Rocket Languages Reviews

I've been trying to learn French off and on for many years, but have always struggled with conversation. Having gone through the first few lessons in the trial version, I feel like my spoken French has improved more than it did in any of the classes I took. I would feel comfortable having a simple conversation with someone in real life after this short time. Seeing that kind of progress is motivating! The testing modules following each of the lessons do a really good job of helping you internalize the language that was taught in the lesson. The voice recognition software can sometimes be a bit slow or finicky, which may be partially due to my computer. I've had the best luck using the recently updated iPhone app. I would definitely recommend the French product. It is much less expensive than I would pay for classes that cover the same amount of material, and I believe I will actually be more proficient with Rocket French.

One note: I haven't had any contact with the company, so I cannot comment on the customer service, but don't want to give them a bad rating. One the I noticed was that the issues that I experienced initially with the iPhone app were resolved the next time I logged in. The company seems to be working hard to give customers a good product.

I was impulsive when I bought Rocket Chinese but I definitely do not regret it because my Mandarin has improved so much in these few months where I can strike up some everyday conversations with my family. But I must disclose that though I have improved a lot these few months, it is not solely due to this program. I can speak Cantonese fluently so I can easily understand the Chinese grammar as I have been exposed to it and I can get immediate feedback from my mom whom speaks both Cantonese and Mandarin. I like how I can teach myself at my own pace without needing to travel to a class to learn. I like the overall format of listening and the ability to speak and have it rated based on how well I do. There are some technical issues that can be fixed but the experience is certainly very enjoyable and it is very fun! The only downside is there is no one that can immediately fix your pronunciation because as mentioned, the rated recordings of our voice does have faults as it may not pick it up when you pronounce a word correctly or incorrectly. This program does help tremendously in terms of improving my vocabulary and help to build my own sentences. This program really got the ball rolling for me and hopefully in the near future I can converse fully in Mandarin.

There are so many ways you can learn. Being a visual learner, I'm very thankful that the audio lessons don't just have the audios, but also the written out versions and translations. It makes learning a easy and fun.

Rocket Languages allows me to study at my own pace but also immerse myself in the culture and language. It also fits multiple learning styles and I love the new travelouges, I've already listened to the entire spanish one!

awesome app -- I am really learning stuff while driving around in the car. I have gone from virtually no spanish at all, to being able to at least greet my spanish speaking clients, offer them something to drink, and handle some basic conversational points.

Rocket French has been my desired language software.. I enjoy the learning style. The microphone, and writing capacity of this program. It is fun to practice and learn at your own pace. I would recommend this program. Love the flashcards and different opportunities for learning.

I enjoy the desktop interaction. The self pace and modulars are about the right size for learning. I'm 2 modules in. Some of the user interface is a little clunky. The phone app is very clunky. Neither of them bookmark progress within the audio file. No points appear to recorded while using the mobile app.

I tried the interactive lesson on planning an activity for the weekend. I was disappointed as I thought it would be interactive enough to the extent that if would allow me to repeat the phrase/sentence/word after the spanish speaker and have him correct my pronunciations. It does give me time to repeat after him but without the correction of pronunciation, it left me wanting.

I am probably an low intermediate and have completed the second level of Spanish and started the third but found it quite a bit harder without a lot of explanations for the grammar or expressions used.

I stopped working on it for now, and have started the Spanish Travelogue instead. . Again it is harder than I hoped with very rapid Spanish and verb tenses I have not yet learned. I would have liked a little more explanations - For example, I appreciated getting a quick response to my question as to why the verb haber was not conjugated in a sentence.

" 'Haber' is not conjugated as it is acting as a modal auxiliary; and when it is followed by a past participle (olvidado) it forms the compound infinitives in the conjugation. It's a compound tense, just like in English. "

But it is still way past my current understanding. I will carry on as I am finding it interesting but I am not sure I am quite ready for this.

Having tried other Japanese learning solutions (Books with audio files and other software solutions), I can say for sure that Rocket Languages has a clear advantage: it is very effective and comprehensive while being user friendly and interactive.

I especially enjoy the Web version, voice recognition and the quality and structure of dialogues which don't make them boring.