Rocket Japanese Review

This Review Covers the Rocket Japanese™
Language Learning Course...

When I chose to learn Japanese I knew I had to find a solid course because it had been a while since I had been in the "learning mode." Others had told me that the Japanese language was difficult to learn, so that reinforced my opinion that I had to use the best course on the market.

I analyzed every Japanese language program that I could find available online. After doing so my choice was clear. I would be using the Rocket Japanese™ language course offered by the Rocket Language company.

The Rocket Japanese Website

Rocket has a great reputation and in fact offers seven different langauge courses including Chinese, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese as well as a full-blown course on the American Sign language. The Japanese course was written by Sayaka Matsuura, who is a native Japanese speaker.

The first module contains 31 sessions that will have you speaking basic words after your first session. Initially, the course teaches conversational Japanese which means you will be able to converse with other Japanese speakers in your travels. You will feel real comfortable ordering in restaurants, asking for directions, giving greetings etc.

The package includes the session transcripts of the audios and I found that particularly helpful in following along. Each audio is about 25 minutes long which means the full module is about 14 hours of content. The methods used within this content will allow you to absorb and speak Japanese quickly. The use of audio tracks made the presentation of the material entertaining.

The program also includes software that makes learning very easy, and more importantly, it is fun. The first piece of software is what they call MegaVocab™.

This is a vocabulary recognition tool. I found this very helpful in the beginning. You basically run through a series of words and you learn the words through repetition, and an association with a picture. This really reminded me of the flashcards we all used to use when we were kids, except now I was working with high tech flashcards on my computer.

The software has 1000 words and pictures built into it, but it also allows you to add more words and pictures of your choice as your skills improve.

screenshot of the actual software

screenshot of the actual software

Once I started to learn the vocabulary I went on to the MegaAudio™ software. This phase of the course is where I started to feel confident about all I had learned.

With this software I could listen to words spoken in Japanese and then select the picture that went along with that word. The system provides a score with each exercise so you always know how you are doing. Your score will improve with each session.

I found this software to be a lot of fun to use. It is one thing to learn the vocabulary, but to understand it when spoken is really what is important. In my opinion this is where other programs were weak and where Rocket Japanese excels.

Another very cool aspect of the Rocket Japanese™ program was that it isn't just an introductory course. The course is designed with the assumption that the student has no background in the language when starting. But it continues to an advanced level as well. This meant that I wouldn't have to go out and buy a more advanced course as I progressed with the language. To me, this added extreme value to the course.

Possibly the most impressive part of this course is the members only forum where you can ask questions and communicate with other students and the Rocket Language online instructors. To me, this forum made the cost of this course a real bargain. If you happen to get stuck on something, you will find lots of help in the forum. This was included for free!

It was difficult to even find a home study course of this quality for the Japanese language, but to find one at the price of right at one hundred dollars was a real shocker for me. In fact as I continued to use the material, I became even more impressed with the price. The course I decided on was the downloadable version, but they also have it available on CD's which can be shipped to your home. I chose the downloaded version because it was cheaper. I listened to the program on my computer, burned my own CD's for listening to in the car, and I even loaded audio into my ipod!

To top it all off, the folks at Rocket offer the course with a 60 day, no questions asked, money back guarantee. When I consider the quality of the course work, the software, the forum, the guarantee, and the bargain price, I can only give the Rocket Japanese™ program my highest rating of 5 stars. If you are wanting to learn a second language, I can't think of a better way than by using the Japanese course offered through the Rocket Language company.

I wish you much success with your decision to learn Japanese.

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Our Rating 5/5