Rocket German Review

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

Extensive Testing (mainly multiple choice)

Practice Pronunciation Tool (Rocket Record)

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 ?

The Survival kit is another 13 lessons on phrases, words, and essential grammar in the German language that you might need if you were traveling in Germany or another German speaking country. It pared down to be just the things you need to get by.

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 now <<<

Rocket German Or Tell Me More German: You Decide

Learning German is hard enough as it is, but with the right program, you will find the whole process much less intimidating and much more enjoyable. But choosing one that suits you is a whole other story.

With so many learn German courses and programs offered on the market today, finding one to match your learning style can be tough. So to narrow down the search, here is a short review on two of the most used programs minus all the sugar coated sales talk. Here you will find just what you need to know about each program- the method and the tools, and after you have gone over the facts it is all up to you. Rocket German Or Tell Me More German: You Decide.

Rocket German

The Approach

The people behind Rocket German have taken the “natural” way of learning and further developed it with interesting learning tools and features. The natural method is actually based on how children naturally learn their mother tongues. Basically, they begin to understand, listen, and speak much earlier than when they start to read and write. That is why this course is focused on listening, comprehension and conversational speaking skills.

The Learning Tools

Rocket German comes with 31 audio lessons. Each of these are very interactive and last for about 20-30 minutes. All in all, that adds up to about 11 hours of casual conversations in German – the kind that you will actually be able to use during your trip to the country. So basically you will learn real to life, everyday phrases and sentences such as what you need to say when checking into a hotel or ordering in a restaurant.

You can download every single file so that you can take it wherever you want. Plus, since the lessons are only 20-30 minutes each, it will be easy to find time to squeeze in a class here and there – like when you’re driving or working out.

Also, you will have access to the full transcripts of each lesson to make things much easier, especially for beginners.

Aside from that, you will also get 31 language and culture lessons. The language lessons provide detailed explanations on grammar topics and the like while the culture lessons give you more insight on the history and culture of Germany. With these you will get over 110 hours full of embedded audio clips, notes, and activities.

Again, these lessons can be downloaded if you want to look at them without logging into the Rocket German Learning Lounge. They are downloaded into a PDF format and can even be printed out if you want to read them away from the computer. Of course the interactive part of the pdf documents won’t work if you print them out.

You will also get full access to the Rocket German Language Lounge. Here you will be able to track your progress, take self tests and interactive quizzes, add notes and comments to the lessons you have already taken, you will get free updates, and at the end of the course, you will even be officially certified.

Since all work and no play makes you a dull student, Rocket German make learning fun with these three games-

MegaVocab,

MegaAudio,

and MegaVerbs.

MegaVocab is supposed to help you memorize vocabulary and expand the words that you already know. MegaAudio is designed to enhance your listening comprehension. MegaVerbs is supposed to help you out with verb forms and structures.

Rocket Record, one of the latest additions, is bound to help you improve your German pronunciation, stress, and intonation. Here you will actually be able to record your voice and compare it to that of a native German speaker.

Tell Me More German

The Approach

The people behind Tell Me More German believe in what they refer to as the PRIME approach.

P as in Progressive,

R as in Real World,

I as in Interactive,

M as in Motivating,

and E as in Effective.

It is progressive because they believe that your level will surely go up, no matter where you begin. Real world because the things you will learn are based on real life scenarios. Interactive because you actually partake in the conversations and lessons instead of just merely listening. It is motivating because you will have over 40 different tasks that are designed to challenge you each and every time. Effective as it claims to have a 94% rate under its belt.

The Learning Tools

Tell Me More German covers 10 different levels of learning that cater beginners to advanced students. Here you will have 20 hours of interesting and interactive videos that are followed up with over 20,000 activities and exercises.

You can learn wherever you want whenever you want as you can download the files to your iPhone, MP3 player, or Pocket PC plus you can even print out vocabulary lists as well as the grammar lessons.

One thing that Tell Me More German is proud about is the state of the art technology that they use to make the learning process better. SETS, Spoken Error Tracking System, technology can actually detect mispronounced words. This highly advanced speech recognition system is designed to help improve your pronunciation and your intonation. Another cool high-tech feature is the role play activity. Kinda like an role play game, you get the chance to be a character on your very own TV show.

To see just how far you have come, you can take the progress tests and use the tracking tools which are designed to help you keep your eye on the goal the entire program- which is to be able to speak German.

Also, whenever the need arises, this program gives you access to an online tutor 24/7.

So, here are the facts, now for the choice. Rocket German Or Tell Me More German: You Decide.

>>> Get Rocket German here <<<

>>> Get Tell Me More German Levels 1-10 here <<<

Fluenz German VS Rocket German: Two Different Programs, One Honest Review

Since people have different learning styles, it is only normal that the programs to teach languages have different leaning methods and learning tools as well. So, if you are set on learning German, here are two very different courses offered on the market today with nothing but the facts. Fluenz German VS Rocket German: Two Different Programs, One Honest Review

The Method and Approach

Fluenz German takes the more traditional approach that has the school feel to it. What this means is that Fluenz German offers full explanations to everything you will learn from the course. The people behind this program strongly believe that “Great explanations make a big difference because we don’t learn like children anymore”.

This says much about Fluenz. Firstly, it’s made for adults and the dialogs and scenarios presented in the course reflect this. I guess teenagers and younger kids could use it but it might not be appropriate teaching them to ask for a beer !

The teaching style tries to fast track a persons understanding of German by leveraging their knowledge of English. This is at odds with other language course like Rosetta Stone, which try to build up your understand with no preconceived ideas and no reliance on English.

The debate about which teaching philosophy ultimately works will go on and on but the reality is that you will spend a long time using the Rosetta course to get to a conversational level. you probably won’t spend as much time using the Fluenz course.

For Rocket German also try to fast track your learning using an audio course and various other learning tools. They probably have more emphasis  on speaking and comprehension than actual reading and writing but these two skill sets are covered to some extent too.

The creators of Rocket German have set their content for adults too and it follows two people traveling round Germany. One is a native German speaker and the other is an English speaking person. The English speaker frames the lessons and does the teaching bits. The native speaker ensures you hear a good German accent.

So, basically the interactive conversational approach means that you will learn how to understand through listening comprehension and you will begin speaking German right from the very first lesson.

The Tools and Features

With Fluenz German, You will be guided all the way with your very own Nora Naatz, a true blue German. She will help you as she gives you easy to understand step by step instructions and explanations.

With Rocket German, you will have Sandra and Mathias with you every step of the way. They are kinda like your personal tutors who will be with you all throughout the program.

The base of Fluenz German is the interactive CD s that come with around 60 lessons that vary from
one and a half hours to two hours long. Just like having class back in college, these sessions are much longer than competing brands on the market because aside from hearing a German Conversations, your tutor will take the time to give full detailed explanations on what you have learned in a step by step process.

With Rocket German, you will have 31 audio lessons all which are 20 minutes in length- much shorter than Fluenz. Here, you will also have and interactive casual German conversation that you partake in even at your very first lesson. You do not get step by step explanations from your tutor, but you do however have full transcripts of the entire class to help you out.

Aside from that, Rocket German also comes with 31 lessons on the language and the culture. The language lessons offer fully illustrated explanations on grammar while the culture lessons teach you more about the country itself, like the traditions, customs, and history. Here you will have over 110 hours of various activities, embedded audio clips, and detailed notes.

For both programs, there is the on the go feature. With either one you can move the files to your iPod, MP3 player, pocket PC and the like so that you can take it with you wherever you want.
Fluenz German’s voice recorder is pretty much like the Rocket Record. These two tools are both designed to help you improve your German pronunciation and intonation by comparing it to that of a native German speaker’s.

Fluenz German gives you access to different workouts that help you enhance and improve all of your German skills- complete from reading to writing to listening to speaking.

The Fluenz navigator is kinda like your quick reference guide on useful phrases and words.

The Rocket German Language Lounge also gives you access to a myriad of activities. You can take tests and quizzes, take down notes on classes that you have taken, get free updates, get certified by Rocket Languages, and even keep an eye on how well you are doing with the progress tracker.

Aside from that, you will also have MegaGerman, three games developed by Rocket German to help you enjoy learning the language more. You have MegaVocab to help build up your German words. You have MegaAudio to improve your listening comprehension as well as your German pronunciation. Last but not the least, you have MegaVerbs to help you understand verb forms and conjugation much better.

The Focus of the Programs

With Fluenz German you will go over conversation practice, listening comprehension, grammar, pronunciation, reading, and writing.

Rocket German on the other hand covers all of that minus the reading and the writing part.

Customer Service

Fluenz German offers FAQ, email support, phone support, tutorials while Rocket German offers email support, phone support, tutorials

And So

So here are the facts from the approach to the learning tools to the features to the focus all the way to the customer service. So think about what you want to learn and how you want to learn it. Fluenz German VS Rocket German: Two Different Programs, one honest review – now it’s time to decide which one is for you.

>>> Get the Fluenz German course 1-5 here <<<

>>> Get the Rocket German course here <<<