Rocket Spanish Review

Rocket Spanish is an online Spanish course and app by Rocket Languages. It's the biggest selling course in the Rocket Languages lineup — particularly popular for folks wanting casual, conversational Latin American Spanish.

The idea behind Rocket Spanish is that it supposedly focuses on the most useful grammar and vocabulary first, rather than bogging you down with stuff you don't need to begin with.

This is helpful for building your confidence and getting you quickly using your Spanish in real-world situations (which is where the best learning happens).

But rather than stopping there, Rocket Spanish backs up this "once over quickly" approach with a full grammar course (included in the price) that aims to give you a more nuanced understanding of how Spanish actually works.

Rocket Spanish doesn't quite have the profile of big players like Rosetta Stone, and it isn't quite as flashy as Fluenz or Duolingo. So how does it stack up?

(Before we dive in, I recommend signing up for your free trial of Rocket Spanish so that you can follow along with this review. You don't need a credit card, and you'll get the first few modules of the course to play with.)

Done? Let's take a look...

The very first few lessons in Rocket Spanish (if you follow the lessons in order) are these "interactive audio" style lessons.

This is similar to a podcast-style course (like you might get with SpanishPod101). You can download them to your phone, or listen directly on your computer.

There are 31 interactive audio lessons, averaging around 20 minutes each. Each lesson is structured around a conversation. The two hosts play it out, and then break it down for you to explain the meaning and practice the pronunciation.

The conversations start off quite basic — introductions and “pleased to meet you”s — but then they start to get less ordinary.

I was quite pleased to find that one of the very first interactive audio lessons in Rocket Spanish taught me how to order a coffee.

And then winning the Academy Award for "most realistic language course dialog", by the end of module 7 the two hosts are arguing over whose job it is to clean the bathroom.

Each lesson covers a bunch of grammar and vocabulary, and during the lesson the two hosts will go off on tangents and explain how this is similar to that, and why you need to be careful about that other thing. For me, learning the grammar and vocab in context like this seems a lot easier and more natural.

Compared to some other podcast-style courses that are a bit more off-the-cuff, these audio lessons feel quite scripted, and the jokes are occasionally corny. (This is something of a trend across all Rocket Languages courses.) They can also be a bit slow, especially in the first few lessons.

But I was impressed at how much I learned just from these lessons. Because they're scripted, they're better structured than more informal podcasts. They cover a lot of ground.

I would go so far as to say that if you just need some survival Spanish, the audio course might be all you need. But if you're wanting to work towards full proficiency, you'll need something that goes into a bit more depth.

It seems that Rocket Spanish agrees with this, because they also give you another kind of lesson...

Alongside the 31 audio lessons, there are 33 'Language and Culture' lessons. (I think Rocket Spanish is trying to avoid saying "grammar" like it's a dirty word.)

But to be honest... you're probably not here for the cultural lessons, are you? The language part of the Language and Culture lessons is great, and that's the important part.  

These lessons are mixed in alongside the audio (podcast) lessons, so if you want to follow Rocket Spanish's recommended path, you'll do a few audio lessons, and then some more explicit grammar and vocabulary through these lessons.

Having said that, I've found the two types of lesson don't necessarily follow on from each other. They operate like two separate courses. So if you find the grammar lessons too dry in the beginning, you can skip over them and focus on the interactive audio lessons without missing out on any major plot points.

Ok, so we've got audio lessons. We've got language lessons (and culture lessons, such as they are). The third major component to Rocket Spanish is all the extra tools that sit alongside this core lesson material.

Every lesson in Rocket Spanish comes with a range of 'Rocket Reinforcement' tests to make sure you master the material from all angles: Reading, writing, listening, speaking, and recall.

These game-like tests use spaced repetition and keep presenting you with the stuff you've been tripping up on until you ace it. One of my biggest weaknesses when learning a language is moving too fast through the material and not actually learning it properly. I've found these exercises challenge me to slow down and really learn the material, and my recall and confidence is better.

One of my favorite tools is the flash card game — simple but effective.

Most of the tests are self-graded. The tool will tell you whether you got it right or wrong, but you choose whether you found it "easy", "good" or "hard". You'll keep practicing until you mark them all as "easy".

Like the rest of the Rocket Spanish course, they don't force you to keep working on something until you master it. You're free to hop around and skip anything you don't like.

One of my biggest fears when learning a new language is that nobody will understand me. It's kind of a problem when you're teaching yourself and you don't have access to a tutor or classmates to give you feedback.

The Rocket Spanish solution to this is called "Rocket Record".

In every single audio example in the course, you're given the option to record your pronunciation.

When you finish speaking, it will give you a score out of 100, and highlight the parts that didn't sound quite right.

Some people find this to be hit or miss. If your internet connection has a little burp mid-word, the tool will mishear you. It's also only ever going to "hear" actual Spanish words, so it won't be very precise with highlighting your areas for improvement. If you're looking for a tool that will tell you if your vowels are a bit flat, or your emphasis a bit off... this won't help you very much.

A more accurate way of assessing your pronunciation is to record yourself, and compare your recording to an example from a native speaker. Rocket Spanish provides both options in the same tool (you can turn off the grades in the tool settings), so choose the method that works best for you.

It bears repeating: This tool is built into every single audio example in the course. I looked it up — that's 2666 voice comparison phrases.

If you're going to be using this tool a lot, I recommend doing it through the app for iPhone or Android. You can do it through your computer browser, but you can run into annoying permission errors, depending on your browser.

On your phone or tablet, it just works.

(Remember, you can sign up for a free trial of Rocket Spanish to try this out for yourself.)

• A forum: You can ask questions or get clarification on lesson material. Or send love letters to the instructors in Spanish.
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• Points and badges and stuff: If you need a little extra motivation, you get points for logging in and playing with the lessons. If you do this for days in a row, you get a "streak" (similar to Duolingo). You can compete with yourself or against others. I personally don't see the point in this, but it might be the kind of thing that motivates you. If it works — do it.
  

• Anyone who wants a quick and easy introduction: Especially if you're heading on vacation, or you just want to learn Spanish for enjoyment... The interactive audio lessons are excellent and enjoyable. You can take them anywhere and they'll teach you a lot more than you'd expect.
  
  
• If you actually want to understand how Spanish works: The "language and culture" lessons are a comprehensive and well-thought-through Spanish grammar course. Everything is searchable and broken down into logical topics, so you can easily refer back to material when you need it.
  

• You get a lot for your money: At the time of writing this, you can get the first level for under a hundred bucks. That gets you 31 interactive audio lessons, 33 language and culture lessons, 2666 voice comparison phrases and the full suite of testing tools. That is a LOT of material, and it will take you a long way towards proficiency.

• It gets understanding and speaking Spanish fast: If you're going on vacation and you only have time to go through the interactive audio lessons, you'll still be miles ahead of most tourists.
  
  
• It offers a holistic learning style: As you'd expect these days, the testing tools work on all aspects of Spanish fluency: Speaking, reading, writing, comprehension, and recall.
  

• There's an app for iOS and Android so you can do the entire course from your smartphone or tablet. The interactive audio lessons can be downloaded and played offline, so you can work on your Spanish when you're on the go.
  

• Free updates and no monthly fees: It's a one-off purchase — There are no ongoing charges. All future updates are also free. Basically you pay for it once, and you've got it for life.
  
  
• There is a 60-day money-back guarantee. This is the real clincher for me. You can buy it, try it, and if you don't think it'll work for you — get a full refund. Because it's an online course, you don't even need to pay for return postage.