My honest review of Rocket Languages' popular Japanese learning software, looking at the features included with the software and detailing my impressions as a user of the program.
2. Learning Japanese
Japanese can be a somewhat intimidating language to learn.
It's a distinctive language with a lot to take in. However, with
the widespread nature of Japanese media and culture,
Japanese can be a rewarding language to learn whether you
plan on visiting Japan itself or not. How should one go about
the challenge of learning this language though? There are
numerous products on the market for learning languages.
How does someone find something that actually works?
These were the sorts of questions I started asking myself not
very long ago when I started looking for a way to teach
myself the Japanese language.
3. Rocket Japanese
Looking for good tools for learning the
language, it wasn't long before Rocket
Japanese captured my attention. With it's high
ratings online, I was curious to see if it lived up
the hype. I was a little hesitant at first; it wasn't
exactly cheap, but the promise of a 60 day
money back guarantee reassured me. If it
wasn't worth the price tag, I would always be
able to return it after all.
4. What is Rocket?
Rocket Languages was founded in 2004
to create quality language learning
software. They have since become one
of the leaders in the language learning
industry, with hundreds of thousands
users world wide. Rocket presently
offers programs for over 13 different
languages.
5. My Impressions
When I first received my online access to Rocket Japanese, I was
immediately impressed by how easy and accessible it felt. Now, I've
never been very good at learning languages; I barely made it through
my two years of German in high school and I had certainly never tried
learning anything like the Japanese language before. Despite this,
diving into Rocket's program, I was surprised to find how easy and
naturally it made the learning process feel for me. It offered a number
of ways to learn the content, including fun games, audio lessons, and
conversation practices. It had voice comparison to help me master
pronunciation and online quizzes to help me test what I'd learned. It
just seemed a well organized course, and the fact that my money had
bought me lifetime access, rather than access for just a limited time
meant that I could move through the course and learn at my own pace.
6. My Impressions
Before trying Rocket, I tried other methods: the leading language
learning methods, audio only courses, various online resources.
None of them felt ideal for me though. They either didn't teach me
what I wanted to know, didn't teach me anything efficiently or
lacked the focus to keep me learning. Rocket struck me as a
powerful tool though. Combined with commitment and effort on
my part, it helped me learn a good amount of Japanese in a fairly
short stretch of time. In just the first month I had learned how to
read and write all of the hiragana and katakana symbols and
started building my vocabulary and learning kanji. It made me feel
like I was actually making good progress for one, which was in
turn quite rewarding.
7. Rocket Japanese Features
●Rocket Record – handy audio lessons where you can learn
Japanese and become familiar with proper Japanese
pronunciation.
●Testing – a powerful tool for drilling you on everything learned.
Pronunciation and audio recognition is tested by listening to
phrases in Japanese and recording them yourself. Writing and
reading is also tested as you listen to phrased and then write
the correct symbols. Knowledge and retention of what you have
learned is then tested by prompting you with English phrases
where you're supposed to give the Japanese translation. There
are also mutliple-choice quizzes available online to further test
what you have learned.
8. Rocket Japanese Features
● Extensive lists of Japanese words and phrases to
learn to boost your vocabulary and knowledge of
language rules and grammar.
● Instructions and videos for writing Japanese
characters.
● Cultural lessons to teach you about Japan and
Japanese culture.
● Games to play to have fun an learn at the same time.
9. Rocket Japanese Features
●
Well designed dashboard for keeping track of the learning
process easily.
●
Online Forum where you can share the experience with
other learners and talk to native speakers and teachers.
●
Point systems and badges to reflect your progress as you
learn.
●
Lifetime access. Unlike other programs where you pay to
access the content for months at a time, once you buy
Rocket's program you have access to it for life. You even
get access to new content when they update
10. Rocket Japanese Features
●60 day money back guarantee – If unsatisfied with the
program, Rocket promises a full refund of the
purchase within the first sixty days of purchase.
●Free six day trial – to sample what you get with the
course, Rocket offers six days with it for no cost at all.
●Bonus package Rocket values at $89.95 offered for
free with purchase. Includes a Japanese “survival kit”
including the most essential phrases, as well as two
vocabulary building memory games.
11. Conclusion
Even as someone fairly new to learning a language, I'm pretty
confident to say there's no perfect solution that will make you
easily learn a new language without much effort, especially a
language as different and unique as Japanese. I can't say Rocket
Japanese made learning effortless or took me to complete fluency
in months. It is easily the best tool I've used so far, and I have
confidence it can help just about anyone make progress learning
Japanese. At $99.95 for the first phase online, it's not a cheap
program, but it's not the most expensive one on the market either
and it offers a good value for the price tag. I would recommend it
to anyone who wants to learn Japanese, but if you're unsure
there's no harm in trying the free six day trial first.