Rocket Italian Reviews

I shan't be writing something awesome. Sometimes it is quite good and helpful; other times it is difficult to hear the pronunciation clearly when attempting to repeat the pronunciation or write it. I am making some progress and will not give up.

I had been studying Italian on my own using another product, but it didn't provide me with explanations about word usage, culture, or real conversational lessons with self-test practice that Rocket Language Italian does. I sensed I really wasn't learning the language. But with Rocket Language I can practice my pronunciation, check it against a native speaker, and even participate in conversations in which my voice is dubbed into the existing audio tapes done by the instructor. I just started using Rocket Languages, but I already know my pronunciation and confidence in using the language has improved. I am excited to find out how much more I can improve.

I like the course of Rocket Languages very much because I can study any language on my own in any time - hearing native pronunciation, repeating, reading, checking constantly my results. And all this I do with joy and pleasure.

I have tried every audio software and physical classes to learn languages; Rocket is the first course I have actually enjoyed and stuck to! The content is very in depth and engaging; I particularly like how they explain how the language works culturally. As I am living in Italy I found this very useful. It is the most interactive software and the various tool really make you feel like you are making progress while making it easy to memorise.

I use this in conjunction with Babbel and find the two very complementary.
Babbel is better with disciplining me to learn verb conjugations and tenses and Rocket Italian is great for driving improved hearing, reading and pronunciation.

I have liked the program so far but here are my main criticisms:
First, the pacing. I wouldn't say I like having 5 audio lessons consecutively and then 5 language and culture lessons in a row. I prefer to have one audio and one language and culture lesson each time. I also wish these two types of lessons were more related and interconnected. they seem so disjointed and irrelevant right now.
I also wish that there was some sort of spaced repetition feature for reviewing previously learned vocabulary and materials. Therefore I have to manually make flashcards in another program (Anki) for this which is a little cumbersome than having them readily available.
I would like to see some new features for exercising the learned vocabulary and grammar instead of just repeating the limited number of sentences in each lesson and requiring the students to form and come up with new sentences.

Overall this is a very good program.
*I compare this with DuoLingo online learning as well as a personal coach I use with Verbling. Also against Babble
which I used for 6 months.
*Price is kind of high but it is for a complete program so I'm neutral on this rating.
*Lessons are interesting. I could use less of the banter but still, very good content when focused on actual language
skills. Of great importance to me are the moderators speaking in a clear and moderate speed. Rocket delivers on
this!
* Now to my most concerning (to me) knock...Some of the exercises are terribly long in the Language and Cultural
sections. It's not uncommon to have 50, 60 or greater than 70 words, phrases or sentences to learn, memorize and
recite back. Personally, I get very frustrated when i fail due to sheer volume of material. Knowing how difficult and
frustrating these exercises are, I have to fight the urge to simply by-pass these sections. Reducing the volume within
Language and Cultural modules would be a huge plus for me.

Despite having studied Italian for years, I am still uncomfortable trying to actually speak the language. With Rocket lessons I have gone back to the beginning and am nicely closing up some of the holes in my knowledge of the language. I am hoping to soon become more at ease with with Italian and more willing to actually test the skills that I am clearly acquiring with my Rocket Languages course.

The Rocket Italian Premium level is great for learning basic travel phrases. The voice recognition software works very well and if you use all the tools they provide for you regularly you'll definitely feel comfortable pulling out Italian phrases when you need them. I do like to listen to the audio lessons several times though. Also I with there was more variety in the testing and practice. An exercise where the student is given a completely new sentence that they have to give back in Italian would be really helpful.

it would be nicer if the voice adjustment meter was still part of the program lessons (it helps out a lot, in correcting individual pronunciation): it was perfect with my studies at the University of Florence during 2012. I was able to interact with the people of Florence because of the tools that rocket language provided. Plus, pass all of the tests that was only in the Italian dialogue. Thanks