Rocket German Reviews

I am having a lot of fun with Rocket German, and next, Rocket Spanish. This program is pretty great. I hope lots of people make use of it. Other programs I have tried did not compare.

i can only say that Rocket German is an awesome disaster. Waste of time & money.

I could not get past the incredibly annoying woman with her fingernails-on-chalkboard voice. The squeaking, the overemphatic emoting, the inane chatter and the off-putting accent have driven me away from this program in the first 5 minutes.

My partner has RocketFrench, which is great and which he enjoys. I am a language teacher, so I help reinforce.
Now, I just bought RocketGerman -with the same hopes of the French version- and lasted 4 minutes of intro and am SHOCKED: I want to learn German, so why is Nik being such a bitch to Paul, saying his German accent is not as sexy as a French accent?! Why is she saying "especially if your daily job does not require a lot of brain power". Not to mention her horrid voice with unbearable high pitch. How am I supposed to learn with a condescending teacher? No thank you!
I want to talk to someone from customer service.

Awesome does not express how really really ausgezeichnet the program is. Every time I come back to the lessons, I learn something new. Each lesson provides practice in many different situations. The tests at the end of the lessons are a little too easy, but it works. Being able to add words to my vocabulary is also a great feature. I really enjoy the option to take the final exams. That gives me a very good idea of how I am progressing.

I would recommend Rocket Languages if you are a complete beginner. But it is frustrating for someone, who has basic familiarity with the language and is looking to improve. The program has too many elements, like the speaking, writing, quizzing, etc. And the conversations are so basic and repetitive that it is annoying. I wish there was a version that offered a refresher approach or a reading based approach for those who know the basics and want to expand their vocabulary and brush on grammar. Alternatively, it would be nice if one didn't have to purchase the basic levels in order to get the more advanced sessions. Rocket language dialogs seem to focus more on tourist activities. Also, I think it would be useful to have all of the presenters speaking with the proper accent. In the German course, only one of the presenters is a native speaker. Finally, the speech recognition is slow and often spotty - and that's on the desktop version. In the iOS app, many of the quiz/practice functions don't work at all. I purchased the program because it was on sale, but I should have just relied on reading German books and media and on watching movies in German.

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with more practice, there'll be a light at the end of tunnel.
wundebar!

First of all, In the middle of exercises (as I'm trying to speak a German phrase) I get annoying popup windows asking me to write a review of Rocket German. I think that's pretty indicative of how much Rocket cares about me actually learning, an how much it just wants more business. In fact, just above this box where I'm typing, Rocket has a link to some "example reviews" which are glowing reports of how when you buy RG, all your wildest fantasies will come true. Since RG insists, though, here is my review...***

Right after I paid $250 dollars for the three German courses (the first of which I didn't even want, but you have no option to remove it from the bundle) I get directed to another page telling me I should really also buy another add-on course that normally costs $50, but they're going to give it to me for $30. Classic used-car salesman tactic. I decline. I'm directed to another page saying "Ok, we'll give it to you for $20, but only if you buy it right now. No kidding, this is your last chance!" Does it get any more sleazy than that?***

The German course was clearly written by native German speakers, which is good, but not really checked by a native English speaker for the quality of the English dialogue.

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First year of German course is good, but the quality goes downs in the second year.
Also, they are spammers: does not matter how many times you hit unsubscribe, you will continue to receive the wonderful 60% discount a LOT. I do not recommend at all.

There is a lot to love about Rocket Languages - particularly the way you are encouraged to speak and interact with the material. The material, though, is the reason I am cancelling Rocket German Level 3. There are many useful words, structures, and conversations here, but I seriously have to question the didactic approach. Explanations of necessary grammar concepts were often missing or incomplete. Useless vocabulary (e.g. "Ha ha") is given equal weight with sentences much too long to memorize. Good model sentences are mixed in with numerous old song lyrics, tongue twisters, and "Max und Moritz" lines which should be presented just for entertainment. I was spending far too much time trying to weed out the material that had no real value for learning German. I must admit that I'm disappointed in this course. I've used Rocket French and was very impressed, but this course needs an overhaul before I can either use or recommend it.

Note from Rocket Languages: Hi David, thanks a lot for leaving us a review. We're currently in the process of reviewing Rocket German - so this is valuable feedback! We're sorry you weren't satisfied with the course and hope you might reconsider after Rocket German Level 3 is updated. Until then - happy learning! Your Rocket German Team