Rocket Languages Reviews & Product Details

I was impressed that my local public library system granted me a free subscription and free access to the Rocket Languages courses of my choice.

The quizzes that they offer on the vocabulary you learned in that lesson are helpful. Anything that turns language learning into a game is a win for me. The fact that they offer an iOS app was very helpful as some of their web site features were glitchy when accessed on a tablet. The app has a nice layout and is easy to use. Also, it was specifically for iPad so it filled the entire screen. The narrator in the audio lesson was encouraging. It is helpful to be praised in the frustrating early stages of language acquisition. There are photos from Russia sprinkled throughout the Russian lessons. It brings the culture to life and is a good reminder why you are learning the language. I like that you can choose different types of lessons from within your module. You can choose an audio lesson, some quizzes, and some reading lessons or play sounds from the pronunciation guide. I get easily bored with learning. But the multiple components help switch things up and I can pick what I feel like doing. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The audio lessons are a bit unbalanced. The lessons in section 1 escalate quickly from being too easy to too hard. A typical lesson in section 1 starts with repeating easy words and then jumps into full sentences. The native speakers would speak an entire sentence. Then the narrator would ask you to repeat the entire sentence. Most of which was new vocabulary. Even though I already knew a bit of Russian from using four other Russian language courses, this was too hard. This might be because I’m not an auditory learner. I can repeat one or two unknown words at a time. I got frustrated and discouraged in each lesson because it was going too fast. As a result, I gave up on Russian Rocket Languages after completing about 10% of the module material. Although I appreciated that the audio lessons feature two native language speakers, the way they are introduced at the beginning of each and every lesson is a bit cringy. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Where to begin?! The ability to test my pronunciation, not just for single words, but for entire phrases at once is very helpful. This is likely to be especially true for anyone who gets a bit tongue-tied when trying to speak a new phrase at a regular pace instead of super slow. The "cultural context" lessons are a fun way to put what you are learning into a cultural context to understand when/where to best use certain phrases and words. Having 5 different modes of testing after each module helps drill in what you've learned in a way that doesn't get stale a repetitive. I also love the length of the lessons. It isn't too much of a time commitment, but I still feel like it's been a really productive session. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The US-alphabet spelling of many of the words is simply too literal. When I am texting my in-laws, I'm not going to add "a" to the end of every other word. That would just be more confusing for all of us. I would say keep that in mind when learning to pronounce a new word, the US-English spelling of it will throw you off a bit. The "a" at the end is often silent. Much of the earlier two lessons are very formal and spend time learning words that are usually just spoken in English anyways. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.