Rocket Portuguese Review: Is It The Best Portuguese App?
Kelsey Wetherbee
Published on May 31, 2022
Good introduction to Portuguese, but not enough content to justify the price
Rocket Portuguese is a good way to start learning Portuguese. The lessons are easy to follow and understand. But unlike many of the other Rocket courses, there is only one level available that takes you from beginner to intermediate, so learners that are already intermediate or advanced won’t benefit from this course.
PROS
- Course layout is easy to follow
- Lifetime access
- Many practice activities
CONS
- Less developed than other Rocket Language courses
- Repetitive lessons
- Expensive
Table of Contents
Rocket Portuguese Overview Rocket Portuguese Price Rocket Portuguese Review: How It Can (or Can’t) Help You- Challenge 1: Beginning a New Language
- Challenge 2: Learning & Remembering New Words
- Challenge 3: Understanding & Speaking to Native Speakers
- Challenge 4: Making Language Learning a Routine
- Rocket Portuguese vs Rosetta Stone
- Rocket Portuguese vs Busuu
- Rocket Portuguese vs FluentU
- Rocket Portuguese vs Babbel
Rocket Portuguese Overview
Rocket Portuguese is one of the language courses developed by Rocket Languages. It teaches Brazilian Portuguese, not European Portuguese. Most of the lessons are audio-based and teach important vocabulary and grammar topics. An English speaker directs the lessons, and a native speaker says the words and phrases in Portuguese. There are also written lessons that explain the grammar topics and a Survival Kit that teaches essential vocabulary.
Since there is only one level available on Rocket Portuguese, it’s only suitable for beginners. There is no advanced content available. But, I do think it’s an effective way for beginners to start learning Portuguese. The lessons thoroughly explain everything and the Survival Kit is useful for learning some basic vocabulary if you have an upcoming trip to Brazil or Portugal. However, the price is quite steep for what’s included.
Rocket Portuguese Price
Rocket Portuguese is different from other apps because you have to buy the entire course, not pay a monthly subscription. Since there is only one level for Portuguese, it costs $149.95. There is the option to pay with a 6-month payment plan, which costs $27.00 per month for a total of $162.00.
The one-time payment makes the course seem expensive, but Rocket offers tons of discounts that make the price a better deal. For example, with the EARLY BIRD coupon code, you can save 40% and pay $89.95. The good news is that you have lifetime access to the course, and you’ll never have to pay again.
Let’s see how this compares to other popular apps. At the time of writing this article, you can access Babbel for 10 months or Busuu for 15 months for the price of Rocket Portuguese. Other apps with inexpensive monthly subscriptions are MosaLingua, Memrise, and Lingodeer. There are even apps with free content like Duolingo and Clozemaster.
Rocket Portuguese Free Trial
Rocket Portuguese has a 7-day free trial that you can sign up for by entering an email address and password. You don’t have to enter any credit card information. The free trial gives you access to 3 audio lessons and 3 Language & Culture lessons, including the practice activities associated with each lesson.
Rocket Portuguese Discount
Rocket Languages frequently offers discounts for their courses. When I created my account, I was offered a ROCKETDEAL discount code, and then I was offered an EARLYBIRD discount code. Since Rocket Languages constantly offers discounts, there’s no need to pay full price.
Rocket Portuguese Review: How It Can (or Can’t) Help You
It was very easy to create my account and start learning with Rocket Portuguese. Since there’s only one level, there are no placement tests. Once I logged in, all the lessons were laid out in a clear, logical order. You start with Module 1 and work your way through all 8 modules, although you have the option to skip around if you want.
Since there are very few other resources included, it’s easy to see what to do next. After taking the first few lessons, I recommend jumping ahead to the Survival Kit at the end of the course because it teaches some useful vocabulary topics, such as colors, numbers, and days of the week. This section is especially helpful if you have an upcoming trip and only have a short amount of time to learn some basic Portuguese.
Once I signed up, I was ready to start learning! I have a beginner level in Portuguese, so Rocket Portuguese was a good choice for me to start with. Portuguese is a fairly easy language to learn, especially if you already know a similar language such as Spanish or Italian, but of course, learning any language has its difficulties. There are often common challenges that language learners face, such as knowing where to start and learning new vocabulary. Let’s take a look to see if Rocket Portuguese is up to these challenges!
Challenge 1: Beginning a New Language
Rocket Portuguese is specifically geared towards beginners so it is a good tool to help you start learning Portuguese. The lessons start from the very beginning, teaching phrases like “Hello, how are you?” and “My name is____.” I thought the lessons were easy to follow because everything was explained in English. You can also follow along with the written transcript so you can see how the words are spelled.
Challenge 2: Learning & Remembering New Words
Rocket has a big focus on vocabulary. Every lesson has a set of flashcards with words and phrases from the lesson. There are different practice activities to help you memorize the words. First, you practice with a standard flashcard deck. There are also practice activities where you can hear the words, speak the words, and write them. After completing all the practice activities that came with the lesson, I thought I had the words down pat!
Challenge 3: Understanding & Speaking to Native Speakers
Rocket Portuguese uses a specific method designed to help you understand and speak. During the lessons, you are prompted to repeat after the native speaker and copy their pronunciation. There are also dialogues between the two speakers, so you can hear what a real conversation sounds like.
I liked the dialogue practice activities. You can play along as one of the speakers and practice the dialogue as if you were speaking to a real person. Of course, it’s not as good as talking with a real person, but it’s one of the better solutions I’ve seen from language learning apps.
Challenge 4: Making Language Learning a Routine
Rocket Portuguese makes learning easy, but in the end, you are responsible for your own progress. They don’t use many games or features to motivate you to keep learning, but there is a leaderboard and points you can accumulate to encourage you to learn regularly. You can also take lessons on the online platform or on a mobile device to accommodate your learning style.
Rocket Portuguese Review: Overall Learning Experience
I thought Rocket Portuguese was a good introduction to learning Portuguese. The lessons are easy to follow and everything is explained. The practice activities helped to reinforce the vocabulary I heard during the lesson. I completed all the activities for each lesson, and they started to feel a little repetitive, but hopefully, that means I’ll remember the words as I progress through the course.
I appreciated that the grammar lessons were written, and not audio lessons. I’m a visual learner, so it helped me to see the rules written down and read the examples. There are also practice exercises associated with the grammar lessons to help you reinforce what you learned. Rocket also includes some cultural tips with each lesson. They don’t provide much help to learn the language, but they are interesting to read.
The Survival Kit was also useful. It was a great place to start building my Portuguese vocabulary, and if I had an upcoming trip to Brazil, I would start with the Survival Kit to quickly learn some important words and phrases.
Rocket Portuguese Review: Areas of Improvement
My biggest complaint about Rocket Portuguese is the expensive price for not a lot of content. Although you get lifetime access to the course, the price is pretty steep for one level that only teaches beginning Portuguese. Other apps like PortuguesePod101 and Duolingo offer a lot more content and will help you reach a more advanced level. There are also other apps like LingoDeer and Mondly that offer inexpensive monthly subscriptions.
The lessons are also a little long and the activities are repetitive. For example, the first lesson is 10 minutes long to learn how to say “Hello, how are you?” “I’m well, thank you.” In general, I prefer shorter lessons that can be completed quickly and on the go such as Rosetta Stone or Babbel.
Rocket Portuguese Review: Alternatives & Competitors
If you think Rocket Portuguese isn’t the right choice for you, there are many alternatives available. Both Babbel and Rosetta Stone have more developed courses than Rocket. If you don’t like the idea of paying for the whole level upfront, apps like Mondly, Busuu, and MosaLingua offer inexpensive monthly subscriptions. Duolingo and Clozemaster are free apps. If you want to focus on learning Portuguese vocabulary, I like Drops and Memrise.
Rocket Portuguese vs Rosetta Stone
Rocket Portuguese has detailed audio lessons that explain concepts in English. Rosetta Stone uses shorter lessons that are entirely in Portuguese. Rosetta Stone offers a cheaper monthly subscription, and for slightly more than the price of one level of Rocket Portuguese, you can get lifetime access to all languages available on Rosetta Stone. I prefer Rosetta Stone because I like the immersive experience of having the lesson only in Portuguese and there is more content available. You can read more about Rosetta Stone in this review to see if it’s a good choice for you, or try it for free by clicking the button below.
Rocket Portuguese vs Busuu
Rocket Portuguese and Busuu offer audio lessons that feature native speakers. Rocket’s lessons are longer and include a lot of explanation, but Busuu uses short audio clips followed by questions to test if you understood what you heard. Busuu is the cheaper choice because there is a monthly subscription, and you can get access to all the languages available. I prefer Busuu because it uses a variety of activities in the lessons, including video, audio, multiple-choice, and more. If you are interested in Busuu, you can read more about it in this review or try it for free by clicking the button below.
Rocket Portuguese vs FluentU
FluentU also uses audio clips of native speakers to help you improve your listening skills. FluentU has short lessons, less than one minute of audio, and then you complete a small quiz. But Rocket Portuguese has longer lessons that last 15-40 minutes. FluentU offers a monthly subscription, but it’s one of the most expensive out there. For the entire price of Rocket Portuguese, you can access FluentU for about 5 months. In this matchup, I prefer Rocket Portuguese because it has dialogues between two people. If you want to learn more about FluentU, you can read this review or try it for free by clicking the button below.
Rocket Portuguese vs Babbel
Both Rocket Portuguese and Babbel teach beginning Portuguese until an intermediate level. They use different lesson styles. Rocket Portuguese has longer lessons that you listen to, and Babbel uses short interactive lessons. With Babbel, you pay by the month. You can access Babbel for 10 months for about the same price as the Rocket Portuguese course. Since both courses are fairly short, and if you have a regular study routine, you could finish the course in less than 10 months, making Babbel the cheaper option. If you are interested in Babbel, you can read more about it in this review, or try it for free by clicking the button below.
Frequently Asked Questions
Rocket Portuguese is good, but it may not be the best option. The lessons that Rocket Languages have developed are useful, but there is not a lot of content and you will only reach a low-intermediate level by completing the course. There are other alternatives that have much more content and resources for a cheaper price.
Rocket Portuguese teaches Brazilian Portuguese, not European Portuguese.
Rocket Portueguese costs $149.95. There is the option to pay with a 6-month payment plan, which costs $27.00 per month for a total of $162.00. The price includes lifetime access to the one level available in the course.
In my opinion, Rosetta Stone is a better choice. Its lessons are more interactive and can be completed quickly. I also prefer the monthly payment option that Rosetta Stone offers over the one-time payment for Rocket Portuguese.
About This Rocket Portuguese Review
This is an independent Rocket Portuguese review, and the company has not sponsored this article. To write this review, I signed up for a free trial of 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.
