Brushing Up on Street Art: Futura’s MasterClass Review
Trying to master your spray-can technique or have an interest in abstract art? Find out in review if Futura’s MasterClass is for you.
Rocket Spanish: Our Verdict (2023)
Platform Rating
4.1 / 5
Rocket Spanish is a great online language learning platform for those who want to start learning Spanish or reinforce language skills with a multicultural angle focusing on Latin American culture. The platform provides a good workflow thanks to a balanced combination of language structures and language daily life uses. The addition of historical and cultural information makes the system engaging and useful if the goal is to visit Spanish-speaking countries for the first time.
Pros
- Effective course design
- Good reputation
- More Spanish-speaking cultural diversity
- Useful "survival kit" lessons
- Facilitates cultural adaptation
- Lifetime access option a good value for comprehensive course
Cons
- Lessons might get too repetitive and too focused on memorization
- It is only taught in English
- Lacks more complex writing exercises
Special Labor Day sale from Rocket Languages:
60% off all courses – use code BLACKFRIDAY (expires 24 November 2023)
Share
Table of Contents
Rocket Spanish Review Introduction
Rocket Spanish is an online language course offered by Rocket Languages, one of the most popular platforms for learning new languages in the market. It has been around since 2004, allowing the platform to develop many features and build a strong learning community. Some of Rocket Language’s competitors are Rosetta Stone, Babbel, Duolingo, Busuu, and Mondly.
The structure and length of the courses offered by Rocket Languages vary depending on the languages; some have more modules than others. It currently supports French, Italian, German, Japanese, Chinese (Mandarin), Korean, Russian, Arabic (Egyptian), Hindi, Portuguese (Brazilian), Sign Language (American), English, and Spanish (Latin American).
One of the most distinctive features of Rocket Spanish is the focus given to Latin American Spanish language and cultures, while most other language platforms focus on Spanish from Spain. The course balances the local uses of the language, such as daily life expressions and contextual information from different countries, making it quite a special learning. However, Rocket Spanish is only taught in English, which, although it lacks some immersivity, can provide thorough guidance through the grammar and the description of the language’s local use for the English-speaking audience.
Contents of the course
Rocket Spanish has three learning levels, covering the basics to the most advanced knowledge. Each level comprises 7 to 8 modules, including a survival kit lesson. Besides the learning levels, Rocket Spanish includes a travelogue module where you can find six handy chapters related to traveling and tourism. In total, Rocket Spanish offers 31 learning modules.
Every level corresponds to the following proficiency levels:
- Level 1 to A1-A2. 9 modules that take around 26 hours to complete.
- Level 2 to A2-B1. 8 modules that take some 30 hours to complete.
- Level 3 to B1-B2. 8 modules that take some 25 hours to complete.
- The travelogue module includes six chapters and takes around 7 hours to complete.
Every module has different types of lessons:
- Audio lessons: They allow you to listen to Latin American Spanish speakers, understand some aspects of the grammar and daily use of the language, repeat words and phrases, and ensure good pronunciation and conversational skills.
- Language and Culture lessons: They provide insights into the local cultures and the general structures of the Spanish language. They include valuable knowledge of local history, culture, and traditions.
- Survival kit lessons: including everyday situations and key topics focusing on practical language skills when going to Spanish-speaking countries for the first time.
Combining the different types of modules gives versatility and makes the course alive and not boring at all.
The audio lessons feature a long audio file (of almost half an hour) based on a conversation in Spanish between different people from which the pre-recorded voice of a tutor guides you through new knowledge on grammar, syntax, phonetics, and local language uses. The audio lessons give a good sense of being taught and guided by someone, as the explanations are thorough and clear on the structure of the language and its use in the Latin American cultural context.
After the audio is completed, these are some of the features that complement it:
- Play it!: Here, you can come back to the lesson’s conversation and play any of the characters involved, recording your voice and listening to the conversation again with your own recorded voice. It gives a great feeling of phonetic interchange and comparison of your speaking with local accents and pronunciations.
- Lesson vocabulary: You can see new words and phrases with their corresponding translation.
- Expert tip: some advice and recommendations on how to master the knowledge just learned.
The practice part of every lesson features common ways of practicing what you have just learned. You can compare Spanish words with the English translation through a flashcard system, pronounce, and write them. The end of the session features a quiz with multiple choice that is quite clear to follow.
Besides the audio lessons, the language and culture lessons balance grammar and cultural knowledge well. They give a good sense of how learning a new language relates to understanding other people’s ways of seeing the world and relating to each other. The learning structure is very similar to the ones found in school textbooks, where the author guides the reader through the subjects’ descriptions, examples, and exercises. This type of lesson feels very interactive and dialogic. The lesson features small anecdotes on local history and culture, which, although it gives extended information on the local way of life, is only written in English. This can be a disadvantage since it could be a perfect way to deliver longer written texts in Spanish for the learner to practice reading skills. The practice part of the lesson has the same structure as the audio lesson.
The survival kit lessons can only be accessed through the premium plan. These lessons tackle real-life conversations where communication in the local language is needed. Most sessions address vocabulary from different dimensions of life, such as professions, activities, nature, and animals; different events throughout the year, such as Christmas birthdays; and local life events, such as job applications, social life, emergencies, and love and romance.
The Rocket Spanish course covers listening and speaking skills development well. However, writing is left secondary and does not have a specific type of session like in some other Rocket language courses. Writing is included in the practice part of the lessons to memorize new vocabulary and phrases but not to exercise grammatical structures or daily life writing situations.
Rocket Spanish features the following extra learning and practicing tools:
- A leaderboard where you can compare your overall learning score with other students in Rocket Spanish and even from other languages.
- A benchmark where you can test your Spanish skills.
- A certification you can access through the premium plan.
- You can take notes to register ideas, questions, and new vocabulary to review later.
- Rocket Languages provides a forum with several discussion topics, hundreds of conversations, and comments. It is quite an active forum.
Moreover, the platform allows you to change the tutor audio speed and sort all the lessons by audio lessons, language and culture lessons and survival kit lessons. This gives practicality and accessibility.
Pricing
Rocket Spanish offers the possibility of making one-time payments for lifetime access to learning levels or a 6-month plan. The one-time payment plan can be purchased for all levels 1, 2, and 3 ($179.94 USD), or levels 1, 2 ($119.96 USD), or only the first level ($59.98 USD). All options include all package features, including a 60-day guarantee where you can cancel the purchase and get a refund if you find the course unsatisfactory for any reason and lifetime access where you can return to your account anytime.
What are the pros and cons of Rocket Spanish?
Pros:
- Effective course design: There is a good sense of being tutored and guided. Something that many language learning platforms lack.
- Good reputation: The online learning service has a strong learning community that gives feedback, debate, and propose learning questions in the forum.
- More Spanish-speaking cultural diversity: It extends Spanish language learning to the Latin American context, where you can access more diversity in cultural and grammar traits.
- Useful “survival kit” lessons: The Survival kits provide specific learning on daily life situations, making the learning experience feel accessible and useful.
- Facilitates cultural adaptation: Rocket Spanish offers the right combination of general Spanish grammar and local Latin American cultural knowledge.
Cons:
- Lessons might get too repetitive and too focused on memory.
- It is only taught in English.
- Lacks more complex writing exercises.
What is the correct audience for Rocket Spanish?
Well, this depends on everyone’s needs and interests. However, as a native Spanish speaker from Latin America, I would recommend this course for beginners in the Spanish language who are interested in cultural diversity or intermediate and advanced students who learned Spanish from Spain and who want to extend their knowledge to other Spanish-speaking contexts. The course is also great for people who are going to travel to Latin American countries for the first time for education or business.
My overall review
I found Rocket Spanish quite unique regarding tutoring guidance (with a pre-recorded voice) as it resembles working with textbooks from schools. It thoroughly explains grammar, language use, and local cultural and historical background. This is a good option for those who want to engage with new people in a Spanish-speaking country. There is also a great balance between pricing and the length of the levels, modules, and lessons, making it an affordable learning experience. However, the biggest con is that it lacks complex writing exercises, which is a real disadvantage. Nonetheless, for many people, writing is not as vital as listening and speaking, which makes this course perfect for them.
Special Labor Day sale from Rocket Languages:
60% off all courses – use code BLACKFRIDAY (expires 24 November 2023)
