Rocket Languages Reviews

TL:DR -These courses are worth bothering with and a fair deal but don't expect perfection or a miracles.

This was sold to me (by external reviews) as being better than Rosetta stone and the current market leader in comprehensive language learning for self study, and yeah it is better and may be the best all around, but its still far from perfect. There are other products that are distinctly better for certain aspects of Japanese study, but this one is a good all-rounder.

It is very much like a by the book language study course that you would get in a generic language school.
Its not ground breaking, but its very solid and should successfully teach any diligent student some extent of their target language.

Given that you get hundreds of hours of lessons that you can do at your own pace I think the price is great value but I can't quite give 5 stars because there are some flaws in the product and service.

Unlike many free apps you aren't limited to 5 or 10 mins per day which means that the system can take its time to teach you slowly and methodically, and that if you have a lot of free time (and almost everybody does at the time of writing mid-April 2020) then you can do an hour or more everyday.

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Overall, definitely gets you "speaking" quite a bit. The great majority of this, however, is just rote copying of what was just heard. Regurgitation, not processing and internalizing. The rest is straight translation, which in my opinion is a far inferior way to learn a language. A good number of lessons use words/phrases/tenses that have never been discussed and are simply not explained. There are quite a few glitches with speech recognition, especially regarding numbers and accent marks. The material is HEAVILY focused on travel, which I get makes some sense if you're learning Spanish in order to travel, but I suspect a large number of people are like me, learning Spanish to use in everyday life. May just be a US bias though, where Spanish can be very useful almost everywhere.

I am using Rocket Italian as a review to the Italian I studied "Molti anni fa" in college so that I can be more fluent and approachable when I travel. I like the pace and the ability to skip around. However, the American accent of Alex is distracting and there is too much spoken English. I can see if a beginner is trying to get traction it might be okay. I am looking forward to moving up into the later levels. Overall, hearing so much English and the English accent is distracting. There are also some grammar errors in the translations along the way. For the price, I would expect more flawless execution. However overall, I like the conversational approach and the ability to hop around to get what I need to progress.

The system, so far, seems good, though I dislike the way it's presented (e.g., the often "cute" wording and the constant exclamation points).
But I truly resent the constant spam from Rocket Languages that began the moment I paid, and that continue despite my making every attempt to unsubscribe.
And I hate the high-pressure sales technique and the "snake oil" methods of pushing the product. I was hard pressed to buy the program with how it was being marketed, and only the generally very favorable reviews, and the money-back guarantee, made me overlook the insulting marketing.
An email to Rocket explaining these opinions remains unanswered at writing.

Some days it is good, other days voice and speech recognition is plain atrocious and frustrating. Whole phrases 'not heard', words (or numbers) plucked out of nowhere that bear no resemblance to what was said. And this on a high speed internet connection. That wouldn't be half as frustrating come each time with a useless pop-up on what to do. Will I keep using it - yes. Can it be useful - yes. Does its voice recognition engine need to be improved - YES.

Tried the 7 day free trial, didn't work very well so not confident to purchase ,

I've been using Rocket Italian since December 2019. I purchased Levels 1, 2, & 3-Instant Lifetime Access and the Travelogue. (Yes, I am committed to learn Italian.) I am on Unit I- module 6. In addition to Rocket, I use 2 other Apps/programs along with Rocket Italian. After 3/12 months of use, I feel I can write an accurate review.
Pros
1. I love the structured lessons
2. Like having the audios of Alex and Maria (audio lessons and reviews)
3. Like having the ability to record myself and mimic pronunciation

Cons (or possible areas to improve)
1. I wish there was a way to manipulate and build sentences rather than solely memorizing. (Maybe this happens in later units, I don't know.)
2. I wish that in lessons, such as in Language and Culture, where they may be over 90 terms to learn, that the lesson be divided in smaller lessons. Memorizing close to 100 terms is overwhelming and a big challenge. Maybe limiting the terms to a more manageable number would be beneficial to the learner.
3. I wish there was a method to answer questions on a lesson directly on the lesson page itself rather than on the forum. Also, I would appreciate if someone from Rocket could answer those questions rather than relying mostly other learners.
4.

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I've been using Rocket Italian since about March 2019 and I purchased the program because I am required to pass a language exam. I purchased all 3 levels and if you are someone traveling to Italy or learning basic conversational skills this program is great. However, if you have more intermediate needs this program is just ok. It would be nice if there were more breakdowns of the conversations once you get more advanced and provide simple words or phrases to translate. While building skills, the program will ask you to learn the verb to have and memorize extremely long sentences in the same lesson. This happens most lessons and is ineffective for my learning because it doesn't help you practice the skill and learn competency but memorization.

One of the tenses used most often in my work is the historic past and this tense is the one with the least information and preparation. Beyond that, what I've noticed is that the program pushes you to learn specific meanings of words. For example, in one lesson that began with the word "well" I responded with a translation of dunque. The program marked me wrong and was looking for allora. Both are acceptable translations and I am likely to come across both.

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The courses itself are well structured and have intuitive user interface. I also like that you often repeat phrases in next lessons.
However the performance of the web site and its responsiveness is not always very good. I had few days when lessons hangs and I also see that while doing speaking exercises it is quite often that it will not catch the phrase I speak even after 2-3 attempts.

Not truly rating yet, Really, I just started it. Only on lesson 1.1. Not sufficient to judge. Using this along with other sources, Penguin book, Living languages CDs and Duolingo and Master Russian online, plus a few other lesser sources. Plus I'm already familiar with the Cyrillic alphabet as I used it in the Air Force back in 1962-4. I'm 76 now and not in a hurry as I have no place to use Russian, just keeping the brain active. Thus most of the vocabulary and some of the theory of lessons 1.1 and 1.2, I already am already familiar with from the other sources. Each course also has differing additional vocabulary. Having said that, I do like being able to hear and mimic the pronunciations and working through the exercises to help remember the vocabulary. It is impossible to rate a program so soon. I would prefer to do my rating after a month or so when I really know what to rate. Stay tuned.