Has anyone finished Rocket French?

[tomgosse]

I have been thinking of trying Rocket French. I took a look at the preview lessons this afternoon. The lessons seem quite complete and take a while to complete. Look forward to hearing your reviews.

-Tom

[Speakeasy]

A couple of years ago, I borrowed Rocket German from my local library. I tried it, found it unusually grating on the nerves, and returned it well before the due-date. Beyond that, you might be interested in the following discussion threads and reviews:

Rocket? - HTLAL, May 2011
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26956&PN=50

Rocket Languages? - HTLAL, January 2008
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8920&PN=42

Rocket Languages - HTLAL, August 2013
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=36590&PN=19&TPN=1

Pimsleur vs. Rocket - HTLAL, May 2015
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=40433&PN=3

Rocket Languages’ Questionable Practices - HTLAL, May 2011
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26696&PN=51

Affiliate scams have ruined reviews - HTLAL, January 2011
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=24866&PN=17

Rocket German Reviews - No.1 Reviews.com
https://teach-yourself-german.no1reviews.com/rocketlanguages-german.html

Who knows, perhaps they've improved?

[PeterMollenburg]

Hey Tom,

I have finished all three levels of Rocket French a couple of years ago now: Level one (called 'Premium'), Level two (Premium Plus) and Level three (Platinum).

I do recommend it, it is well worth it. I believe it is a good program to use following on from Michel Thomas and Pimsleur (I've completed all levels of those in French as well) as the dialogues are 'trickier' (faster, and vocab is not as simple) and move away from simple every day topics, or at least if the topics remain simple perhaps, then the details are fleshed out into more than just basic vocab (as is the case with MT and Pimsleur). Perhaps with the first level of Rocket French (out of the three) there's likely to be some overlap with Pimsleur and MT, but from the 2nd level and definitely the 3rd level (Platinum) the difficulty is definitely above MT and Pimsleur in my opinion.

One drawback from memory, at least with the first level is that the French accent from one of the 'narrators' is a bit odd, but it doesn't matter too much as the French he speaks is taken from the main dialogue, for which you hear it spoken 'authentically' within the same lesson anyway. It's a minor thing I feel. PDFs which are provided contain the odd errors too, but nothing major.

Perhaps another draw back is the use of English for explanations throughout the recordings. Still, better off using Rocket French to improve your French, even if there is plenty of English, than not.

In general there seemed to be much more emphasis on vocab (contained with in the dialogues) than grammar. Hardly any use of the subjunctive, so if that's what you're after I wouldn't recommend it.

When I would run through a lesson I'd shadow (or repeat closely after the recording) everything in a lesson, until i could do so without pausing, and without making errors. If you're aiming to challenge yourself a bit with the material (if you do end up using it), i'd recommend shadowing it. There's plenty of speedy dialogues that will get you really speaking well if you follow such a method.

[Sgt Schultz]

I have Rocket French (and Spanish) level 1. I didn't get too far with either. I liked parts of it but felt like there wasn't enough repetition to make new material stick in my head. I'm more a fan of MT and Pimsleur for that.

If you're looking for something similar to Rocket, you might consider Fluenz. It's a bit more pricy but I ended up liking it a lot. I felt like the exercises after the short lecture really drilled the material into my head and it stuck. In addition, the bonus podcasts were nice for the morning commute.

[Speakeasy]

... If you're looking for something similar to Rocket, you might consider Fluenz. It's a bit more pricy but I ended up liking it a lot. I felt like the exercises after the short lecture really drilled the material into my head and it stuck. In addition, the bonus podcasts were nice for the morning commute.

Fluenz ... Belling the Cat
https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1140

[tomgosse]

Hey Tom,

I have finished all three levels of Rocket French a couple of years ago now: Level one (called 'Premium'), Level two (Premium Plus) and Level three (Platinum).

I do recommend it, it is well worth it. I believe it is a good program to use following on from Michel Thomas and Pimsleur (I've completed all levels of those in French as well) as the dialogues are 'trickier' (faster, and vocab is not as simple) and move away from simple every day topics, or at least if the topics remain simple perhaps, then the details are fleshed out into more than just basic vocab (as is the case with MT and Pimsleur). Perhaps with the first level of Rocket French (out of the three) there's likely to be some overlap with Pimsleur and MT, but from the 2nd level and definitely the 3rd level (Platinum) the difficulty is definitely above MT and Pimsleur in my opinion.

One drawback from memory, at least with the first level is that the French accent from one of the 'narrators' is a bit odd, but it doesn't matter too much as the French he speaks is taken from the main dialogue, for which you hear it spoken 'authentically' within the same lesson anyway. It's a minor thing I feel. PDFs which are provided contain the odd errors too, but nothing major.

Perhaps another draw back is the use of English for explanations throughout the recordings. Still, better off using Rocket French to improve your French, even if there is plenty of English, than not.

In general there seemed to be much more emphasis on vocab (contained with in the dialogues) than grammar. Hardly any use of the subjunctive, so if that's what you're after I wouldn't recommend it.

When I would run through a lesson I'd shadow (or repeat closely after the recording) everything in a lesson, until i could do so without pausing, and without making errors. If you're aiming to challenge yourself a bit with the material (if you do end up using it), i'd recommend shadowing it. There's plenty of speedy dialogues that will get you really speaking well if you follow such a method.

Thank you Peter. I knew that I could count on you for a comprehensive review. I'm going to purchase it and start this weekend. This is the Labour Day holiday weekend in the United States and Canada so I will a lot of free time to check it out.

[PeterMollenburg]

I have Rocket French (and Spanish) level 1. I didn't get too far with either. I liked parts of it but felt like there wasn't enough repetition to make new material stick in my head. I'm more a fan of MT and Pimsleur for that.

If you're looking for something similar to Rocket, you might consider Fluenz. It's a bit more pricy but I ended up liking it a lot. I felt like the exercises after the short lecture really drilled the material into my head and it stuck. In addition, the bonus podcasts were nice for the morning commute.

I've also used Fluenz (have completed four out of the five levels of French so far). I would recommend Fluenz more so than Rocket French if there was a choice between the two... but to me they both can serve very different purposes. Rocket French is excellent for commuting, i.e. using inactive time when you're travelling to and from work or elsewhere perhaps, maybe exercising. Fluenz French is the best computer based program for learning a language that i've used thus far, and i'd recommend this for when one is going to sit down and do some focused study in one location. Together these programs can create a great synergy and that's what I did. I used audio based programs (Michel Thomas, Pimsleur, Rocket and others) while commuting and courses (grammar books, computer work etc) at home, including Fluenz. I found Fluenz particularly great for imitating phrases (or 'shadowing') contained within the program. Although I shadow/mimmick all my French material, I found Fluenz a particularly good program for doing this. For the record though, neither Fluenz nor Rocket French will get one to advanced mastery of a language, as there's so much more to learning a language than just completing a course (or even 20).