If you are looking for a real and honest Rocket Italian Review, you are in the right place.
We tested this Italian online course for you, and we will try to give you the most exhaustive and fair opinion possible.
Last Update on 15 March 2021
Overview of 2021 Update
We update our Rocket Italian review with the latest news of the 2021 edition.
The brand new version for desktops and browsers has mainly involved an essential update of the graphics and the user interface. The graphics are clean and modern and much more mobile-friendly. As you can see in this picture down here.
By comparison, the old graphics look really old, don’t they? So that’s really a great breath of fresh air that will surely help to improve the learning experience.
This edition is the result of a year-long project that involved updating courses’ user interface, functionality, and code base – all with a view to improving your learning experience.
The excellent news for the Italian edition, according to our test and the first user reviews, are:
- Rocket Italian Level 1 has been updated with brand new language and culture lessons.
- Improvement in voice recognition
- Fresher graphics
Why Rocket Italian
When visiting a foreign country, as a tourist, student, or worker, it is certainly a plus to know its language. Not only you can better understand its culture and history, but it is also easier to order at a restaurant or move around.
Rocket Italian is one of the most celebrated courses to learn Italian.
They’ve been out there for more than 15 years, helping thousands of people learn a new language. Not only do they teach, but dozens of languages from around the world, English, French, Spanish, but also Korean, Japanese, Arabic, and Mandarin.
Why trust our Rocket Italian review?
We’ve asked their team for full access to their course, with the promise of a genuine and accurate Rocket Italian review.
The plus of our review is that it is made by real Italians.
We know the language and can give you a reliable judgement. For example:on the accuracy of pronunciation and grammar.
We’ve gone through the course with an unbiased eye trying to find out all the pros and cons.
Rocket Italian Review. Start here!
Rocket Italian offers three different packages and pricing options:
Level 1 takes from beginner to intermediate
Level 1 & 2 takes from beginner to a very good conversational level
Level 1, 2 & 3 takes from beginner to an advanced a conversational level
There is quite a big difference among these 3 options, for example, in terms of hours of lesson time (from 132 to 366), Interactive Audio lessons (from 33 to 95), and phrases with voice recognition (from 2240 to 6868).
The price is affordable, and usually, there are many offers. You can find the starting level at less than 100 bucks and the advanced, at around $260 for lifetime access to the course.
If you are serious about learning Italian online, you should buy the intermediate or advanced package as this gives you the best value for money.
Also, if you like, you can sign up for a free trial, so you can follow along with the points in this review.
Italian Rocket Review Let’s Check it Out
If you have bought all three levels of the course, when you open your dashboard, you will find on the left the various levels to choose from. Down below, you can also see your progress. That’s very motivating.
Each level is divided into three main types of lessons:
- Interactive Audio Lessons
- Language & Culture Lessons
- Survival Kit Lessons
Interactive Audio Lessons are theme-based, as you can see from the screenshot here below (e.g. Taxi, Hotel, Football, Food…)
In these lessons, you always have two speakers, which is the most interesting part of the class.
One of the two voices is always a native English speaker who knows Italian very well. The other presenter is a native Italian speaker who has years of experience in teaching Italian to foreign students (not only online). They are always a balance of a male and female voices, and the style of the lesson is informal and full of humor.
In the first part of the audio lessons, they talk together both in Italian and English and introduce you to the subject of the lesson, teaching you new words and sentences.
You can always listen to the audio and and follow along with the subtitles. If you need to listen offline you can also download the audio .mp3 file!
Here all you have to do is listen to the audio and follow the Italian pronunciation.
Then in the second part, it’s your turn.
Here we find one of the most exciting tools of the whole course.
The activity is called Play it! You have to choose a character to play. And then you have to repeat the sentences aloud.
The Rocket Italian voice recognition tool
This is a tool that we enjoyed and tested a lot to give you an honest review.
This tool allows you to listen to a word or phrase and then record it with your voice. Immediately the tool gives you feedback on your pronunciation by displaying what it understood from your pronunciation.
Since we are native Italian speakers, our pronunciation can only be perfect, so we have tested the tool in various ways:
Pronouncing the words in perfect Italian (achievement 100%)
Pronouncing words simulating an English accent (achievement around 50%)
By deliberately pronouncing words in a wrong way (achievement around 30%)
IMPORTANT!
There is an option (a wheel in the top left navigation bar) to choose the Rocket Record Difficulty level for voice recognition. We do not advise you to set it to Easy because, in this case, even if the pronunciation is very wrong, the tool will give you a 100% correct result.
If you want to obtain real and reliable results, you have to set it to Hard.
So we can say that the tool (in hard mode) works and it is absolutely worth using!
This system is based on the Google Web Speech API, and for desktop / PC, we recommend using a headset with microphone to get better results. Rocket Languages Android or iOS app, which uses a different system, generally doesn’t require a headset as the microphones are better designed. You can also try the Medium mode, but we think it is not worth using the Easy mode.
Of course, you can still practice with a native speaker, if you have an Italian friend. But if you use this tool appropriately, you can improve your pronunciation to perfection by monitoring your progress.
USEFUL TIP!
Don’t be shy, and repeat each Italian word aloud! This is a must to acquire a proper pronunciation!
Rocket Reinforcement activities
At the end of each lesson, you can find the Rocket Reinforcement activities, which are significantly improved and much easier to use.
There are Quizzes, Translation, Writing, and Listening comprehension exercises.
We really appreciated the “Write it” section, where they added the Italian accented characters. They are fundamental to write a word correctly because the accent can completely change its meaning.For example, in the test here below, you have to write the word “sì (yes)” with an accented “ì.”
Language and Culture Lessons
These lessons are focused on Italian grammar and culture.
They are very useful to learn the rules of grammar and also the idioms or customs of the Italian tradition. You will find things like
- Christmas vocabulary
- Weight and Measurement (that are different from the UK and USA)
- Polite phrases
- Food vocabulary
All the lessons are amusing and absorbing, both from a language and cultural point of view.
Surely you will not be bored; indeed, you will learn and have fun, almost without realizing that you are studying.
The contents are vibrant and engaging, and there is great attention to every detail. We are really amazed by how this section is structured and how it integrates perfectly with the various study modules. If you follow this course carefully and with dedication, you will learn how Italian works even better than Italians.
In particular, we enjoyed the large number of audio examples with the correct pronunciation of each word and the possibility to test each one of them with your voice.
Rocket Italian Online, APP and Download
Another strong point of the Italian rocket is the fact that you can use it on different platforms.
- via desktop (on MAC or PC)
- via the free app (for iOS and Android)
There is no software to install, and all the options are free and included in the price you pay. Even the app!
The app is handy, and worth it! You will have complete access to the course wherever you are. And the voice recognition tool works perfectly as well.
And if you have problems working online, you can always download the lessons. You will have MP3s and PDFs to study offline.
For example, we have made great use of their 30-minute lessons during our commute on public transport. You can both stream the lesson or download it for offline use.
Rocket Italian Pros and Cons
What we like about Rocket Languages is that their method is practical and easy to follow. There are not heavy grammar instructions. You can start speaking straight away. This is very challenging and exciting. You start to learn something as if you were in direct contact with your teachers.
You will learn Italian with context and don’t get caught up in all the rules and grammar. That’s much better and much more effective.
The other thing we appreciated a lot is that you have all the tools and lessons available from the beginning. You do not have to follow an order to unlock the next lesson. You can jump from one topic to another, depending on what you are interested in or need at that time.
PRO and CONS of Our Rocket Italian Review
PROS
- They have over 15 years of experience and use the most successful language learning methods and research. They are indeed the market leader.
- They regularly update and improve their courses taking into account feedback and suggestions by members
- Their presenters are Italian native speakers with perfect knowledge of the Italian language and culture
- Their average rating is 4.7 over 3300 reviews!
- They offer 24/7 forum and email support
- PC Mag named them “Editor’s Choice” over respectable competitors such as Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur, Fluenz, and Duolingo.
- You can study at your own pace, wherever and whenever you prefer. Even if you have only 5 minutes available some lessons and exercises will suit your needs
- You can study from your computer, or mobile device.
- They offer a free trial (without asking for a credit card) and a 60-day money-back guarantee.
CONS
- There are no video lessons, but in our opinion, it’s not that relevant. If you want to see someone who speaks Italian we suggest you watch an Italian movie with subtitles (by Fellini or your favorite Italian director). It will also allow you to test your progress in listening comprehension.
- If you go for the full course, there are a lot of lessons, so it can be challenging and time-consuming. After all, you can’t learn a language fluently in just a few days. You must be well organized and committed
- It’s only online (not available in stores)
Rocket Italian Sales and Refund
As we mentioned before, you can choose among three packages, and the price is absolutely affordable considering what you get.
You can usually find the starting level at less than 100 bucks and the advanced, at around $260. But you can save a lot of money taking advantage of our unique discount code!
They always have many offers and discount options.
The complete Rocket Italian Levels 1, 2 & 3 package is for sure the best value for money option if you are serious about learning Italian.
You will have three times as many tools as Rocket Italian Level 1, but the price will be just over double.
Rocket Italian refund policy is very fair. You can get a full refund within 60 days from your purchase. We think that 2 months is a very reasonable time to figure out if this is the course for you. But we’re sure it will be if you really want to learn our beautiful language.
And from what we’ve heard, Rocket Italian refund rate is very low.
There is also an additional product, called Rocket Italian Travelogues.
This is an optional extra, and is for for intermediate to advanced learners, and for foreign tourists planning to visit Italy.
It is a series of travel-based lessons aimed at bettering your understanding of spoken Italian. We believe that this can be very useful if you are planning to visit Italy, but if you are a beginner, make sure you start from level 1 and build up your skills first.
Rocket Italian Extra tools
Here are some extra features that we want to emphasize
My Vocab tool
Besides voice recognition, this is the tool we enjoyed most. You can highlight a word in any lessons and by right-clicking on the mouse, you can add it to your vocabulary. In some cases, you can even listen to it and test your pronunciation with the voice recognition tool.
Gamification
On your dashboard, you can follow your daily progress. It is a straightforward feature, but we found it very motivating. You can also compete with other members and see how you rank against others.
Is Rocket Italian suitable for you?
Are you a student, a tourist, or do you work with an Italian company? Do you think that learning Italian can help you find a new job in Italy or in your own country?
If you are looking for a course that will allow you, of course, with commitment and dedication, to learn Italian fluently, then Rocket Italian is undoubtedly the perfect course for you.
You will learn Italian, having fun in the process and you will love their interactive lessons.
Lessons are approx 20/30 minutes long so it is not a big daily commitment, and if you have time, you can also do more than one lesson a day. You can manage the progress in total autonomy and from the place you prefer. Everything is online, but you can also download what you need and listen to it, for example, while you’re commuting to work.
Having both audio and written materials is also suitable for all learning styles.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a visual learner or if you prefer to listen. You have both options.
Although we already know the language, we were curious to try all the topics, and we couldn’t wait to move on to the next one.
And after doing this review, we decided to buy the course in French to improve our knowledge of this language that we had studied in middle school.
September 2020 Update The brand-spanking-new 2021 Edition Now Available! Discover it now! As the Rocket team explained it’s a year-long project that involved updating courses’ user interface, functionality, and code base – all with a view to improving users’ learning experience
Rocket Italian Review Conclusions
In our opinion, Rocket Italian offers the best value for money.
It is, without a doubt, one of the best tools available to learn Italian online.
They offer 24/7 forum and email support, a free trial (without asking any credit card), and a 60-day money-back guarantee.
You have no excuse not to try it right away!
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