Rocket Languages Reviews

Seeing all the rave reviews makes me wonder if there's something wrong with me. I am not a linguistic novice; I am a native speaker of English but a fluent speaker of Korean, I majored in linguistics in graduate school, and I've studied several languages both in university classes and on my own. But I'm having a hard time making any progress in Rocket Chinese. Eleven- or twelve-morpheme sentences are just too long for a beginner in the language. And while Lin Ping's spoken examples are very clear and easy to understand, David always sounds like his mouth is full of food and everything runs together. (I'm sure his Chinese is very good, but Chinese itself tends to sound like that to start with. It's just really frustrating.)

I bought the complete premium course and am wondering if I made a terrible decision.

I've been using the Rocket Spanish for 53 days, and while it has some good points, it's not an effective program for learning Spanish. The co-host, Mauricio, does not speak clearly enough for a beginner to understand, and there are some times when he is clearly not saying the sentence that is on the screen. I might recommend this program for business travelers, since that is mainly what the lessons are about (getting a hotel, booking a flight, ordering in a restaurant), but even then, you won't become fluent. You will just learn what you need to know to get around in that country. I've just requested a refund.

Out is very difficult to get the scoring of certain spoken words to work properly. Course 9.11 is the most frustrating Rocket Spanish lesson so far. In the"Hear it Say it" module, every single infinitive - conocer, poder, querer, etc- could not be scored 100% no matter how it was pronounced.

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

I enjoy the conversations that Rocket Italian is based on, but as a language instructor that uses strictly immersion techniques, I can't stand the amount of English that is in each lesson. There is SO much room for additional vocab that could be taught through the use of more exclusive Italian. It makes me frustrated to waste so much time on English banter. I am really struggling to make use of this course.

I would like to learn Korean on my different devices, Mac, iPad and MS Surface, but I have no clue, how the program remembers how far I had already advanced on one device, when I continue with another. There is apparently no way to log in with my ID and Password, so that the program knows who I am. This feature probably exist, but it is difficult to find out where and how.

Note from Rocket Languages: Hi Jac, thanks for your feedback. Someone of our customer support team has reached out to you to solve this issue. All the best with your Korean learning! Your Rocket Languages Team

Rocket Languages is an excellent way to learn a language . It opens you up to how you can pronounce the language through following the tutor. I enjoy the bit where you have to write because it is a good practice to know the words and how to pronounce them. I also like the flash cards because they enable you to pronounce and get to hear if you are doing it properly. My favorite is the quiz because it gives me the opportunity to show that I understand what I have been learning. I like Rocket Languages to an extend that I will not hesitate to recommend it to anyone willing to try it. I enjoy it when it also corrects spelling to show you where you went wrong right away.

The grading system is all over the place. They have a colour coded system that is meant to reflect proficiency but it patently doesn't correspond with any of the lessons. I completed all the modules available, everything was correct but the colour coded system gave me 1 green tick and 4 yellow symbols. It makes no sense.

I asked for an explanation for this but the response made little sense too.

I think somewhere in the Rocket system is a great app waiting to break out but it is currently too cumbersome which is a pity.

They ask users to write something awesome, they are assuming people think the app is awesome when it isn't yet.

The guy, Alex, in the Italian course comes across as a somewhat of a douche. He tries to be funny by pretending to flirt with the co host, Maria, but it just feels awkward. It might just be me, but I would prefer if they just sticked to the language material.

It is too frustrating. It doesn’t always understand what I am saying, even if I am saying it correctly. I don’t think I should have to know every ñ, é, á etc. when I am writing. It takes way too long. Need to shorten the lessons. I haven’t been doing them b/c I get too frustrated when it doesn’t understand me.