RocketGermanReview.com

What is Rocket German ?

Rocket German is a German learning course. Unlike many other courses, it can be downloaded over the Internet. It took me about 25 minutes to download it with a broadband connection. You can also download it with a dial-up connection but this would take more time I imagine. You can also get a hard copy version shipped to you but this is far more expensive than the download version and the content of both the download and hard copy are the same.

This is what you get with Rocket German :

An Audio Course
An Interactive PDF course
3 educational games
Access to a forum
Follow up lessons from time to time

The rest of this review will cover the Interactive PDF course as the other components are covered in other posts.

What level is Rocket German ?

The courses caters for beginners. It will take beginners through to intermediate levels and onto an advanced knowledge of the German language.

How does it teach German ?

The course comprises 31 lessons.

The first 15 lessons deal with the basics of the German language

The next 10 lessons are intermediate level and build on the technical aspects of the language.

The last 6 lessons are more complex and start to tie in all the information you have learned from the previous lessons.

Each lesson deals with the same topic as the corresponding audio lesson.

Each lesson can take around 30 minutes to 1.5 hours, depending on the skill level of the student and the knowledge of the topic being covered.

How is a lesson taught ?

The topics of the lesson are introduced along with any new German words. The student will read through the introduction. Any German words can be clicked on and the audio for the word will be heard. The the word is clicked you will hear the English equivalent, then the German. Then there is a pause and the German is spoken again. This gives the student a chance to speak the German and practice what he/she is learning.

More examples will be given of the topic and examples of how it is used.

A variety of written and multiple choice type exercises conclude each lesson.

The Random button can be pressed at any time and a German sentence or word from the current lesson will be spoken. This can allow the student to practice conversation and comprehension for this particular lesson. It can also give the student a bit of control over the lesson.

Any other teaching methods used ?

The three games are accessed through the PDF course :

MegaVocab - vocabulary recognition, match one of 6 pictures to a word picked at random by the software
MegaVerbs - verb conjugation, conjugate a verb in the correct person and tense. There are 20 questions within each game and the software can select any verbs it has in the system.
MegaAudio – comprehension, listen to audio of a word or sentence and guess which of the 4 pictures represent the audio.

You can use these games simply as a bit of fun or you can consolidate any knowledge that you have gained in the lessons.

A set of flashcards are also provided. These are a set of pictures with the German/English meaning underneath. There are 250 of these cards and they need to be printed out to use.

What is good about the course ?

The course builds from beginner to advanced. It will give the student a complete grasp of the German Language at the end of the course.

The verb conjugation game is useful, as learning the forms of the verbs can get quite boring and tedious. The game can alleviate this boredom.

Random button is good for adding a bit of spontaneity to the lesson. This is useful if you have done the lesson more than once and need to freshen it up a little.

What is bad about the course ?

The pictures in the MegaVocab game are not always intuitively clear about the meaning. This can make guessing the words quite difficult at times. The English word can be displayed if this happens but doing this makes it too easy.

You can only improve your pronunciation by listening and repeating the audio, no feedback is given by the software as to how your accent sounds.

Any bonuses ?

A good way to get a taster of the course and how it works is to try the free 6 day course. It should help you decide if Rocket German is for you and you will learn a bit of German along the way.

Once you have bought the course, you will be sent the Rocket German newsletter every fortnight. The newsletter has a new lesson in each issue.

Summary

I think the Rocket German course represents good value. You get an Audio and Ebook course and 3 software games. The forum and follow ups can help you to get help and stay motivated as you learn. Although it is not easy learning a new language, Rocket German can certainly make the task easier provided you are consistent and focused about learning German.

Go to the Rocket German website for more details and testimonials.

The audio part of a language learning course is probably the most important part in my opinion, because it is aimed at teaching you how to speak in German (and understand people speaking to you in German). Ultimately, this is why you want to learn a new language – to speak to people. Being able to speak in German to German speaking people is not only the point of learning the language but it serves to motivate you and makes you learn faster.

For instance, if you can communicate your thoughts and feelings about a certain topic in German to German people and then listen to their response, you will be energized by your achievement and this will keep you studying. And once you can communicate in German at a fairly good level, without feeling self conscious, then your learning will really take shape. When you get to this stage you will be learning just by talking to people and it will stop being such a struggle. The quicker you get to this stage the better, if you want to progress to fluency in German.

I think the Rocket German audio course is very good. It comprises 31 lessons of around 15-30 minutes in length. The audio quality is good and can be transferred to a CD or MP3 player so that you can listen to it anywhere that is convenient.

The basic format of each lesson is a scene involving the narrator of the course and her native German speaking friend as they travel through Germany.

So for example, they might be booking into a hotel. They will go through the typical things you would say doing this and some other questions you might ask when checking in.

After the conversation, the lesson works through all the phrases that were said. It explains new words, how the grammar works and how you would pronounce the phrases and sentences.

The narrator is an English speaking person and she will guide the teaching and explain concepts and meanings of German words. She has a slightly quirky sense of humor but you get used to it after a while or maybe she tones it down a little as you get into the lessons.

The native German speaker (Paul, the creator of the course) speaks all the German conversations. He will say a sentence and then say each of the words or pronunciation chunks separately so that the listener can repeat the pronunciation after her.

This is much like the Pimsleur method of teaching pronunciation. It breaks down each word to the syllable so that it is easy to copy the German pronunciation. It can be a little slow going but it is a good way to ensure you have a decent accent.

Paul (the native German speaker) says all the sentences once and then pauses so that you can say the sentence aloud. They stress at the beginning of the course that this is the only way to do it if you want to be successful. I tend to agree with them on this point. Only by saying something out loud will it sink into your head. Saying it repeatedly will ensure it stays there and can be recalled when you need it.

At the end of each lesson the narrator summarizes the main points of the lesson. They may run through parts of the original conversation again and ask you questions. The questions generally try to include parts of the previous lessons along with the new stuff.

The course is advertised as an interactive course. What this means is that you must say the words or sentences out aloud when instructed by the narrator. For instance, if the narrator asks a question, there will be a pause that allows you to answer, then the native German speaker will give the correct answer.

This is a good audio course that starts with the basics like meeting and greeting and goes through to more complicated sentences and scenarios as you travel round Germany. I think the course will give you more confidence to speak to real German people, which is half the battle when it comes to becoming fluent in a new language.

Go to the official Rocket German website.

Two self study courses that are popular at the moment are Rocket German and the Rosetta Stone German course. This article will compare these two course in terms of their quality and how they teach the German language to students.

To begin with, these courses are quite different in their approach to teaching.

Rosetta Stone German tries to immerse you in the language. Thus you will not see any English cues when the lessons begin. Everything happens in German and you have to figure it out. This is a bit like immersion German, where you might be in a German speaking country and have to get by speaking German. Or even as you learned your mother tongue, purely by hearing the words and making some kind of connection to the meaning of the work.

A lesson will consist of a series of questions. Each question would consist of 4 images/photographs and a button that can be pressed to hear audio. The audio would be either naming the image or describing what was occurring in the image. It is then your task to select the image that corresponds to the audio.

You would go through the whole lesson, that would be on a particular theme, say colors. At the end of the lesson you would be given a mark on how many questions you got right. If you got all the questions right you could advance onto a harder level.

The Rosetta Stone course uses this method to quite an advanced level. It is not just about learning vocabulary. You will be asked questions that involve sentences, which will help you to learn nouns, adjectives, verbs, verb conjugation and adverbs.

They also use the same method for recognizing written words, practice writing and have a way to analyze your speech patterns to help improve your accent. The number of lessons is vast and will take you to an advanced level but you have to buy the complete set of 3 courses to get to this level.

Rocket German takes a slightly different approach.

Basically, Rocket German have tried to put a combination of teaching methods into their course. I think they have taken elements from Pimsleur/Michel Thomas by having an audio component to the course. They have an interactive PDF course along the lines of a traditional book course. And they have even used similar ideas as Rosetta Stone with their games section.

So the audio course is 31 15-30 minute lessons. The lessons deal with basic German through to everyday situations like being in a restaurant or shopping.

The audio follows the narrator, a native English speaker and her native German speaking friend. The English speaker introduces the lesson and does the teaching by illustrating points and asking you questions. The German speaker speaks the German parts so that you get to hear an authentic accent. You are advised to say the words or sentences after him aloud.

The end of the lesson involves recapping what has been learned and then answering some questions posed by the narrator. You are given time to answer aloud and then the German speaker gives the answer.

The second part of Rocket German is PDF interactive course. This course has lessons from beginner through to intermediate/advanced levels. This is where you are taught grammar, shown how verbs are conjugated and introduced to new words. You will learn more about reading and writing in German. There are a number of questions at the end of each lesson to help you consolidate your learning.

The course starts out with the elementary aspects of German and gradually builds to real world situations in the later chapters.

The Rocket German games are called MegaVocab, MegaAudio and MegaVerb. As mentioned before, they are similar to the Rosetta Stone method in that they use pictures and have to answer a series of questions.

In the case of MegaVocab and MegaAudio, you have to guess which picture is correct after hearing the written or spoken German word. In MegaVerb, you are asked to type in the correct conjugation of a series of verbs in terms of the tense and person that is speaking.

You receive a mark at the end of each lesson. With this information at hand you can select to go to the next topic or repeat this topic again. A useful feature of the vocabulary game is that you can add you own pictures/questions. This makes it possible to have a huge selection of vocabulary to work through.

There is also two sets of flashcards that you can print out and play with other German language students.

There is a forum where you can ask questions and practice with other people using the course. From time to time the Rocket German team will send you a new follow up lesson.

Good points of Rosetta Stone German

Unique way of learning – no books or writing things down.

High quality images and generally professional looking system.

Track your progress through a scoring system.

Can analyze speech but you need your own headset.

Bad points

There are three separate products that take you from beginner to advanced. Each one is quite expensive and the whole set is considerably more expensive than Rocket German and many other types of courses.

This approach is very light on formal instruction, particularly in grammar. This might not be suitable for some people that feel more comfortable and confident by knowing why as well as how something works.

Good points of Rocket German course

Value for money – you get an audio course that can be used separately from the other parts of the package. The pdf interactive course is also a course in itself, that teaches the finer points of the language and grammar. The games are useful but not as wide ranging as Rosetta Stone. The forum and follow up emails with extra lessons are good to keep you motivated and develop a sense of community.

Send out follow up lessons that can keep you motivated and have a forum where you can ask questions and talk with other students.

Bad points

Some of the photographs in the games are not always clear and you have to use the show English word button from time to time.

Go to the Official Rocket German website for more details.

The Michel Thomas course is primarily concerned with teaching conversational skills. His approach to teaching is excellent and you finish with confidence that you can initiate a conversation with a German speaking person.

Rocket German teaches reading, writing, comprehension and conversational skills. There is a large vocabulary set that can be learned through the games and exercises in the lessons. The exercises allow the student to practice writing.

The Michel Thomas course is easy to use, all you need is a cd or mp3 player. You can listen to the lessons anywhere at anytime. However, he advises that you pay full attention to the recording so driving or other things that require a fair amount of concentration may not be suitable. Although this is easier to do when you have listened to the recordings a few times.

Rocket German can be downloaded from the Internet. This is a great feature as you can be learning German with the course in about 25 minutes. The Rocket German program has an audio component, a pdf course and three games to practice vocabulary, comprehension and verb conjugation.

Michel Thomas German is designed for people wanting to learn German quickly. If you are planning a sudden trip to a German speaking country Michel Thomas is a great choice. My only reservation is that his accent is not that good. This is not good for perfecting pronunciation but his teaching methods are really good. The set up of the records is that he teaches and you act as the third student in his class. The other two students are on the recording. They ask and answer questions that Michel Thomas poses. You are advised to answer these questions too by stopping the recording, answering out aloud and then restarting it to get the answer.

Rocket German is designed for people that want to get a fully rounded German language education. It has sections that teach you to speak, listen, read and write.

The audio is similar to Michel Thomas. It features a narrator and a native German speaker. The narrator does the teaching and asks questions. You are advised to stop the recording and answer the question out aloud. Then start the recording and the native German speaker gives the answer. This is good because you get proper pronunciation.

The pdf course is an interactive course that starts with the basics of the language and builds to real world situations. You can click on words to get the audio for it and there are tests at the end of each lesson.

The educational tools are the games and some flash cards that you can print out. They are good as a reference guide for German words and verbs. The games provide a useful distraction when you need a break from the lessons. You can also warm up on the games before starting a proper lesson.

If you are interested in Rocket German then visit the Rocket German official site.

German grammar is quite difficult to master and learning it rote fashion can be, well, a bit tedious. MegaVerb is a way to practice your verb conjugation that makes this important part of your language skills that little bit easier.

MegaVerb starts by offering you the tense that you want to perfect. You can select more than one tense if you feel confident. If you are not so good with verb conjugation then concentrate on one to begin with.

Once you have selected the tense/s you go to another screen that gives you the infinitive of the verb and the person that is conjugating the verb. Your task is to type in the correct verb and ending for that person. This is actually quite difficult, especially as you have to get the exact spelling correct. This includes accented characters.

You are asked 25 questions and given four attempts to type in the correct answer. At the end of the questions you are given a score. This score indicates your level of understanding and can tell you if you need more practice.

So you will learn spelling, included accented characters, using this game. If you use it often, you will develop a good understanding of how a verb should look for a tense and person. Although this is purely a writing game, it will help you remember your verb conjugation if you stick with it. It beats learning it from a book and can be played as a break from the proper German lessons and audio in the Rocket German course.

For more details of the Rocket German course visit the Rocket German website.

MegaAudio is similar to the MegaVocab game in the way it is laid out. You can select from 20 topics, ranging from general topics, like colors or numbers to more practical, like things you hear when shopping. Once you have selected a topic you go to a new screen.

The screen has 6 pictures with the English word underneath each picture. A word or phrase is spoken in German and you guess which picture the spoken word represents. There is a replay button that can be pressed if you didn’t catch the word the first time or need to hear it again. When you pick a picture, the game gives you the German equivalent word and tells you if your guess was correct.

You are given a score of the number of questions that you answered correctly at the end of the 20 questions. Depending on how you go, you can do this topic again or move onto the next level. The levels get harder as you move on and become more real world as opposed to simple vocabulary.

I think MegaAudio is useful for teaching comprehension and pronunciation. In reality, the pictures and English words are of no use to you unless you have some inkling of the word you are hearing. So you won’t learn new words based on the pictures but you will learn how to pronounce the words. If you repeat the words after the speaker and try to perfect the pronunciation you will develop a decent German accent of the words spoken. You will also get experience of hearing words from a native German speaker.

For more details of the Rocket German course visit the Rocket German website.

Rocket German features three games that help you to learn the more repetitive (and slightly boring) aspects of the language. These are MegaVocab, MegaAudio and MegaVerb. This article covers MegaVocab and asks can it really help you learn German ?

Megavocab is a game aimed at teaching you vocabulary. In some respects I think vocabulary is pretty hard to pick up.

You can’t learn it in an academic fashion, by studying a English/German dictionary for instance. This is just too boring and ultimately the words will not stick in your head. One aspect of vocabulary is that you have to be able to recall it quickly to speak or comprehend a conversation. This will not happen by reading page after page of a book.

The word has to stick in your head so that it is triggered whenever you see an example of it. And the best way to get it stuck, so to speak, is to use it in conversation. This seems to form a link in the mind. The more you use it, the more it will strengthen the link until it is part of your vocabulary without a moments thought.

But speaking German all the time is not really practical if you are living in a country that doesn’t speak German so how do you learn vocabulary ?

The best teaching method is to use audio-visual cues to reinforce the meaning of a word. By repeatedly seeing the audio-visual cue, the hope is that the link or connection in the brain will form.

This is the idea behind flash cards that are a popular way to learn vocabulary. Flash cards are basically picture cards with the German word underneath or on the other side, to describe the picture.

You can play various games with flash cards against your friends or fellow students. You are shown the picture and have to guess the correct German word to describe it. This game element makes the learning of new words more enjoyable and gives the student a bit more emotional involvement in the learning process. And the visual element makes the link in your brain a little stronger.

Rocket German MegaVocab is effectively a digital set of flash cards turned into a game.

There are 20 separate topics to choose from. Each topic concentrates on the type of words that might be associated with the topic, some examples being shopping, colors, food and drink, tourism etc.

When you select a topic, you are taken to a screen that has a photograph, 4 German words down the side of the picture and a box where you can display the English word for the picture. Your task is to click the German word that corresponds to the picture.

Each topic asks you 25 questions and keeps a score of your correct answers. At the end of the questions, you are given a percentage of correctly answered questions. This can give you some idea of your progress and whether you can go onto another set of vocabulary.

I found that the box where you can toggle the English word on/off was useful, as occasionally the picture was not completely clear about it’s intended meaning. For instance, a picture of new car would be displayed and the correct answer would be new rather than the obvious car.

The English toggle switch is useful in this situation but I wouldn’t use it too much because it makes the guessing too easy.

The MegaVocab also has a feature where you can add your own pictures/questions to the system. This means you can create literally hundreds on new words and expand your digital inventory of flash cards. This is a useful feature of the game that should ensure that it stays fresh and you continue to use it.

In my opinion, Megavocab is a useful vocabulary learning tool. It is easy to use and gives you feedback on how you are doing. It can help the repetitive task of learning vocabulary more interesting and is a good way to warm up before a lesson proper.

Find out more about MegaVocab and the Rocket German course by visiting the Rocket German site.

This site deals with learning German using a self study language course. A self study course can be really useful when you are learning a new language but it can have some disadvantages over other ways to learn a language. Basically, a self study course gives you a great deal of flexibility in when and how you use it. The hard part is that you need to be self motivated or disciplined if you want to get the best out of it.

This site will discuss various Learn German courses, including Rocket German. It will point out some of the good and bad points of each course. On a more general point, it will highlight the aspects of learning a new language that a typical self study course cannot really help with and  suggests some way to get round these problems.