Rocket Languages. Reviews

Might not make you fluent alone but certainly has the potential to. I especially appreciate the fact that it explains almost every word and particle that you come through in a detailed matter. With that being said, I strongly believe and have experienced that if you use both duolingo and RocketLanguages together, your language skills improve drastically. Duolingo may be more attention getting or fun to play, but RocketLanguages speeds through bigger words and vocabulary much faster and more efficiently. If you don’t wish to use these two together, I highly recommend using multiple language apps regularly, because usually one isn’t going to cut it. Certain apps may focus on different things, so using multiple is like getting a taste if all aspects of Japanese language. I do, however, recommend RocketLanguages for it’s usefulness- Rocket Japanese has units for all factors for surviving life in Japan- (Ex: Eating at a restaurant and how you might order or approach staff.) I also appreciate the use of voices explaining the different words- dialogue unique to each unit, as well as in the “quiz” section, RocketLanguages sometimes explains the different multiple choice options and how they are wrong or tight after you have selected your answer. In all honesty, best language app I’ve used so far.

I picked up rocket Spanish after spending several months of semi-rigorous learning on Duolingo (like a lot of people I imagine). I realized my vocabulary was growing but when I tried to speak with friends I would freeze. After researching the different apps I found that rocket Spanish was recommended for those looking specifically to improve their speaking skills.

I’ve now completed all of level 1 and and am working through level 2 and I have to agree RocketLanguages has definitely improved my speaking tremendously. Will RocketLanguages make you fluent? No, no single app will. But it will make you make you much more confident to actually use the language you’re learning. I really like the emphasis it places on practical application and useful phrases that you are likely to need in your day to day.

I still supplement with grammar exercises to drill down the conjugation rules and often reference resources like SpanishDict. But if you want to go from speaking no Spanish to actually engaging in conversations I’d highly recommend Rocket. When it finally clicked and the words came out naturally without me even thinking of the conjugation, I knew it deserved a review.

I like Rocket Spanish much better than Plimseur, but like most Spanish instruction it misses an opportunity to reinforce the syntax, structure, word order, and idioms of the language. They will often put a literal translation of the Spanish as a footnote, whereas if the more literal translation was the default to begin with (and I realize that it can never be exactly literal or linear) over time it would be easier to “think” in Spanish. In essence, we have to translate twice: once from the English structure and idioms to the Spanish structure and idioms and then to the Spanish words. On the plus side, Rocket Spanish seems quite comprehensive and relevant, providing context as well as translations. I also appreciate that there are a variety of exercises to reinforce and check what you learn from the dialogues: flash cards, opportunity to check your pronunciation, writing, and quizzes to check your understanding. Overall, I am very happy with Rocket.

The first week or so, everything worked amazingly. Things drastically went down hill from there. The audio does not work at all. I reached out to customer service and they told me to reinstall RocketLanguages but they were pretty dismissive with my issues. I reinstalled RocketLanguages and there is still no audio. How are you supposed to learn when you can’t hear how a word is pronounced?

The next thing is the audio recognition. Again, first week it went great. After that, I can no longer use this feature. This was another issue I brought to their attention and they told me that feature is not compatible. It worked fine when I first got it. Even on their website, the audio and the microphone do not work.

This has been a huge waste of money. The bugs completely make the program useless and the customer service is severely lacking. If they ever get these issues fix, it would be fantastic. I was learning Japanese very quickly with this for that first week but it has now been 5 months since I’ve been able to use it. I keep checking regularly to see if they’ve fixed the issues, because like I said, this would be a fantastic program.

I have tried the paid versions of almost all of the popular apps out there for learning German and I can say that this one is the best. It is very systematic, comprehensive, free of errors, addresses the idiosyncrasies of the German language and most importantly, forces you to speak. I wish I had found it earlier and didn’t waste my time and money with the other apps.
The only feature that I wish Rocket Languages had is some sort of a spaced repetition tool that reminds you to repeat words and phrases that you find difficult. Other than this, RocketLanguages , the method for teaching German and the quality of the content are just perfect. I am using RocketLanguages both on my phone while driving (to listen to the lessons) and on my iPad to do the exercises. Transition from one device to another is seamless. I have not tried the desktop version.
I live in Germany and RocketLanguages has already helped me tremendously to speak with a lot more confidence than before. Thank you and keep up the good work!

Along with the easy grammar explanations are examples to clarify the oft difficult and somewhat illogical words for understanding German. The everyday sayings are a bonus to learn how original German speakers use the phrases that are not literally translated. Only one concern is that the sound of words is too fast and slurred. While knowing that may be how a German speaker may sound to their buddy, it does not help learning and repeating the words and phrases.

Update one month later: I raised the stars to five. I was using Babbel at the same time as Rocket. However, Babble went from ease of learning to over the top of difficulty and speech that was so fast it became impossible to understand. ROCKET has maintains a decent pace for beginner students of German and is increasing the difficulty as the learner becomes more proficient. The grammar explanations are top notch. I now use Rocket exclusively as my online language training.

I like using the Rocket Spanish app. I’m learning things I wasn’t taught in similar apps. But it’s also kind of infuriating because of one defect in particular. There are certain lessons where the audio for certain phrases simply won't play! When I press the play arrow next to the phrase, it blinks for a second like it’s gonna play, but then nothing happens. And more importantly this happens anytime the phrase appears in any of the quizzes at the end of the lesson. Anytime any one of those phrases appears I just have to skip it because it’s impossible to respond correctly without hearing the audio. I sent an email to the company about this, but I’ve heard nothing back. Oh, and there’s another bug that I noticed recently. In the quizzes there’s an area for you to type your answer. In a recent update the background of this area and the color of the text are now both white, which means you can’t even see what you’re typing anymore!

I really like that RocketLanguages does NOT give you an almost random a la carte bunch of choices on how to proceed through its course (like some apps do, thinking that this is a good thing). I like that there is a clean path through the course. Each step includes a short dialog followed by sections on vocabulary and pronunciation, phrase flashcards, listening and speaking exercises on the phrases, and reading and writing them. I like how the voice recognition is integrated into RocketLanguages and how the dialog playback speed can be adjusted. Also, the user interface contains many thoughtful and quite useful touches, e.g., annotations for number, gender, and formality. The sync with the webapp version is perfect, too, which is much appreciated when I would rather be on my laptop. Overall, the developers of RocketLanguages show a desire to make this the best language learning app; something I have not seen in other apps.

Really like this product! The introductory video is all you need to get the ball rolling. You are comped a couple of modules for each of the 3 levels so you get hands on practice before you buy. Cool.

It has a nice instruction pattern where you:

1. Listen to the lesson and practice a little

Next:

1. Hear and repeat words/phrases from lesson
2. Hear and spell words/phrases
3. Read the English and translate to Spanish
4. A 5 question comprehension quiz follows

Finally:

You recite the lesson four times, with progressively less clues, for each of the roles.

I started using the flash cards and like the way you can group them for review, especially the ones you keep missing. I like to go back after I have completed each lesson and solidify my knowledge of the new phrases.

There are a few hiccups with the voice recognition, to be sure, but it's great practice that helps build confidence.

BTW, you can't purchase levels 2 or 3 from the iPhone at this time, you need to go online. I got confused but the folks at Rocket helped me sort it out :-)

I have done over 10 languages with Pimsleur, but was really disappointed with their Spanish. I felt like it was too stylized; I hadn't heard anyone speak Spanish like that. I went through DuoLingo but wanted something more. For me Rocket is taking my Spanish to the next level.

Camino de Santiago here I come :-)

I truly like this program especially after trying — probably never hard enough —to learn German. For the most part, it is easy to work through each lesson. I appreciate the various approaches to teaching new concepts. If I have any singular problem it is with the young woman who reads roughly 50% of the words or phrases. She speeds through each term in a more or less monotone which makes learning pronunciation at times virtually impossible. (This is not the case with the male speaker who enunciates clearly though at times he, too, tends to speed up to a clip impossible for beginners to catch the proper phrasing). As others have also noted, the microphone is often bulky, for lack of a better term, so that feedback is too often confused.
But Rocket German is teaching me the language and that’s what I purchased it to do. I just wish the spoken materials were as clear as the written.

The biggest issue I have with RocketLanguages is the comprehension when speaking back in the French version. It takes often several tries for RocketLanguages to identify correctly what I am repeating, though its identical to the woman speaking. Shorter words tend to be the worst, with longer ones being picked up easily. Possibly this is because of throat sounds or rolls, as well as dropped letters/silent letters.

Aside from this moderately frustrating aspect, I really like the straight forward structure compared to Rosetta Stone, DuoLingo or Babbel, where I feel are almost childish interactive games and don’t use real word phrases and interactions as quickly. I retain the information better with RocketLanguages. Really glad I found it. It was reviewed as the top French language learning app by several YouTubers which is how I found it.

I was expecting great things from this program. It was enthusiastically given a great review by travel bloggers I really enjoy. I’m a retired programmer, so I have used many programs, both simple and sophisticated. I was very impressed with what I saw upon installation, however, execution was flawed and buggy. Mic kept cutting out, cutting off before two syllables of a phrase or sentence could be uttered. Pronunciation scoring was off, for the same reason, and I could neither use the keyboard completely or get some onscreen choices to register. I struggled to complete the first series of lessons, despite delete and reinstall. I wrote to tech support, and was encouraged to delete and reinstall again and again. My hardware and operating system was very up to date. Sadly, I’ve deleted RocketLanguages for now, and went back to Duolingo which works well, but bores me. I have talked to others who’ve had the exact same experience.
Please get this software sorted, you have a fabulous concept, but the execution needs to be much more reliable.

One of my favorite features of the desktop version is unfortunately missing from RocketLanguages . This is when you record your voice and you are able to play back your audio recording! I always replay my recordings as well as the one I am trying to emulate to see how closely I match up and whether I am saying it correctly. I often re-record my sample even though it says it is 100% correct until I am happy with my accent and feel that it sounds like the native’s sample. Unfortunately, RocketLanguages does not allow this, you can re-record your attempt as many times as you like but you can never hear it played back to you. Developers, please add this feature, I believe many people would benefit from its inclusion!

...RocketLanguages has a sound bug that is very annoying!
If you play your class then go out of RocketLanguages and come back to either continue playing the class you were in or play another class, there will be no sound. I constantly have to reboot my iphone (turn it completely off then on) then go back into RocketLanguages in order for the sound to work. I also have had sound issues just playing different parts of a class. The sound will be barely audible, then suddenly it will be at a higher, normal range, then go back down. Pain in the you know what! All that being said, I like the courses very much! I would’ve given it 5 stars if it wasn’t for the annoying sound issue!

The most important aspect of a language program is whether or not it guides you towards learning a language. In perhaps 4-5 weeks of use, I feel Rocket Languages is accomplishing that goal.

I like the lesson variety. They typically begin with 20ish minute audio exchanges, followed by lessons involving listen and repeat using speech recognition, listen and write, read and speak, etc. Combining hearing, seeing, speaking, and writing at least for me help to reinforce the learning process.

By far the worst aspect of RocketLanguages is the plethora of bugs. As mentioned in at least one other review, the speech recognition software often has difficulty understanding you and the problem worsens the longer you use RocketLanguages for a given sitting. Often it reaches a point where the moment you press the microphone to speak you receive an immediate disclaimer that RocketLanguages is sorry but it didn’t understand you, failing to provide any time whatsoever to actually attempt to speak. Deleting and reloading RocketLanguages clears things up for a bit, but the problem always returns. It’s also not uncommon to see other bugs related to missing words, sentences, or translations as you work through a given lesson.

I’m making progress leaning Spanish, but RocketLanguages issues certainly have hindered my progress to a degree, and that’s disappointing.

Review for the Japanese course: It starts off really slow in the introductory lesson and then hits 100 super fast. The conversation audio lessons are the main test within the lessons. While there is vocabulary you’re gonna be learning whole sentences. Grammar etc has its own lesson. For some people not knowing the why of grammar and stuff will be hard to manage. I think it’s a good system though. Learn the sentences, really understand them later. If I needed to ask to use the bathroom, I wouldn’t need to know why the grammar was where it was I would just need to know the sounds and work from there. This isn’t my first Japanese learning app but it’s definitely been the most effective at getting me speaking Japanese well.

I travel a lot so I need apps that work across all platforms. I started learning Spanish on my MBA then had to stop midway through a lesson. When I got to the airport I opened RocketLanguages on my iPad, while it recognized that I had earned 20 points, and what lesson I was on, it required me to start the lesson over again, I didn't. When I got to the hotel I opened it up in my MBA and found that it remembered exactly where I left off and could resume. It should do the same regardless of the platform.

The other issue is that RocketLanguages doesn't work the same everywhere. On the MBA (in Safari, no actual app) I can see the textual conversation along with the audio, on my iPad I only have the audio available, no text. I don't like this either, it should work the same across all platforms.

I will not be purchasing the lessons but will look at programs from other companies. Shame, what I experienced on my Mac was good.

I’ve used a few different language learning apps. Rocket language is the best I’ve found at becoming conversational. I used Duo Lingo for over a year and couldn’t carry on a simple relevant conversation. One day after walking through the first few lessons in Rocket, I was already initiating simple exchanges. RocketLanguages isn’t gamified and it could use more grammar instruction, but if you stick with the audio lessons and exercises, you’ll get results. Not any one app will get you fluent, but Rocket Language will give you the basics to launch you into having conversations around certain subjects and expanding your competency from there.

I have been learning Spanish for 4 years. In those four years I have amassed a large vocabulary, but was not able to put that vocabulary into sentences to clearly be understood. I’ve been using RocketLanguages for 2 weeks and I’m feeling more confident in speaking because RocketLanguages teaches you how to communicate with sentences. When I first downloaded RocketLanguages , I was able to use the mic and role play play with the characters. Since the latest update, that feature no longer works, and the ‘write it’ section won’t allow me to see what I’m typing. Those two issues made me give it a four star rating. It’s a hassle for me to wait till I’m home to use my computer for the lessons. Hoping this will be fixed soon.

I am seeing many complaints about the technology. My experience is that, if you have good hardware and stable internet, RocketLanguages works most of the time. The voice recognition sometimes doesn’t work on some words, and you just have to move on. Don’t get stuck on them. I would like to see(hear) more accurate pronunciation demonstrations. For example the French word parler is demonstrated as parlee. This is wrong and can be confusing for new students. I had similar issues with the German version too. I wish the Rocket team would proof-hear their demonstrations and make corrections. Google’s pronunciation demonstrations are more accurate.

I have to change my previous review. RocketLanguages has so much potential but they ruin it in so many ways. First, relying almost exclusively on Paulo, the man with a distinct Rio accent, to teach pronunciation is ludicrous. They have a special section devoted to the Rio accent, that should be enough. Let the main lessons be taught by someone who speaks with a more standard Brazilian accent, not one unique to one specific city. So stupid. Second, half the time they teach you how to pronounce words, they don't even pronounce them in a Portuguese way at all. For instance, if they are teaching a phrase with the word "de" in it, the first several times, if not more than that, they pronounce it the Spanish with, with the hard "d", rather than the distinct Portuguese way with that kind of English j sound to it. That's just one of many, many examples like this. And finally, their voice recognition software is absolutely abysmal. I can pronounce a word correctly and it says I say something completely different. Then I can say something absolutely incorrectly, and I know it, and it tells me I'm right. Great concept, RocketLanguages, but terrible execution.