Rocket Italian Reviews

With a brief glance above it is quite clear that Rocket Italian musters almost every feature a budding Italian learner could want and, although the initial price is towards the higher end of the scale, Rocket Languages generally offer some great deals and discounts to sweeten the deal. However, when learning a new language, what matters most is quality, not quantity; do Rocket Italian's materials and teaching methods stand up to our testing? Read on to find out.

Before purchasing your copy of Rocket Italian you will be presented with the choice of levels beginner (premium), intermediate (plus) or advanced (platinum). This choice is great because it allows users to pick a level specific to them, unlike with some other products in this category which are simply beginners to advanced. However, if you are a beginner and committed to taking yourself to an advanced level you can always purchase all three and make yourself some great savings along the way.

Users make a one off payment which gives them access to the course materials for the level they have ordered as well as lifetime updates and access to Rocket Languages Motovation Centre and Rocket Italian Learning Lounge. We really liked this as it meant that there was no pressure to frantically work through the material in order to get your money's worth. Users learn at their own pace, choosing when and for how long they study depending on what suits them best. Even when you have finished the course, you can go back over materials whenever you like for revision and continue your studies in the Learning Lounge.

Upon commencing the course, users are taken through a well structured course of interactive audio lessons. The focus of these lessons is to expose you to practical situations, get you speaking and give you confidence in navigating conversations regardless of your level. It is no coincidence that conversation is arguably the most important and enjoyable aspect of learning a language; the focus that Rocket Italian places on it makes the learning process not only more effective but also more fun. These two aspects of Rocket Italian (fun and effectiveness) are mutually reinforcing, meaning that you learn a lot and are continually motivated to learn even more.

Furthermore, don't let going out get in the way of your progress, Rocket Italian audio lessons can be taken with you in the car or loaded onto yout MP3 player so you can keep learning whilst stuck in traffic, jogging or walking the dog. Users who fully immerse themselves in this way are almost guaranteed to make rapid progress towards speaking great Italian.

Overall, we found Rocket Italian's lessons to be simple and rewarding. The pace of exposure to new material was spot on and grammatical explanations were clear and succinct. We especially liked the interactivity of the lessons; users are encouraged to repeat words and construct their own phrases that are useful in everyday Italian. This process really boosts your confidence and after an hour we couldn't wait to go out to meet some Italian friends to try out our new language skills. It is safe to say that they were sufficiently surprised and impressed!

 
  The MegaItalian software games cover grammar and speaking skills in a more relaxed and unstructured manner than do the classes.  

Aside from the core lessons, users can take a break, relax and have some fun while still learning Italian. Megavocab is a memory game in which users must recall the meanings of a range of Italian words. What is great about this feature is that users can make their own personalized word lists. All the notes from your conversations and classes can be input to ensure you really do learn them. You can also add vocab that you encounter in films and books and vocab relevant to your specific interests or needs such as business, sports or technical terminology. The MegaItalian software games cover grammar and speaking skills in a more relaxed and unstructured manner than do the classes. These make Rocket Italian great for kids (or those of us with a short attention span!) as half an hour of serious study can be rewarded with 15 minutes of games.

Rocket Italian approach learning as a process in itself that must be supported and can be optimized. Self tests and instant feedback quizzes allow you to constantly test and push yourself. This way you always feel as though you are making progress and can easily identify areas of your Italian which may need revision. Also, the progress tracker allows users to visualize their progress. This gives you a real sense of pride in what you have achieved and real motivation to build on it. This is unlike some other products in this category that sometimes leave users completely in the dark, unsure if they are even making any progress at all!

The Rocket Languages series was developed in response a perceived lack of decent language learning products on the market. Rocket Languages believed that language learning should be easy and enjoyable and hundreds of thousands of customers agreed with them. Today the company is registered with the Better Business Bureau, counts more than 800,000 users and has versions in a wide range of languages. Practically, the enthusiasm of Rocket Italian in helping you learn really shines through in the personal touch that comes with the software.

In the Rocket Italian Learning Lounge users can not only access plenty of additional materials, they can also put any questions they may have to a community of enthusiastic students and knowledgeable teachers. Furthermore, you can Email any questions you may have to the Rocket Italian team and expect a quick response; we especially liked this as it was like having a 24/7 Italian teacher 'on call'. Language learning is not a mathematical process of knowledge acquisition, it is a living, subjective experience. There will be some questions a computer will never be able to answer and in this way, a personal touch is vital for that fully comprehensive teach yourself Italian course.

Overall, Rocket Italian earns our number one spot because it offers the most substantial set of of high quality features at a great one off price. One downside is that it does lack some of the high end speech recognition technology starting to appear on the market. However, the quality of materials and Rocket Italian's personal touch more than make up for this and, furthermore, it is very easy to supplement this shortfall with other language learning resources. If you're still unsure, check out their website for a 6-day free trail which will give you a taster of Rocket Italian's teaching methods.

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