Rocket Spanish Reviews

I like the way it focuses on the parts of a common conversation. Things that it could do better:
1. Make some games or reading lessons that you can do silently. Face it: a lot of us have time to study in places that we just don't want to be talking into a microphone.
2. Have your web app work with more than just Chrome.

Other than those two items, it is a great platform to learn a language on. I would recommend it over most others.

I like the practicality of starting with useful daily conversations in Spanish, as opposed to a heavy dose of grammar and vocabulary memorization. I like the breakdown of phrases into their individual parts and the repetition. The pauses between repeated phrases allow ample time to practice mimicking the speakers aloud. Then checking my pronunciation against theirs. As a lifelong educator myself, I like the 'layered' approach--with one conversation building on the previous conversation and then continuing. This IS an effective way to learn pretty much anything! Good job Rocket Spanish. :)

I like the lessons so far, but I have a couple nits to pick. 1) The recording volume is very low even when set to max. I have to get very close to my mic, and then I get big spikes. 2) When Mauricio pronounces phrases, he emphasizes one syllable the first time and a different syllable the next time. How am I supposed to know which way is right?

I think the Rocket format is a solid tool for learning - especially for beginners. Each lesson is a conversation between two people that you study and use to learn vocabulary and grammar. I always enjoyed that the format gave me little "stories" I could grab on to as memory aids. It really gave me a great start.

As my enthusiasm waned, as it always will when learning something new and moving past the beginner phase, I found that the rocket format started to bog me down a little. Some lessons would have over 60 phrases to practice and memorize. I'd get bogged down trying to get through the homework. I felt my learning speed was slowing down as I entered Level 2 of the course, and I began to turn to other tools like "Spanish Dict (spanishdict.com)" to augment the material and speed me up.

I think the course could be improved drastically in three ways.

1) Shorten Lessons. People like to move through lessons quickly. It produces a sense of accomplishment. This means, reducing the number of phrases to be mastered in each lesson.

2) Enhance Memorization Tools. There are well known systems for reviewing words and the idea of building a deck of flashcards you can continuously review is missing from the toolkit of Rocket Spanish.

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Lesson 1.7 is about to do me in. I simply cannot understand it when they're saying such long sentences and speaking so rapidly. Then again, I got made fun of once in the 90's Mexico when I said cuatro because I said it so slowly. I'm from the South. I speak English slowly and damned sure can't speak Spanish that fast. I also can't remember all those words and phrases. There were a lot of them in this lesson!

I didn't talk with Customer services - I would like more building on each lesson. This programs Idea is repeat the lesson. I find it goes a bit fast

Rocket Languages is a great way to start learning Spanish. I did not like it a first but as my knowledge of Spanish grew, so did my like for this product.

It is an interesting way to learn a languge. Very good to listen to people who speak. It is very realistic and natual. The second time you listen it is easy to remember the words again. I hope I will improve my spanish soon. The use of ipad will do it easy to practice every day, at home, on the bus and when I am walking.

I have enjoyed and gotten a lot from the program. I have recommended it to friends which is the highest compliment. We have purchased in Mexico and make frequent trips. Each trip my comprehension and conversational Spanish improves significantly.

Overall, I'm very satisfied with the product and approach so far, particularly coming from 7 months of Duolingo. It is a significant upgrade in experience over Duolingo. It has the right balance of drill and practice and grammar fundamentals, in the context of a conversation-driven learning style. It seems natural and well thought out. I truly appreciate that I can skip what I want in deference to things I already know. I know I will soon get to things I will not be able to skim or skip and I look forward to that. The "say it" element of the structure is excellent. It is forcing me to speak, which is exactly what Duolingo does not do well. I have lots of words and lots of conjugations, but on the spot I am like a deer in the headlights, and Rocket's style forces you to just "talk", mistakes and all, which is great. The speed and clarity of the voice actors is excellent and it makes listening easy and approachable. The rolling text approach on screen is great, as I can look at the scroll when I want to and look away (to test myself better) when I don't want to.

A couple of constructive things to say.

1.

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