Rocket French Review

If you're really serious about learning French at home, you'll probably end up looking into the more comprehensive course at some stage. And you're going to see a lot of people singing the praises of Rocket French.

Even though it's been around for a few years now, it's still a relative baby compared with the likes of Rosetta Stone or Pimsleur's French products.

But this "baby" is giving the big kids a run for their money. With good looks, a hip approach to modern French, and a whole stack of games and features to take you from beginner to advanced... what's not to like?

Well... let's take a look...

Interactive audio course:

Generally when I hear "interactive audio course" I think "Great. They're going to teach me how to book another hotel room..." and I promptly fall asleep.

They just teach you useless conversations that you have no hope of applying in regular life! I also think it's a cheap way of avoiding doing any grammar. I hate learning grammar, but I know that it's necessary if I want to master French.

But I've changed my tune a little with Rocket French's interactive audio course. I started at week 1 expecting to be taught how to book a hotel room, but I was pleasantly surprised. I've been learning much more useful things... like how to flirt! Who doesn't want to be able to flirt in French?

What surprises me most, though, is how much I'm learning and remembering from these lessons. The conversations they teach are based on real-life situations, so it all makes sense. They give you the big picture so you know what you're learning, then break it down into small pieces so you can master each piece.

Along the way they fill you in on the grammatical things you need to know, so you end up learning that grammar.... but it's fun!

The lessons are not simply about dull repetition, and it doesn't progress so fast that you forget it all in an instant, or so slowly that you're driven mad. Each lesson takes around 20 minutes, which is the perfect length for me to learn a little French on my walk to work.

I've been very surprised at how much I have learned through the audio course, without ever needing to crack open a text book. I can now listen to some of my favorite French music and understand the words!

I strongly recommend you check it out now!

And then there's the grammar course...

You could learn an awful lot of French just using the Interactive Audio Course, but if you really want to take things to the next level there's a comprehensive course that accompanies the interactive audio course.

The grammar course also has a lot of audio built in.... lots of slow, clear, beautiful pronunciation ... and puzzles and exercises at the end of each lesson make sure you understand it all.

This component is more like an actual "classroom" French course... except, of course, you can do it from home!

Games!

One of the best things with Rocket French is that they include games software to test yourself. A lot of other publishers would try to sell these separately, but they come free when you buy Rocket French.

• MegaVerbs tests you on all the common verbs in all their different tenses and conjugations. You can choose which tenses you'd like to test yourself on, so it's useful at all levels.
• MegaVocab tests your vocabulary: Popping up images or words that you need to match to the French.
• MegaAudio tests your listening comprehension — something a lot of people have trouble mastering!

Who is it suitable for?

I would say that Rocket French is suitable for absolute beginners through to reasonably advanced students of French. There's enough material here to keep you going for a long time. The course is also interesting enough to be suitable for older children.

The things I really like are...

• You can tell that the Rocket French guys have given a lot of thought to the various different learning styles, and constructed the course so that it will appeal to everyone. Regardless of whether you're a visual learner, or someone who learns better by listening, or by doing puzzles... there's something for you.
• The Interactive Audio Course introduces you to new concepts through entertaining real life situations, so that the new material has meaning and you're able to remember it. I've found myself laughing out loud a number of times while listening to these lessons... "Be careful not to confuse "boisson" (drink) with "poisson" (fish)... " etc.
• The grammar course is comprehensive, with beautiful built-in audio. You can access the course through the software, or print out the PDFs to create a little workbook.
• Exercises are well designed and fun — Good for older children as well as adults.
• Interactive software games reinforce your learning by testing your vocabulary skills, listening skills and verb skills.
• You're not restricted to your computer... you can print out course material and load the interactive audio course onto your mp3 player.
• Software works on both PC and Mac!
• The price is the most reasonable I've seen of any product. With the other "big name" products you wouldn't even pick up a "level 1 French" product for this price, and certainly not anything with as many features as Rocket French. With Rocket French you get Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced all rolled into one... for an incredibly reasonable price.
• They offer a 60 day money-back guarantee so if you don't think it suits you or your learning style, you can just ask for a refund. I know that payments are handled through a 3rd party site who will refund you without question, so there's no risk of being stuck with a dud here.

Any bad points?

• It's not available in shops. You need to purchase through their website and download the software yourself, but once it's downloaded you don't need the internet anymore to use the program.
• The good news is that you can get it right now without searching the shops, or waiting for it to arrive in the post. Yay the internet!
• You need a little tenacity, though. Their website is very long and quite salesy. Don't let that put you off!
• Also it's very easy to click on the button to buy the "physical" version which is much more expensive. For the "get it now" digital version, make sure you scroll to the bottom of the page and click the "Instant Online Access" button.