Tag Archives: learn to speak german audio

How The Rocket German Audio Course Works

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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 now <<<

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

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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 has a one on one tutor feel to it. A scenario is presented and then a tutor goes through the scenario talking about the grammar, vocabulary and basically how the sentences and phrases are put together.

A scenario is presented to you - in this case a couple visit a bar.

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 courses like Rosetta Stone, which try to build up your understanding 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 and because they tell you why things work in the German language, you may have more confidence to use what you have learned to talk to real people. And using what you have learned is half the battle. Once you have lost your fear of talking to real people, your German language skills will come on at a pace.

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.

Hi Nora !

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.

However the Fluenz version does not display your voice into a graphical representation like Rocket Record. You just listen to your voice and then a native speaker and see how they differ. I’m not mad keen on the graphical representation style anyway so the Fluenz approach is not to bad (the best in my opinion is Tell Me More that actually show diagrams of how the lips and tongue move when a word or phrases is said – this is more true to how we really learn pronunciation).

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.

One of the types of tests - Match the word to the picture.

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 and tutorials while Rocket German offers email support, phone support, tutorials. I have contacted both support desks via email in the past and got quick and useful replies to my questions. So this is another plus for both these courses.

Where To Buy Fluenz German

Quite a few people ask about where to buy Fluenz German. This may seem strange as you can actually buy the product from the Fluenz website itself. But the last time I checked, they were selling it for $20 more than the price at Amazon.

I’m not sure how this works as you still deal with the Fluenz people at Amazon. It seems they are just advertising via Amazon since it is a trusted online website and adds credibility. This means you still get the same guarantees and support as you would if you bought through their store but for $20 less. So with this said, I would suggest that the best place to get Fluenz German is from the Amazon website – click this link to go to there now.

And So

So there you have it – the facts, the approach, the learning tools,  the features, 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 1-3 here <<<

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