Rocket Languages Review: Is this Learning App Really Effective?

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Krystyna
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Rocket Languages Review

WHAT IS ROCKET LANGUAGES: a learning program, like a helpful tool, that makes learning languages easier and more fun. If you want to speak a new language, it can be a great way to do it.

WHICH LANGUAGES CAN YOU LEARN: American Sign Language, Arabic (Egyptian), Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian

WHO IS IT FOR: Teens and adults who are just starting or know a bit about the language.

QUICK VERDICT: Rocket Languages offers thorough language courses with listening, comprehension, and speaking practice, accompanied by clear grammar explanations. However, achieving fluency requires supplementary resources and real-life language immersion, as no language app is a standalone solution.

PROs

  • Lifetime access
  • Offline learning through downloadable course material
  • Authentic native audio
  • Note and vocab saving feature

CONs

  • Few visuals
  • Few language choices
  • Repetition can get boring
  • English skills required

WHAT YOU WILL FIND IN THIS REVIEW

My Language-Learning Journey on Rocket Languages

Recently, I decided that I wanted to revise my Italian and Turkish language skills, and that’s led me to the world of online language-learning apps. I started re-learning and brushing up on my Italian and Turkish skills on Duolingo.

I also wanted to try out the other apps to see how they fare in teaching languages to newbies, language dabblers, and intermediate and advanced level students.

Rocket Languages naturally made it onto my list of apps to test out. And since I’ve been learning a bit of Spanish too (I love languages!), I decided to see how well Rocket Languages teaches Spanish. 

I spent about 15 minutes a day for a week learning Latin American Spanish on Rocket Languages and started at level 1, which is suitable for newbies like me.

An In-Depth Look into Rocket Languages

Rocket Languages Homescreen

Rocket Languages was created in 2004 by Jason Oxenham and Mark Ling. Jason was trying to learn French but textbooks, attending language classes, and other software programs weren’t working for him.

So he teamed up with Mark and explored challenges other language learners face and, together, they created Rocket Languages to overcome these obstacles.

The result was Rocket French and Rocket Spanish, and both courses were instant hits.

Rocket Languages aims to help people connect and communicate.

On Google Play and the App Store, Rocket Languages has an average rating of 4.45 stars, and the app has won the PC Review Editor’s Choice award, the Bessie Award, and the European Business Magazine award.

It’s used by companies such as Pentel, The Cheesecake Factory, and Deloitte.

What Languages Are Available on Rocket Languages?

Rocket Languages offers 14 language courses.

Rocket Languages Language Courses

You can learn: 

  • American Sign Language
  • Arabic (Egyptian)
  • Chinese (Mandarin) 
  • English 
  • English – specifically for Spanish speakers 
  • French 
  • German
  • Hindi
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Portuguese (Brazilian)
  • Russian 
  • Spanish (Latin American)

It’s one of the only multilingual apps where you can use to learn American sign language.

      Excited to learn more? Explore my reviews listed below:

Rocket Languages’ Approach

Rocket Languages aims to immerse you in the language and culture so the app uses three approaches to help you to learn your new target language:

  1. You practice a set of practical vocabulary via interactive and audio/pronunciation lessons. 
  2. You learn about the grammar and get lessons on the culture (of the language). 
  3. There are reinforcement activities you must complete, helping cement what you’ve learned in your memory.

You learn mostly via memorization and translation, but there are some immersion activities too. Rocket Languages mainly practices your listening, comprehension, pronunciation, and speaking skills, but there are reading and writing exercises too.

In the lessons, you will:

  • Practice your pronunciation via Rocket Languages’ state-of-the-art voice recognition system 
  • Hear audio from native speakers 
  • Practice speaking “on-the-spot” so you get more comfortable conversing in the target language 
  • Complete fun, engaging, and interactive activities 
  • Continue practicing problematic phrases, thanks to Rocket Languages’ algorithm that personalizes activities for you 
  • Learn how the target language works by building sentences on your own and practicing conversations 
  • Train your ears and brain to listen to and understand the foreign language
  • Be encouraged to continue learning thanks to the app’s wide array of motivational techniques and tools

The Language Courses and Exercises on Rocket Languages

The languages courses (or levels) available on Rocket Languages depend on the target language you are studying.

For Rocket Spanish, there are 3 Levels and a Travelogue with specific content you’ll need while traveling. However, the Travelogues are too advanced for the beginner student.

Rocket Spanish Level 1 Lessons

Here’s a short breakdown of each Rocket Spanish language level that contains audio, language and culture, and survival kit lessons:

Level 1 (Beginners) 

  • Get started module 
  • Modules 1-7 

Level 2 (Intermediate)

  • Modules 8-14 

Level 3 (Advanced)

  • Modules 15-21

Travelogue (Intermediate to advanced)

  • Chapter 1-6

In the first lesson of my Rocket Spanish course (level 1), I learned a few basics.

Let’s look at the different components in one of the Rocket Spanish Interactive Audio Course lessons:

The Audio Lessons
Rocket Spanish Get Started Explainer

These are mostly audio-based where you listen to a conversation, learn what key phrases mean, and practice your pronunciation (with tips). The audio is accompanied with a script so you can listen, read, or do both.

I really liked how the phrases are broken up with explanations of what each part means. Instead of learning that “Cómo estás” means “how are you,” Rocket Spanish taught me that “cómo” means “how” and the “estás” part means “are you.”

I can only imagine how effective this is when the phrases get more tricky. I also liked how you hear different conversations when the phrases are used in actual conversation (with more words).

Since Spanish speakers speak super fast, it’s not easy to recognize the phrases you know in real-life conversations, but being exposed to that from the start is very helpful.

The audio also has activities where the tutor asks you questions to test your knowledge of what you’ve learned.

Play It!
Rocket Spanish Get Started Play It Explainer

When you do the Play It! exercises, you listen to the conversation or “play” as one of the characters to practice what they said.

Rocket Record, the app’s speech recognition tool, evaluates your pronunciation and gives you a score.

Rocket Spanish Get Started Play It
Lesson Vocabulary

There are some notes in this section about gender in Spanish and how I’ll revise more phrases (that were part of the lesson but not the vocab) for extra practice.

Rocket Spanish Get Started Notes on Gender and More Practice

I could listen to the phrases and then practice my pronunciation.

Rocket Spanish Get Started Lesson Vocab
Flashcards

The flashcards help you practice what you learned. You get the English and then you can say what the Spanish is aloud.

Rocket Spanish Get Started Write It Explainer

Then, score how easy or difficult it was – a way to keep note of where you need extra practice. Remember to be honest here; it’s a safe learning environment.

Hear It! Say It!

With this activity, you listen to the tutor and record yourself repeating what you heard.

Rocket Spanish Get Started Hear It Say It

And like the previous activity, you have to rate how easy it was.

Write It!

With the Write It! Activity, you listen to the phrase and then write it. You can also reveal the phrase and then practice writing it.

Rocket Spanish Get Started Write It

You also get to practice pronunciation again and rate the exercises.

Know It!

Here you practice your translation skills and record the Spanish version of the English you read.

Rocket Spanish Get Started Know It

And rate the exercise, of course!

Quiz

There’s also a quiz to test your knowledge, and you can use the results to practice your weak areas.

Rocket Spanish Get Started Quiz

What’s really nice is that you get explanations with the answers, which is really helpful when you’re stuck or need reinforcement.

Rocket Spanish Get Started Quiz Answer Explanations

An Assessment of Rocket Languages’ Efficacy

Rocket Languages is quite different compared to the other language-learning apps I’ve tested out and reviewed so far.

There’s a lot of focus on getting you conversational with the loads of audio you listen to and pronunciation and speaking activities. I really liked the explanations with the lessons, since I’m very much a “need to understand to learn kinda gal.”

The lesson on how to pronounce Spanish words is great because it helps set you up for success.

All in all, I can see how Rocket Languages can be really effective to get you learning a foreign language. There’s tons of practice in each lesson, and you can repeat the lesson as many times as you need.

However, there’s way too much repetition. I think that repetition would be more helpful as you progress, but it was too much just practicing the few phrases in the first lesson that many times, over and over again.

You get a lot of listening, comprehension, and speaking practice with easy-to-understand grammar and other necessary explanations so you can learn and really understand what you are saying in a foreign language
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Krystyna
Language Blogger & Polyglott

Can You Become Fluent with Rocket Languages?

While Rocket Languages aims to get you conversational, either in an intermediate or advanced capacity (depending on the language package you buy), you can’t use only a language-learning app and expect to become fluent in any language.

Fluency requires that you think, live, breathe, eat, and sleep the language, and you need full immersion to get to that level.

To become fluent in the target language, you can start with Rocket Languages or use it as an extra tool.

Rocket Languages Costs and Subscription Options

Rocket Languages (like Babbel and Rosetta Stone) offers a subscription (or package) per language course. That means you need to buy a package for every language you want to learn.

For example, if you want to learn Spanish, Italian, and Hindi, you need to buy three packages. But you get lifetime access to the language course(s) you buy!

For every language course, you can choose between one-time payment options and a 6-month payment plan.

Rocket Languages Once off payment options Spanish

The one-time payment plan is divided into language levels, and what levels are available depends on the language you want to learn.

With Rocket Spanish, you can buy:

  • Level 1 for beginners to intermediates 
  • Levels 1 & 2 for beginners to advanced students (to reach a conversational level) 
  • Levels 1, 2, & 3 for beginners to advanced students (to reach an advanced conversational level)

If you buy Level 1 and want to progress, you can buy the other levels separately too.

Here’s what each level costs (the amounts are undiscounted) on the once-off packages:

  • US$149.95 for Rocket Spanish Level 1
  • US$299.90 for Rocket Spanish Levels 1 & 2
  • US$449.85 for Rocket Spanish Level 1, 2, & 3
Rocket Languages Prices 6 month payment plan Spanish

While you have the benefit of monthly payments over 6 months with the 6-month plan, you pay for all the levels that’s available for the target language you want to learn.

For Rocket Spanish, you’ll pay US$75.00 per month over 6 months (total payment of US$450.00), and you’ll have access to all 3 levels.

Rocket Languages 6 month payment plan Arabic

But for Rocket Arabic, you’ll pay US$27.00 per month for 6 months because Rocket Languages has only one level available.

Does Rocket Languages Offer Discounts?

Rocket Languages often offer discounts on their language packages.

At the time of writing, the language-learning solution offered savings of 17% (for Level 1 packages) to 42% (for Levels 1, 2, & 3 packages).

Rocket Languages also offer family discounts. Each package is restricted to one user, and while you may share your login details, the app will only save the progress of whomever is the furthest in their studies.

But if your family wants to learn the same language, you can buy access for them at US$49.95 per family member (per package and language) instead of paying for a complete new package.

How to Cancel Your Rocket Languages Subscription?

When you buy a language course package on Rocket Languages, you have access for life. So you can’t cancel a subscription on Rocket Languages because you’ll always have access to the courses you’ve bought.

Rocket Languages Deleting Account

However, if you no longer want to use Rocket Languages, you can delete your account:

  • Log into your Rocket Languages account. 
  • Click on your Profile. 
  • Go to the Danger Zone at the bottom. 
  • Click Delete. 
  • Confirm that you want to delete your account. 
  • Click Delete.

What We Like About Rocket Languages?

  • There’s a free trial (available for 5 days), and you can complete a few lessons from each of the levels of the target language. 
  • The interface is user-friendly, and there are exercise explainers to help you navigate the platform easily. 
  • While you need to buy a package per language, you get lifetime access to the course content.
  • The audio is recorded by natives, and you’re exposed to natural language usage.
  • The variety of comprehensive lessons and exercises, so you’ll never be bored. 
  • Lesson walkthroughs and explainers so you know what’s expected and how everything works. 
  • You can learn offline by downloading the course material. 
  • You can control the tutor’s feedback speed.
  • There’s loads of content, and even if you opt for the Level 1 package, there’s a minimum of 100 hours of lesson time. 
  • You can learn more about the language and culture, chat with other students, and ask questions in the Forum. 
  • You can save notes and vocab for easy reference.
  • Rocket Languages gives you recommendations to further your language-learning journey. 
  • The leaderboard with points and streaks help you stay motivated. 
  • You can get a Rocket certificate and do Benchmarks tests to check your progress. 
  • The lessons build on each other (as per the input hypothesis principle of learning) so you progress naturally. 
  • One of the few apps to include American Sign Language.
      Excited to learn more? Explore my articles listed below:

What We Don’t Like About Rocket Languages?

  • You can only learn 13 languages really (the 14th is learning English as a Spanish speaker). 
  • How you learn a language depends on your native language, but you need to be proficient in English to learn a foreign language via Rocket Languages. 
  • I’d have thought that the Travelogues would be specifically targeted for beginner students to use while traveling, but instead, these lessons are aimed at intermediate to advanced learners. The vocab is obviously suitable for those learners, but I’d like to see Travelogues for newbies too! 
  • You need to commit at least 30 minutes to only complete the audio lesson. You also need time to complete the other activities, making it quite time intensive (though worth it). 
  • Some of the language courses only have a Level 1 package available. 
  • A lot of repetition, which can be boring. But repetition is highly valued when learning a foreign language. 
  • While the voice recognition isn’t bad, you don’t get personalized feedback on how well you’re pronouncing words in the target language. 
  • The culture lessons don’t teach you about the culture. Instead, you learn more about how the language works. They should have given these a different name because I feel let down, thinking I’ll learn about culture when it’s language lessons. 
  • Not ideal for visual learners as there are very few images or visuals.

Is Rocket Languages Right for You?

Rocket Languages is mainly suitable for teenagers and adults who are newbie and intermediate students. The app offers practice for advanced students but it won’t help you become more advanced.

Kids will not enjoy the clean interface and lack of game-like features. However, you can assist your kids to learn with you if they’d like.

How to Reach Out to Rocket Languages’ Customer Service?

Rocket Languages has an extensive Help Center with FAQs.

Rocket Languages Help FAQ

The Center covers topics such as:

  • Language courses 
  • Pricing 
  • Log in or account 
  • Free trial 
  • The app 
  • System or browser requirements

If you need further help, you can reach out via email to contact the Rocket Languages customer team. The email is actually a web form to fill in.

Or use the online chat function on the Rocket Languages website for help.

Review Verdict: Is Rocket Languages Worth It?

WHY I RATE ROCKET LANGUAGES WITH 6/10

Rocket Languages offers comprehensive language courses, especially if you choose to learn Rocket Spanish, Rocket French, Rocket Russian, Rocket Japanese, Rocket Italian, Rocket German, and Rocket Chinese.

You get a lot of listening, comprehension, and speaking practice with easy-to-understand grammar and other necessary explanations so you can learn and really understand what you are saying in a foreign language.

But you won’t become fluent using Rocket Languages alone. No language-learning app is a one-stop-shop – you must use other resources to learn and immerse yourself in real-life situations to practice the target language.

If you don’t think Rocket Languages is right for you, check out my reviews on Babbel, Duolingo, and Mondly.

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Krystyna
Language Learning Blogger
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Disclaimer: I select and review independently. If you buy through affiliate links, I may earn commissions that help support my testing at no extra cost to you. Please read my full disclosure for more information.

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