Language Reviews

Rosetta Stone Review – Is It The Best Language Learning Software?

Jason — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 17:13:30 +0000

Rosetta Stone Review

Click Here For Rosetta Stone Packages

I wanted to take a minute and do an unbiased Rosetta Stone review, complete with pros and cons.

Now, I know your probably thinking that I am going recommend Rosetta Stone outright because it’s used by the Department of Defense and has all kinds of commercials, but that’s not my intent.

With this Rosetta Stone Review, I want to give you some information both ways, recommend some alternative language learning software packages, and let you make your own choice.

Rosetta Stone Review – What Is Rosetta Stone?

Rosetta Stone is a comprehensive group of language learning software programs that teach you everything, from the basics to the more advanced levels of the language. They are also the market leader in the language learning space.

The last I know, Rosetta Stone had 31 different languages that learning software had been developed for. The most popular being:

The software itself integrates spoken word, reading and writing, and visuals that combine to form a very interactive learning environment – perfect for learning complex languages quickly.

Rosetta Stone Review – The Pros

Rosetta Stone has a lot of pros, including ease of use and quality of product. Let me outline some of the pros of Rosetta Stone below:

Very easy to install and get set up and will work on Macs or PCs.
Very nice visual layout and software style
Offers different levels, including beginner, intermediate and advanced. This is very good for education because it implies ‘graduating’ from one level to another and is really effective
Clear audio pronunciations of words, sentences and phrases by native speakers (not all language learning software programs use native speakers).
Good images and interactivity in the software help you learn the language fast.

Rosetta Stone Review – The Cons

Although the software uses great images 99.9% of the time, sometimes the meaning of the images is unclear in some lessons
Written to teach English speaking people, not people who speak European or Asian languages
Price is ridiculously high if you buy the whole set of courses at once. (My recommendation, but the first course, then the second and so on. Allow yourself to graduate)

Rosetta Stone Review – Summary

Rosetta Stone has rock solid language learning software programs. I have used most of the major language programs and have found them to work very well. I don’t have any experience with some of the lesser run applications like Polish or Hindu, but German, Spanish, French, etc are very good.

Using the software is extremely easy. You install it, open it up, and start learning a new language. The visuals and on screen instructions really do a good job of walking you through the course, step by step.

Once you finish one level, you can pick up the second level course and get started right away. Like I said earlier, it’s a great feeling to know that you’ve ‘graduated’ and are now working on some of the more advanced stuff.

Click here for the list of Rosetta Stone Programs

Rosetta Stone Review Links And Resources:

Complete Rosetta Stone Software List
- Spanish
- French
- German
- Chinese
- Japanese
- Italian

Other Language Learning Software Programs

I’m a big fan of Rocket Languages for a few reasons, but mainly because it’s quite a bit cheaper. Quality wise, it’s as good as Rosetta Stone and you get just as much out of it. They don’t have the more advanced levels though. Everything is delivered in one package.

Rocket Languages

Make sure you let me know what you think!

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Rocket Spanish Review – Don’t Buy Rocket Spanish Until You Read This

Jason — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 17:08:11 +0000

Rocket Spanish Review - Spanish Course By Rocket Languages

Listen, I pride myself on giving honest reviews and I want to uphold my reputation with this Rocket Spanish Review. I’m telling you – don’t buy Rocket Spanish until you get to the end of this article…

What is Rocket Spanish?

Rocket Spanish is a Spanish course built by Rocket Languages, one of the worldwide leaders in language courses (and a favorite here on Language Reviews).

Rocket Spanish claims that you’ll be speaking and writing Spanish naturally in 8 weeks or less.

Lately, there has been a lot of buzz around Rocket Spanish so I decided that I should review if for our site here. I already know Spanish and can speak it fluently, so I was interested in what Rocket Spanish would deliver.

Rocket Spanish – What To Expect

Rocket Spanish has two different levels or curriculum to consider. There is the Premium Rocket Spanish Course and the Plus Rocket Spanish Course. Both are available right on the Rocket Languages website.

The course content itself is standard Spanish, so you will be able to travel and speak Spanish in Spain and Latin America.

The Rocket Spanish premium course has:

32 interactive audio sections
MegaSpanish software program
Members only forum
Bonus

The Rocket Spanish Plus Course has an additional:

28 audio tracks with transcripts
28 illustrated grammar and cultural lessons

Rocket Spanish Review – The Audio Lessons

One of the reasons it’s so easy to learn spanish from the Rocket Spanish course is because each of the audio tracks are uniquely themed – much like the language courses you took in high school! Remember each chapter had a different theme? So does Rocket Spanish.

By learning the contexts of these ‘themes’ you are learning the building blocks of language and you don’t have to simply ‘memorize’ nouns and verbs and things like that.

The speakers, Amy and Mauricio are very good and very easy to listen to. They both have personality which differs from some of the other courses we’ve reviewed.

Rocket Spanish Review – MegaSpanish Software

Now, to the sofware. Language software really is the make it or break it section of a language course. If the software is bad, the course is too.

Rocket Spanish features a downloadable application called MegaSpanish. MegaSpanish includes 3 games which serve as the cornerstones of the program:

MegaVocab
MegaAudio
MegaVerbs

Each of these individual parts of the software package really aid in learning Spanish. The software was very intuitive and easy to use. I personally give it a thumbs up!

Rocket Spanish Review – Grammar And Cultural Lessons

This is really the shining point of the course. Rocket Spanish gives grammar and cultural lessons as a downloadable document. So many times, language courses fall short with the culture of a place. Without the culture, there really is only so much you’ll be able to learn!

Truly, the Rocket Spanish grammar and cultural lessons are a great addition to the software and audio elements of the program.

Rocket Spanish Review – The Negatives

One thing you should know before you buy Rocket Spanish is that learning a language is difficult. It doesn’t ‘just happen!’ You have to put time into learning a language and Spanish is no different. Remember, you had to take 2 YEARS of a language in high school!

With Rocket Spanish, I am very confident that you will be speaking Spanish in 8 weeks – like Rocket Languages claims. You have to work at it though!

Rocket Spanish Review – The Verdict

I really liked Rocket Spanish. It was easy to go through and kept the lessons short and sweet. I have no doubt that you would be able to learn Spanish very quickly with this system.

Keep in mind though, Rocket Spanish is still pretty cheap. If I were the product owner, I’d be raising the price soon because it’s SO MUCH CHEAPER than it’s competitors.. So jump on it quick!

Click Here For Rocket Spanish

Rocket Spanish Review - Spanish Course By Rocket Languages

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Rocket German Review – Can You Really Learn German Fast?

Jason — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:03:48 +0000

Rocket German Review - If you want to learn german fast, there's really only one option...

Learning a new language isn’t easy – especially German… If you want to learn German fast, you’ve really only got a couple of options… More on that in a minute though.

**First of all, this isn’t where you buy the Rocket German course. If you’re looking for Rocket German – make sure you click this link! (I’ve been getting a few emails asking where to buy the course…)**

Anyway…

So my search for a way to learn german fast started when my idiot boss decided to send me overseas to work on some new acquisition that him and his partners dreamed up! He only gave me a few weeks to prepare!

You see, I took a years of German in high school but it was incredibly difficult. I couldn’t speak a lick of it or really even being to interpret it. I always got hung up on how to form verb tenses.

I think I had a pretty awesome teacher too. This guy had grown up in Germany and won all kinds of teaching awards and national ‘German Excellence’ awards. He always talked about all the beer gardens and castles and stuff. He was difficult!

But the language? I couldn’t make my mouth form the words correctly or figure out where the ‘umlauts’ should go, and I skated out of his class with a C-.

So my boss decided to send me over to Berlin to work on his new project because he remembered I had some German in my background… More than any of my coworkers at least.

I like my job (but wasn’t that fond of him…) and didn’t want to screw anything up, so I decided I had about 6 weeks to ‘relearn’ German. What followed was a frantic search for a good German course that I could take online so I could wow them into giving me a raise… I spent over $1400 in a little over 3 weeks knowing that the clock was ticking. Mastercard loved me that month!

I can honestly say though, most of the programs were garbage. There was only ONE that I would recommend out of the 4 I tried.

That course was Rocket German.

Rocket German Review

Rocket German Review - What is Rocket German?

Rocket German is an online course put out by Rocket Languages. There’s two different ways to get it – download it to your hard drive or get it on CD’s in the mail. It’s ideal for:

Travelling to a German-speaking country
Having a German-speaking partner (or significant other)
Studying German and need better resources to make your learning easier (I could have used this in high school!)
Earning more money at your job by being bilingual?
Maybe you just think learning languages is fun!

Here’s some of my thoughts on Rocket German…

Suitable For:

Beginner, Intermediate.

What You Get:

31 Track Interactive Audio Course
31 Grammar Lessons
MegaGerman help-you-learn software (MegaVocab, MegaAudio and MegaVerbs (huge help!)
Rocket German Support and Future Learning Tools.

The Good:

Rocket German allows you to learn german simply and easily. It is a complete german learning program and really does contain everything you need to know about the German language (speaking it, reading it, writing it). It’s really simple to understand and easy to use. It’s laid out in a step-by-step method.

The coolest thing is the software makes it feel like you’re playing a game. It constantly challenges you and MAKES you learn German!

Also important, Rocket German comes with a 60 day money back guarantee if you just can’t find the time to use it…

The Bad:

The price of DVD package version is quite high. I’d rather have a course like this shipped to my house but I just downloaded the training material and ripped it to a disc myself. To get the downloaded package, it’s only $99.95.

The Bottom Line:

Rocket German walks you through learning the German language effectively and fast. Better yet – it’s fun and you could get a raise out of it! Not to mention, seeing all the awesome castles and beer gardens is awesome. I’ve got pics from when I was over there if you’re interested…

If you’re at all on the fence, don’t be. I was at first but I can confidently say that Rocket German is one of the best things I’ve ever bought myself.

Click Here To Learn More About Rocket German