Use of the Language and Culture Lessons

Now, I cringe to ask this question, as on the surface it sounds like a high-school student not wanting to do "any more work than necessary". Its just my time is fairly limited (I work 12 hours a day, plus 6hrs/day on the weekend) and I am going to Germany in August. That is my context. So my query is: 1) there is the main interactive audio lessons. This seems to be the track that the program pushes me down primarilly. 2) I have explored the lessons in the "Language and Culture" section 3) there seems to be lots of extra vocabulary presented at the bottom of many of the Language and Culture Lessons 4) Since the program doesn't seem to push me down the Language and Culture section, should I be getting caught up trying to decipher all the vocabulary in the L&C section....or is that meant more for context and also for extra learning material for those who can dedicate much more time? In other words, should I use the L&C section to learn some grammar rules and contextual stuff a language is used to interact with people, while focusing on the main interactive audio lessons....or should I take each lesson in sequence (1.4 followed immediate by 1.5) and flog that lesson (including all the vocabulary) until it is completely memorized before I move on to the next lesson? Any advice from the lesson developers (or others of course) is greatly appreciated. Vielen Dank

I am pretty much in the same boat as you. I started the Rocket German lessons in December, 2011 and try to do an hour a day. Some days that is difficult, as I work long hours as well. I am going to Germany in June. I have progressed to the Rocket German Premium Plus, but I do think the Language and Culture lessons are important. There is certainly a lot of useful info there. One thing I am not getting wrapped up in is the gender of the nouns. That seems unduly hard to memorize. It is hard enough learning all the words (and many sound alike) without worrying about the gender. I am guessing some purists will frown on this, but there is only so much my brain can hold!

Hi John, Sorry for the late reply. The course is designed to be flexible so learners can adapt the lessons according to their needs or learning style. However, we tend to recommend listening to one or two Interactive Audio lessons and then one or two Language & Culture lessons as the lessons often relate to each other. Once you are relatively comfortable with the language, you can try using the MegaGames software to solidify your learning and get more practice. As you work through the course, try doing a few Survival Kit lessons - these are not in any particular order however they contain bonus lessons with important vocabulary that you will find useful throughout the course like colors, days of the week, etc. For extra practice, check out the "Practice" tab in the Interactive Audio lessons. You can also rate all your lessons using the My Level feature - for more information on how to use this, please watch the TOUR video in any lesson. If you are short on time and don't need to know the breakdown of the language, you can just listen to the audio lessons as these will already give you a good grounding of the language. If you can spend a bit more time on the course, definitely give the Language & Culture lessons a go but like Bob says, try not to get too stressed out with the particulars of the language! I hope this helps. Good luck!!