great course. I like the options for review, with listening, writing, flashcards, and voice recognition it is a comprehensive program. I'm only a week in, but I can see myself sticking with this.

I wish there was an option where I could select multiple flashcards to review. I'd love to have a way to select boxes for lessons 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 and either "all cards" or those "marked for review." This would allow me to review multiple lessons at once, and stay on top of all previous lessons without having to open each lesson individually. I have found my learning style is really helped by using flashcards. This is an ease-of-use issue, but in total, the program is great.

I absolutely love Rocket Italian. I have tried Duo Lingo and Rosetta Stone and this is by far the most effective program I've used. This program is unique in that you hear new vocabulary and grammatical concepts in the context of a conversation and then delve in to the grammar after seeing it in context. Whoever wrote this really knew what they were doing because you will complete one lesson and then later in the lesson, or even a few lessons later, the grammatical concept will be fully laid out. This sense of "hey, I've heard that before" makes new grammar and vocab so much easier and more natural to learn. Seriously, it works. You do have to put a little work into memorizing the conversation in each lesson, but the "Practice this conversation" mode allows you to grade the task by slowly making it harder and harder by taking away words. Again, genius! My brain has been able to go back to draw on previously memorized conversation to help me remember conjugations, phrases, and grammar. I am in my mid-thirties and have a terrible memory (let's just say I make for a lousy trivia buddy), so it is shocking that I am having such success with my Italian.

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The system, so far, seems good, though I dislike the way it's presented (e.g., the often "cute" wording and the constant exclamation points).
But I truly resent the constant spam from Rocket Languages that began the moment I paid, and that continue despite my making every attempt to unsubscribe.
And I hate the high-pressure sales technique and the "snake oil" methods of pushing the product. I was hard pressed to buy the program with how it was being marketed, and only the generally very favorable reviews, and the money-back guarantee, made me overlook the insulting marketing.
An email to Rocket explaining these opinions remains unanswered at writing.

I studied Spanish and Portuguese up to B2 level many years ago and I have school French so Romance languages are not new to me nor is language learning as an adult.

I started with this course as a beginner in Italian 6 months ago. I am now completing the final Platinum stage of the course. I reckon that I am now at level B1 or lower B2 in the Common European Framework language classification.

What I like about Rocket Italian: The interactive pronunciation check using the Chrome browser; practical and useful conversation topics from the start; variety of practise in each exercise, repetition, writing, translation English to Italian and repetition of the dialogue. The point scoring system which helps maintain motivation

What I do not like: Lack of attention to detail in course material particularly towards the end of each level with mistranslations, and other mistakes. When you point out the mistakes in the feedback they are corrected but it is as if they rely on their students to proof read the course. Too much English spoken in the more advanced lessons. Odd choice of what grammar points to explain. (In some lessons simple and obvious points were explained while more complex grammar items were not.

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I have not had a need for the customer service so n/a This course is better suited for a longer time frame we had planned to go in March but rescheduled to next year. i take a lesson at least 5 days a week, and it helps. I am also watching an Italian comedy to hear Italian. I am fluent in Spanish, so the hard part for me is to say it in Italian and not Spanish, and this process is really helping!

I believe that the Rocket Languages Italian course is very useful and helps to obtain a basic level of understanding rapidly. I think that it is more efficient compared with now obsolete CD and audiotape courses that I have taken. It could be improved by adding a visual component, such as pictures of objects and foods that are mentioned.