Rocket Spanish Reviewer's Comments

Rocket Spanish is a little disappointing as a Spanish language software package, mostly because there is very little software. The majority of the program is composed of an audio course and several e-books that are similar to textbooks.

The only part of the Rocket Spanish package that is actually software is the two word recognition activities included in the game. These are designed specifically to improve vocabulary and listening comprehension.

Though audio courses can be effective for many people, it negates the benefits of interactivity and the immediate feedback it provides. Rocket Spanish also doesn’t have a speech recognition system, so while the audio course encourages you to speak out loud, there is no way to analyze your pronunciation objectively.

The bottom line, Rocket Spanish is a great audio course that lacks interactivity or effective testing.

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Features:  

Since Rocket Spanish is an audio course, there is no progress tracking or personalized learning paths. But the creators of the program, Rocket Languages, provide some great additional resources on their website. And the audio lessons are easily transferred to an MP3 player or other mobile device.

Fundamentals:  

Rocket Spanish has everything covered in the Fundamentals section, but it’s not quite as good as some of the other programs. This is because they teach the fundamentals but there is no way to evaluate your accuracy, progress, or pronunciation. A more interactive program, like our #1 and #2 products, would allow you to get feedback on how much you are retaining.

Ease of Use:  

Rocket Spanish is easy to use simply by virtue of the fact that you sit back and simply listen. As long as you know how to operate a media player of some sort, you should be able to use Rocket Spanish. The word recognition activities are simple too. You shouldn’t have any problems using them.

Teaching Tools:  

The large majority of teaching in Rocket Spanish is done through audio tracks. The two word recognition activities also use pictures to create picture-word associations. The Rocket Spanish package also includes e-books that teach lessons on grammar and word usage, much like a text book. Rocket Spanish also has some great culture lessons that cover a lot of the major Spanish-speaking countries.

Word Tools:  

The Rocket Spanish package comes with e-books that can be used to translate and learn Spanish words. They are intended to be used in conjunction with the audio lessons.

Help/Support:  

Rocket Languages does not have a phone support line, but they do provide email support and useful FAQs and user guides.

Summary:  

Rocket Spanish is a great audio course, but it doesn’t really hold up to the other programs as interactive learning software.