Rocket German Review: What You REALLY Need To Know
Kelsey Wetherbee
Published on May 24, 2022
Interesting way to learn German for beginners
Rocket German is one of the 14 courses offered by Rocket Languages. There are 3 levels that take you from beginner to an intermediate level. The audio-style lessons are interesting and teach culture and other important topics related to the German language. But advanced learners won’t benefit much from this course.
PROS
- Native speakers teach the lessons
- Many vocabulary practices
- Focus on culture and how it affects the language
CONS
- Lots of English spoken during the lessons
- Practice exercises are repetitive
- Lessons take a long time
Table of Contents
Rocket German Overview
Rocket German is one of the 14 language courses offered by Rocket Languages. There are 3 levels that will help you go from absolute beginner to an intermediate level. The focus on culture in the lessons is interesting and is helpful to understand more about the German language. There isn’t a lot of additional practice material outside of the lessons, but each lesson contains quite a few practice activities.
Rocket German is best for beginners. The detailed explanations are helpful to understand what you are hearing, without being too overwhelming. There are also many exercises so you can practice what you learned in the lesson. Rocket isn’t as good for advanced levels because they rely too much on English and don’t have much practice for difficult grammar topics.
Rocket German Price
Rocket German doesn’t have a monthly subscription like most apps. You purchase by the level, and there isn’t a discount for buying multiple levels together. By itself, level 1 costs $149.95. If you buy levels 1& 2 together it costs $299.90. The price of all ll three levels cost $449.85.
Because paying for all the levels at once can be expensive, Rocket offers a 6-month payment plan. There is also a 60-day, money back guarantee. If you aren’t happy you can request a full refund before the 60 days are over.
Rocket’s price is on the higher end compared to other language apps. Another app that charges by the level, not monthly, is Pimsleur. If you are looking for an app with a lower monthly subscription rate, Lingodeer and MosaLingua have some of the cheapest subscriptions available. There are even some apps like Duolingo and GermanPod101 that offer content for free.
Rocket German Free Trial
Rocket German offers a free trial you can use for 7 days without paying or entering credit card information. The trial is limited and doesn’t give you access to all the lessons. With the trial, you can access the first 6 lessons of level 1, but only 2 lessons in levels 2 & 3.
Rocket German Discount
Rocket German offers many discounts of varying amounts. You will be offered a discount when you sign up and then at different points throughout the free trial so no need to pay full price.
Rocket German Review: How It Can (or Can’t) Help You
Getting started on Rocket German is very easy. All you have to do is enter your email address and choose a password. There isn’t a language placement test. The course is easy to follow and progresses in a logical order. Signing up is simple, but learning the language can be difficult. Let’s take a look at some common language learning difficulties to see if Rocket German can help with them.
Challenge 1: Beginning a New Language
Rocket German is a good choice if you are beginning to learn German. The audio-style lessons give clear explanations that are easy to understand. Rocket recommends that you listen to each lesson twice to really learn the information. When you continue to the next lesson, they review what you learned in the previous one to help reinforce it.
Challenge 2: Learning & Remembering New Words
Rocket does a decent job of incorporating vocabulary. Every lesson has anywhere from 20-60 flashcards that are words and phrases that they taught during the lesson. There are many ways to practice them. You can use flashcards, listen to them, write them, and take a quiz.
The second and third levels don’t teach vocabulary the traditional way. They use longer phrases and teach the vocabulary in the context of sentences, not just a single word. It’s a good way to learn vocabulary, but I prefer a more interactive style of learning words with apps like Drops or Memrise.
Challenge 3: Understanding & Speaking to Native Speakers
Rocket German can be a good way to understand native speakers. Each lesson is hosted by an English speaker along with 2 German speakers that do the dialogues. They speak clearly and break down the dialogues so you can understand exactly what they are saying.
Practicing speaking with an app is never as good as speaking with an actual person, but Rocket tries to include opportunities to speak. Rocket German uses the listen-and-repeat method. You hear a word or phrase spoken by one of the German hosts, and then you repeat it back. There is also an additional dialogue speaking practice that lets you play along as one of the German speakers so you are having a mini conversation.
Challenge 4: Making Language Learning a Routine
It’s easy to learn with Rocket. The lessons are set up so you could do one complete lesson a few times a week. There aren’t many gaming features that a lot of apps like Duolingo use to get you hooked. But there are leaderboards and daily goals that help motivate you and encourage you to keep learning.
Rocket German Review: Overall Learning Experience
In general, I liked using Rocket German. The lessons were easy to follow and after I listened to the lesson and completed all the practices, I felt like I knew the vocabulary well. They also have some grammar lessons which give written explanations and examples of difficult grammar topics. I am more of a visual learner so I liked that the grammar explanations were written out and not just spoken in an audio lesson. This helped me to understand it better.
I also like the cultural aspect that they bring into the lessons. First, they use real people to voice the dialogues and they are native German speakers. They also have pictures of the places that they are talking about. The grammar lessons include interesting cultural topics such as unique phrases and the difference between formal/informal language.
Rocket German Review: Areas of Improvement
As with any app, some areas could be improved. Rocket says that the three levels of the course correspond to beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, but I don’t think that’s the case. In my opinion, Rocket will only get you to an intermediate level. Other apps, such as Babbel, have more content for advanced learners.
There is also a lot of English spoken. This makes sense in the first and second levels or I would probably be lost. But even the third level still uses a lot of English. By the time I got to this level, I would like to be more immersed in the language, even if I didn’t understanding every single word.
There were many ways to practice vocabulary in each lesson, but each lesson is independent of the next and there aren’t any additional tools to help you review what you learned after you complete the lesson. Of course, you can always go back and listen to the lesson again, but I like apps such as Mondly or MosaLingua that used spaced repetition and bring up the words again before I forget them.
Rocket German Review: Alternatives & Competitors
If you don’t think that Rocket German is the best choice for you, there are many alternative apps available. Similar language courses include Babbel, GermanPod101, and Pimsleur. If the Rocket lessons are too long, you can try an app with shorter, flashcard-style lessons like Lingodeer or Mondly. Since Rocket doesn’t have much speaking practice, you could use a site like Preply or italki to take classes with native German teachers.
Rocket German vs Lingodeer
Lingodeer uses short, vocabulary-based lessons, whereas Rocket German has longer, more in-depth lessons. Because Lingodeer offers a monthly subscription, it is the cheaper option. I like Lingodeer because it’s fun and quick and uses cute animations. But if I needed to learn German for work or a test, I would use Rocket German because it gives more explanations and practice. If you are interested in Lingodeer, you can read more about it in this review.
Rocket German vs Babbel
Babbel is a good alternative to Rocket German because it also offers a very developed course to learn German. Babbel’s lessons are quicker and more interactive. Because Babbel offers an inexpensive monthly subscription, it is a better option for people who don’t want to pay a large amount up-front. Babbel is the better choice, especially for intermediate and advanced users. If you think Babbel might be right for you, you can read more about it in this Babbel review.
Rocket German vs Pimsleur
Pimsleur and Rocket German are similar because they both feature a conversation/dialogue between native speakers in each lesson. Pimsleur has a much stronger focus on pronunciation and helps you learn how to speak correctly. But Rocket is good because it focuses more on the conversation. Pimsleur offers a monthly subscription which makes it cheaper, but I think that Rocket German is the better choice. If you are interested in Pimsleur, you can read more about it here.
Rocket German vs Mondly
Mondly is another app that is good for beginners. Unlike Rocket German, it focuses on the use of technology like artificial intelligence and spaced repition. It has short, quick lessons so you could easily do a few every day. Mondly is cheaper on a monthly basis and is one of the least expensive apps available. I like Mondly, but I think Rocket German is better for having a deeper understanding of the language. If you are interested in Mondly, you can read more about it in this review.
Frequently Asked Questions
Rocket German is a language learning course developed by Rocket Languages. It uses audio lessons to teach German vocabulary and grammar. There is also a strong emphasis culture in the lessons.
Yes, Rocket German is an excellent way to start learning German. The course is very developed and follows a clear path to help you learn. There aren’t many additional tools, but the lessons are comprehensive.
Rocket German has 3 levels that you can buy separately or combine. By itself, level 1 costs $149.95. If you buy levels 1& 2 together it costs $299.90. The price of all ll three levels cost $449.85.
Rocket German is excellent for beginner and intermediate learners but won’t make you fluent. There are 3 levels available, and if you complete all 3 levels of Rocket German, you might reach an intermediate level.
About This Rocket German Review
This is an independent Rocket German review, and the company has not sponsored this article. To write this review, I used the free trial to the app and used it for a few hours to thoroughly test its content and features. I also found additional information on the Rocket Languages website to verify my findings.
Table of Contents
Rocket German Overview Price & Subscriptions Getting Started Learning Experience Alternatives FAQ