Rocket Languages Reviews

So far I am very happy with the Rocket Spanish. It is exactly what I was looking for. It has the listening portion that I can use on my way to work or while on a long walk. It also has the writing portion and the flash cards. I feel like having both really helps my understanding.

I enjoy Rocket German, as it has been the most useful medium for learning a new language short of just dropping into Germany to learn. I am an incurable do-it-yourself-er and Rocket German has been nothing short of encouraging to me. I use it every evening, along with Rocket Russian and I even manage to use it on my phone if I have a few dead moments during the workday to review what I did the night before. Whenever opportunity has presented itself, I've "test-driven" what I've learned in practical application and have been pleased with the results. I have a favorite German restaurant and use it there at times, although the only German speaker there is the owner, so it's only infrequently that I can use it there, but German tourists come to my part of the world occasionally and I do what I can to see if I can make a meaningful attempt at a conversation. It is my goal to be reasonably fluent in 5-years so that when I decide to do a 2-year work stint in Europe at that time, I'll be prepared.

This is a easy and simple program for anyone to learn any language at their own pace. I love it, thank you to the creator of it and to the public library for providing this awesome tool...I am very grateful...I'll be an avid speaker of Espanol rapido, uno ano (one year)...Gracias!

Rocket Spanish is well organized and fairly easy to use. I definitely like the experience and the process. HOWEVER - They are very wishy-washy with the meanings of phrases. In an effort to teach you different phrases to say the same thing, the designers forget that words have meaning. For example, early in the lessons you discuss someone's job. They tell you that the question, "What do you do?" can be asked ?Que haces?, which is correct. Unfortunately, they also tell you that you can say, ?En que trabajas?, which is not correct. That phrase means, "What is your work?". It may sound like I'm knit-picking, bc in the context of the conversation, either phrase will do, but it is confusing when I don't know what you are asking for. In the testing, it asks me to say in Spanish "What do you you?", but it says that I was incorrect bc I responded ?Que haces?. - WHICH IS CORRECT!! The designer of the course wanted me to say ?En que trabajas?. The student isn't a mind reader, and when he/she tries to apply the words learned, it is easy to get confused. Again, words have meaning. It is lazy to say that it is "close enough", when it is in-fact no where near what you are trying to say.

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I love the dialogues. They help you develop your listening and speaking skills rocket fast. Unlike the Pilmsleur approach that I have also used, Rocket languages also has the reinforcement activities where you get additional listening, speaking and writing practice so you learn to spell correctly and pay attention to accent marks and special characters.
I am giving it a 4 out of 5 because in my opinion the price is pretty steep (I can get the Pilmsleur CDs for Portuguese level 1 for $34 in ebay) and I feel for that price it should also include some grammar videos with activities and reading comprehension to make it more well rounded.

Rocket Languages made me to reconnect with my Mutter (die long time ago, when I was a baby). She went from Germany to Chile, with her parents, and had five German-Chilean kids ( I am the youngest). I was losing the language and now is coming back and I feel that I can talk to her.
I am teaching a little bit to one of my grandsons, so he also has a connection with the past. I am grateful and happy at my old age.

The course structure enables learner to advance at his or her own pace. Sometimes the sentences are too long and the pronunciation too difficult to hear - even though my hearing is excellent. When I do these activities in Rocket Korean and upon listening to Pimsleur Korean in my car, I find that the Korean sound system to be more challenging than the sound system in most other languages. Perhaps being able to hear sounds at a slower pace would benefit me until I know more about how to enunciate the sounds as a Korean speaker does.

While I use the Chrome browser as directed, I must say - "All that glitters is not chrome!" Sometimes the system slows down and requires that I log out and log back on. This is a technical issue more with Chrome than with Rocket Korean.

I'm pleased with Rocket German. The program has worked well on my iMac, provided I use the Chrome browser. Lessons are well sorgfanized, and if you keep at it day and are using the grammar as well as interactive lessons your fluency and reading will improve. I'm doubtful that writing will make similar progress as the structure is not a good, at leas so far, for teaching students to write German well, though students do get plenty of practice transcribing what they hear. I would not hesitate to recommend it to somebody wishing to learn to read and speak better German. I find it does help to make a point to watch movies and TV programs in German.

Arabic was the first language my son and I started learning through Rocket Languages, and we love it so much that I also purchased Rocket Spanish a few months ago. We started homeschooling last month, and whenever someone in the homeschool community asks for recommendation on studying a foreign language, I give a glowing review of Rocket and direct them to this site. I really love the way the alphabet, vowels, and numbers are covered. Thank you so much for providing such a wonderful tool!

Hear it! Say it! This has proved to be the key for me to dare to speak French at all! The playback feature has forced me to practice and practice the pronunciation until it sounds "good" ;) Rocket French is one of the best available language courses. Highly recommended!