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Sunday, January 23, 2011

My Review Of Rocket Spanish!

Rocket Spanish is an online language lesson course which helps you learn Spanish easily, rapidly and with very little effort. Since the company which develops the program, Rocket Languages, has a lot of experience in developing courses for different languages, their courses are well-designed, easy to understand and really fast! You instantly start seeing your progress in their progress tracker so you know where you left off, even if you stopped practicing for a week or two (which you shouldn’t if you want to learn Spanish fast!) and their whole design makes the learning activity fun and entertaining. I found myself repeating lessons I knew I didn’t do too well in, because each lesson comes with a test afterwards which gives you a score so you know if you know what you need, or if you need to redo the lesson a second time. That’s great for insecure people, and it assures that you do progress at your own pace, when you’re ready, and not a bit earlier.

Another important feature for me were the culture lessons, which help you understand how Spanish people think and how to behave in a Spanish speaking country. The downloadable audio lessons found a permanent home on my iPod, and I often listened to lessons on the bus and in the car, even if I have to admit that I prefer listening to them at home because of their length (13+ minutes) which made it nearly impossible to finish them on a bus ride. If you want my opinion you should try this offer and lie down comfortably with the MP3 lessons in your ears and take your time to listen to them thoroughly without haste, that’s what worked best for me, in any way.

My Review Of Rocket French

So, what is Rocket French all about?

In a nutshell, it’s a large collection of French language learning tools that you can download and start using immediately. You also have the option of getting the physical CDs and books shipped to you by mail. But the download will save you a lot of money, so it’s probably the better choice.

The backbone of the Rocket French course is an interactive audio course designed to get you speaking useful conversational French quickly. The audio course consists of 4 parts that include grammar and vocabulary exercises.

The audio course is designed to be interactive, and I find it to be a lot more fun than other similarly designed courses. The interactive course makes you feel comfortable and at ease while going through the exercises, which makes time fly. You’ll find yourself having so much fun through positive reinforcement that you’ll be pretty surprised when you realize you are actually learning a lot of practical French.

After finishing an audio lesson, you can study that particular chapter in the conversational books included in the course.

The audio and book lessons are just the tip of the iceberg though. You’ll also get MegaFrench -- a software platform for games that you can play to greatly increase your French language skills.

The games are fun and engaging. But the best part about it is the ability to change the vocabulary you want to focus on. That way, you are able to learn what you want to learn.

Rocket French covers a lot of material, enough to take you from a beginner to a fluent French speaker. The course is very comprehensive, but at the same time flexible enough to allow you to learn French in whatever manner you prefer.

It’s also important to note the overall high quality production of the Rocket French package.

There is one thing I am a bit skeptical about though. The Rocket French course claims to make its users fluent in French in three months.

Now, that certainly will be possible for a small number of people blessed with a natural affinity for learning languages. In fact, I know a guy who speaks 7 languages fluently; he is able to learn languages well enough to talk to native speakers in about 2 to 3 months.

But for people like you and me, results like that aren’t going to be handed to us on a silver platter! If I wanted to achieve fluency in a foreign language like that, I’d have to work consistently every day over a period of months. But if you are willing to do that and seek out other French speakers to practice with, I am pretty confident the average person could achieve fluency in about six months with the Rocket French course. Of course it could take longer or shorter, depending on your level of commitment and access to other French speakers.

One thing I am sure of though is that this French language program will help you learn French faster and more effectively than any other course on the market. It’s probably the most entertaining one as well.

There’s something else I should mention. The folks over at the Rocket French website are offering 6 free lessons that will give you a taste of what’s to come in the full package. It would be nice if other language courses caught on and let their potential customers sample their product before purchasing.

As for the makers of Rocket French, the author, Marie-Claire Rivière, is a native Parisian who comes across as a nice lady. You really get the feeling she enjoys sharing aspects of her culture and language. The editor, Paul Davidson, is a fluent French speaker who used to live and work in France. He is the brains behind the interactive audio course concept.

So, I’ll end the review here! My recommendation is that if you are looking for a course that will really make it easy to learn French at home quickly, go and take a look at the Rocket French website.

Right now, they are offering the full downloadable course at half price. I’m not sure how long this discount will last, so take advantage of it while you can.

My Review Of Rocket Italian

Going to Venice for an engagement with Italian business associates? Or are you planning to take part in an Italian exchange student program? If you need to study how to talk in Italian, or if you just wish to for the sake of using the language, I suggest you go for Rocket Italian Premium. This online new language program is a beneficial yet affordable way to speak in Italian with your own schedule.

Company behind the Product

Rocket Italian is a program designed by Rocket Languages, a California-based pioneer in language programs put up in 2004. The Rocket Italian program was formulated under the supervision of Maria DiLorenzi.

What You Get

There are 33 audio lessons in Rocket Italian that teach you how to talk in Italian. Each of these lessons comes with a written copy in English and Italian so you can hang on to the audio. They also have 31 grammar and culture lectures that give you a deeper knowledge of the significance of the words and how they are used in day-to-day Italian situations. Rocket Italian also contains MegaItalian, an array of computer educational games (MegaVocab, MegaAudio, and MegaVerb) that truly differentiates this course from other expensive, formal workshops. The sessions can be bought in downloadable setup or in a CD version, depending on your cup of tea and your financial capability. You also have a premium membership to the Rocket Language forum of over 300,000 students.

Product Guarantee

There are almost no unhappy customers of Rocket Languages, but if there were, there is a 100% money-back guarantee that covers all of its products, including Rocket Italian. If you don’t see Rocket Italian living up to your expectations, shoot an e-mail to the company and they will send you a refund.

What I Like

The most important thing about Rocket Italian and what differentiates it from other online courses is that it is mutual process of learning. As soon as after the first lesson, you will hear yourself speaking in Italian since that is your focus all throughout the program. New investigations show that the formal teacher-student environment is an ineffectual method of teaching somebody a new language. It has to make use of interactional methods that allow the Italian novice to take part in the conversation.

What I Don’t Like

Keep in mind that this one is a program for casual Italian. Rocket Languages provides certifications equivalent to the A1 and A2 levels of the Common European Frame of Reference for Languages, but this program should not be an alternative to a bachelor’s degree in Italian Literature or something like that. You’re looking in the wrong place if you are looking for a bachelor’s degree certification.

Do I Recommend It?

Yes. Don’t take this review for it. Look it up yourself. Sign up for six sample tracks so that you can decide if the full version of Rocket Italian is the program for you.

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