Rocket Languages Reviews

I think conceptually, it's great. The progression of language makes a lot of sense to me and feels natural. A few critiques: it is very geared toward traveling to South America as a tourist or for work or something, so if you're learning Spanish for any other reason, this doesn't give you a lot of the vocabulary that would probably be useful. Also, though the concept is great, there are still a lot of kinks that need to be worked out so that it actually functions properly. Things are often misspelled, especially in the later lessons. If there are multiple ways to say the same thing, there is almost no indication which way they expect you to use, and you get docked if you say the one other than expected. Also, the software has a really hard time picking up what you're saying, so you can pronounce things the exact same way, and one time it's correct and the next time it's incorrect because the software just isn't good at understanding verbal language. So overall, really good product, I just wish they had spent a little more time developing it and working out the bugs before rolling it out.

I like being able to learn German at my own pace and at an affordable price!. There is no more pressure than the one you put on yourself. I am learning it, because I want to learn it, not because I am forced to. All is well described and you can review something that was not clear the next day which sometimes is a big plus for me. ( since I work late sometimes )

Sign Language is pretty good, but I wish there was more of a way to test where I am at. I am not sure how well I grasp the concepts because there is not really any interaction...It is a good way to learn by yourself though.

I like the way that you go over the same thing in different ways which helps to fix the concept in your mind. I have studied Italian and spent some time there over the years and am using Rocket Italian as a refresher.

The flash cards and the know it parts are especially good and handy. Narrowing down what you need more work on, followed by a review and a new test. Also, the audio sections are arranged in a handy way for me. I completed another Spanish course, so really am intermediate, but am using the ending review parts of the audio courses in the beginning modules to refresh myself and also to learn the different words covered here.

best I've ever used. I'm just starting and the way Rocket teaches i can really hear my Spanish getting better after ever level. plus the fact that i'm pretty busy lets me come back again and again for review

I am very pleased with the program. Very well organized and gives a variety of ways to practice and assess one's progress.

I am old enough to remember having to go to a language lab on campus and listen to the tapes there. Of course, nothing interactive available.

For the price this is a very good program and the interactive sections are easy to understand. I've used other online programs and so far this one is the best. My main dissatisfaction with it has to do with the organization of the information presented. After the self study sections it would make sense to use the new vocabulary and/or concepts presented during the interactive lessons. For example: There's an entire lesson dealing with the weather but no where in the succeeding interactive lessons is there any discussion of weather. When vocabulary is not used, it's easily forgotten. And you end up with little sense of how to include it in conversation. Also, when new grammatical concepts are introduced in the interactive lessons there isn't always a discussion of the concept. Examples: (1) Nel, nella, negli are presented in unit 4. It's a completely new group of prepositional phrases, but there's no explanation. (2) When nouns ending in E are pluralized, the ending is always i (as in the masculine) regardless of whether the noun is masculine or feminine. I purchased an Italian grammar book and was able to clear up my confusion around this, but it should have been mentioned in one of the lessons where a plural feminine noun ended in an i. These are just the most recent issues of this kind I've encountered. There are more. So, more thought regarding organization and presentation would be warranted.

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.

So far so good, quite pricy though. And maybe it would be fun with something for visual learners. Overall it is very good but still has potential to improve. I have no experience of the customer service so that one is neither good or bad.
How likely I'm to buy it again depends on if I get a big discount on another language.