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rocket languages

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ElmerRamone
United States of America

rocket languages

Post by ElmerRamone »

Have any of you used Rocket languages for Spanish? I've heard good things about it and am currently doing the free trial. So far, I like it. It let me jump into the second, more intermediate level, and I like the conversational method they use, while not skipping grammar. If you've tried it, what do you think? Is it worth the money? I've been pondering where to go after Duolingo. I've been repeating the tree to hammer things home, and now I'm nearing the end again, and I'm a little fed up lately, the path they added to my tree seems to be more review than anything new. I think I've squoze all I can squeeze out of the bird. While all the other things I'm doing are great (reading, telenovelas, etc.,) I crave structure. Any thoughts? Thanks.

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Thomas.Heiss
Germany

Re: rocket languages

Post by Thomas.Heiss »

Hi [mention]ElmerRamone[/mention]

How are the audio lessons? Like BlueBirds Android app (Pronunciator LLC)?

Con: My biggest issue with Rocket is that you would have to pay for 3 levels individually. In your case two. And there's the Travelogue series. Does it cost extra?

Pro: You get a one-time payment lifetime access for each level.
No stupid reoccurring yearly subscription.

Have installed it to try French, but need to do a deeper test as I've not listened to the one free audio lesson.
I also see the heavily discounted Rocket offers (down to $60 per level).

Babbel at least allows to test into multiple courses and sub levels each for one unlocked lesson.
Ok, you got the Rocket trial (full access?)...

Busuu doesn't offer a LIFETIME account at the moment, but added back FREE lessons
(you won't be locked out after 4-6 lessons).
It's more interactive and requires a lot of clicking.
PremiumPlus is discounted 60% Off right now too and gives you access to the FULL course, all languages.
Besides 122 B2 lessons, 62 B1 lessons and 86 Advanced C1 lessons I must say that:
Most Dialogues/videos even on the A1 course are beyond my current French beginner level.
So you might still learn some new stuff on 81 A1 or 69 A2 Spanish lessons.

Have you tried Ouino https://www.ouinolanguages.com/spanish/buynow/ yet?
You can get it for a one-time payment below $100 and get LIFETIME access.
No separate levels.
All in one package.
See the Pricing link.

Have tought about it for a while with French but haven't tried the (Android) mobile app as you need a valid license; only the web has a demo.
The login screen on the 6.67" screen looks weird - quite small.

Once I was registered on Pod101 for Portuguese and I caught a discounted two years subscription deal.
But never managed to get around on the Website and to step into lessons as a FALSE beginner.
Also was missing a placement test.
The structuring and available content was opaque to me and I somehow got away from it with all this player installation stuff.
You probably need someone to tell you where to click, how to start, walk you through; as I wasn't immediately hooked that money was lost.
The more I pushed it ahead of me, the less likely I could cross the line.
Also received a weird email one day that they locked my Premium account because of strange login tries?!
Maybe their mobile app is more intuitive?
Only had an old Laptop in 2017/18.

I somehow want video courses. Only found ChatterBug.
And I'm not ready to spend hundreds of Euros (I'm aware of one 5 level quite expensive resource).

Busuu was different. Immediately got started with French end of November 2021.
Really liked the mobile app but it had a few bugs here and there and they somehow damaged offline lessons in October/November or December 2022. Had sync issues.
The more they change the code, the more issues I personally ran into, sadly to say.

So yeah, I'm not a fan of subscriptions in general. The other year you're locked out again.

Most important thing:
You need to use the learning software / application.
If you spent the money and you like it and make heavy use of it, it's worth it.
Else the money is thrown out.

Rocket doesn't offer a placement test, right?
So how do you know where to exactly start and how far does it really go with Spanish level 2+3 and Travelogue series? B2?C1?

I think I read something in the available Faq. Will need to read again.

I feel more and more that I want a resource where I can lean back and make more usage of passive learning, like video.
For French: Only audio isn't enough for me. Need to see all the words, spelling and how the full sentence reads. I only have one year under my belt.

As you've completed the Duolingo Spanish course twice you've probably seen a lot of B1 content and some B2 content and you should know a lot of Spanish words.
Switching to audio resources should work in that case; and Rocket languages Android app offers specific exercises to reinforce words and speak the phrases too.
Hopefully it's not too slow per learning audio session if you may hear things you already know??
On Busuu I just step over / more quickly click through (that's hardly the case).

Have you tried Pimsleur app yet?
A monthly all languages subscription is available with some added Premium Practice features incl. Beta VoiceCoach.
But for that money you can also buy Rocket 2+3 + Travelogue or Ouino.

Is the Rocket content freshes/ more exciting??

Have you used LanguageTransfer Complete-Spanish audio course yet before investing 2-3x $60?
It's free!!
I heard you can download an eBook script too?


Olly Richards (from UK) kinda convinced me from a Storytelling method without having read everything from his website.

So I will make use of Mosalingua Series1 + MosaSpeak and their SRS app for French which inludes 50+ Dialogues and flashcards.

Which Spanish resources have you used so far that don't cost $180 like Rocket does?
Butterfly Spanish? Dreaming? Coffee Break?
There are huge lists on old Duolingo archive or Reddit posts for other resources.

Hmm, my post obviously got longer as I don't use Rocket myself.
Hopefully you find something useful.

I may change the formatting and content without warning after posting it here.

:de: Native | :us: Upper-B2 (BritishCouncil) | ImageL25 (Duo) / A2 (6+y, McGraw-Hill) - Learning (Busuu): :fr: (A1 McGraw-Hill) | :brazil: (interm.)

Steve579062

Re: rocket languages

Post by Steve579062 »

If your looking for extra input to your learning, try https://www.languagetransfer.org/complete-spanish

Can't beat the price.....FREE.

All you do is listen, pause, think, and learn.

Other languages include Italian and French. There is an android app and it works offline. Just find somewhere to relax and don't try to use memory. :geek:

I'm using language to keep my old brain working.

ElmerRamone
United States of America

Re: rocket languages

Post by ElmerRamone »

Wow, that's quite a response. Thanks! I've just been using it for one day, so I can't answer a lot of questions. However, from what I can tell, the audio is really good. I think they said they use Google pronunciation? And you can buy the 3-level package, not just individual levels. I kind of wish I could just buy the upper two, but no. You can skip things you already know, apparently. I've tried Language Transfer and I like it, but I really want something more interactive. Thanks for mentioning Ouino, I had never heard of that. I just checked it out and boy, it's huge! And the price is pretty good. That may be the way to go for me, I'll see. It says you can get much closer to fluency than with other programs if you put the work in. And I'm very willing.
I've also looked at Busuu, but for some reason I find it pretty annoying, maybe it's because they have that part where they let strangers help you with your language. I saw so many wrong things there that it was off-putting.
I do use You Tube a lot, the ones you mentioned and others, whatever i can find. Still, I yearn for a little more guidance. In a perfect world with unlimited funds, I'd have a personal tutor or find one of those immersive programs, like the military uses. :)
Alas, not gonna happen.
Edit: I just tried Speakly, and came away sooo frustrated. I took the placement test and tried a lesson. But they only had one acceptable answer for each translation, and it didn't make sense to me. For example, the sentence was 'Did you speak with them?' and stupidly I wrote 'Hablaste con ellos'. But noooo, the only correct answer they would take was 'Has hablado con ellos. Whaaaa??? If they're this rigid and quite frankly misleading, who knows where they'll take you. This happened several times with word and structure choices. No allowance for other correct choices. Speakly gets rave reviews on You Tube, but I don't get it.
Another choice bites the dust. Ouino is looking better and better.

User avatar
Thomas.Heiss
Germany

Re: rocket languages

Post by Thomas.Heiss »

ElmerRamone wrote: Sun Jan 29, 2023 5:57 pm

I've also looked at Busuu, but for some reason I find it pretty annoying, maybe it's because they have that part where they let strangers help you with your language.

With Busuu Premium(Plus) and the Android app (last year Oct/Nov, not sure about the 01/2023 update; support said it's not rolled out yet in December) you can SKIP over (most of) the writing/speaking community lessons.

The rewritten Web portal (same on Ios) is now locking later lessons too.

Another coding problem:
French A2 lesson 29 was combined and the second community part was immediately launched after the lesson part one so I lost my total progress after the X button.
Normally I could X terminate a later launched exercise and return to the Learn dashboard but got the previous exercise graded.

Like you said it already: A FREE (Non-Premium) account requires to do all/most lessons in strict order incl. community exercises - with the exception of not available Premium grammar/quiz/review exercises (some finished A1 Dialogue exercises are now locked too).

:de: Native | :us: Upper-B2 (BritishCouncil) | ImageL25 (Duo) / A2 (6+y, McGraw-Hill) - Learning (Busuu): :fr: (A1 McGraw-Hill) | :brazil: (interm.)

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