RocketFrenchReview.com

Rocket French changed when they added an audio course to the whole package a while ago.

I think this makes the course vastly superior to the previous version which only allowed you to click on a word or sentence to hear the pronunciation.

The new course is 31 lessons of about 20-30 minutes in length.

The basic format of each lesson is a scene involving the narrator of the course and his native French speaking friend.

So for example, they might be in a restaurant and they would have a conversation revolving around things you might say at the restaurant.

After the conversation the lesson would work through the conversation explaining points of grammar, vocabulary and, most importantly, pronunciation.

The narrator is an English speaking person and he will guide the teaching and explain concepts and meaning of French words.

The native French speaker speaks all the French conversations. She will say a sentence and then say each of the words or pronunciation chunks separately so that the listener can repeat the pronunciation after her.

I found this really useful to get good pronunciation and reminded me of the Pimsleur course which uses the same sort of method for pronunciation.

The native French speaker generally says all the sentences once and then pauses allowing the listener to say the sentence out loud. They stress that you have to speak the words out loud to get the pronunciation right.

At the end of each lesson the narrator recaps the points of the lesson. They will run through the conversation again and then he will ask a few questions that try to incorporate what you have just learned into what you learned in previous lessons.

The interactive part of the audio lessons involves speaking the sentences and pronunciation chunks after the native speaker and answering the questions that the narrator might ask. If the narrator asks a question, there will be a pause that allows you to answer, then the native French speaker will give the correct answer.

As I say, I think the audio course, in conjunction with the games, e-book course and flash cards makes the Rocket French course good value for money. It will definitely help you to learn French or improve your French if you have a basic understanding. I think the audio will give you more confidence to speak to real French people, which is half the battle when it comes to becoming fluent in a new language.

For a review of the other components of the Rocket French course see my Rocket French Review .

Go to the Rocket French website for more information.

What is Rocket French ?

Rocket French is a French learning course. Unlike many other French learning products, it can be downloaded over the Internet. It took me about 30 minutes to download it with a broadband connection. The Rocket French site has a provision for dial-up Internet but I believe this would take longer to download. (There is also a provision to buy the course as a hardcopy but it is considerably more expensive than the downloaded version)

What level is Rocket French ?

The courses caters for people new to learning French. It aims to take beginners, through intermediate levels, to an advanced knowledge of the French language.

How does it teach French ?

The course comprises 45 lessons.

The first 25 lessons deal with the basics of the French language

The next 10 lessons are intermediate level and build on the technical aspects of the language.

The last 10 lessons are practical and feature real life conversations. The student can put the previous 35 lessons into practice in these lessons.

Each lesson can take between 30 minutes to 1.5 hours, depending on the skill level of the student and the knowledge of the topic being covered.

How is a lesson taught ?

The topics of the lesson are introduced along with any new French words. The student will read through the introduction. Any French words can be clicked on and the audio for the word will be heard. The audio takes the following format : first, the English equivalent is spoken, then the French. Then there is a pause and the French is spoken again. This gives the student a chance to speak the French and practice what he/she is learning.

More examples will be given of the topic and examples of how it is used.

A variety of written and multiple choice type exercises end the lesson.

The Random button can be pushed at any time and a French sentence or word from the current lesson will be spoken. This can allow the student to practice conversation and comprehension for this particular lesson.

Any other teaching methods used ?

There are three games that are used to teach :

Megavocab - vocabulary recognition, match one of 6 pictures to a word picked at random by the software
Megaverbs - verb conjugation, conjugate a verb in the correct person and tense. There are 20 questions within each game and the software can select any verbs it has in the system.
MegaAudio – comprehension, listen to audio of a word or sentence and guess which of the 4 pictures represent the audio.

These games are useful to consolidate the knowledge learned in the lessons or as a warm up exercise before the lessons begin.

Flash cards are provided :

310 beginner flash cards
216 advanced flash cards

What is good about the course ?

The course builds from beginner to advanced. It will give the student a complete grasp of the French Language at the end of the course.

The verb conjugation games is useful, as learning the forms of the verbs is potentially very tedious and boring. The game can alleviate this boredom.

Random button is good for adding a bit of spontaneity to the lesson. This is useful if you have done the lesson more than once and need to freshen it up a little.

What is bad about the course ?

The pictures in the megavocab are a bit misleading at times which makes guessing the correct words difficult.

You can only improve your pronunciation by listening and repeating the audio, no feedback is given by the software as to how your accent sounds.

Any bonuses ?

If you are still unsure about Rocket French then you can sign up for the free 6 day course. This will give you a taste of the full course and how it is taught.

Once you have bought the course, you will be sent the Rocket French newsletter every fortnight. The newsletter has a new lesson in each issue.

Summary

I think the content and scope of the Rocket French course represents good value. Although it will take some work for a new student to learn French, Rocket French can certainly make this effort easier.
Go to the Rocket French website for more details and testimonials.

The Michel Thomas course is primarily concerned with teaching conversational skills. His approach to teaching is excellent and you leave the course with a sense of confidence that you can speak to people in French.

Rocket French teaches reading, writing, comprehension and conversational skills. There is a large vocabulary set that can be learned through the games and exercises in the lessons. The exercises allow the student to practice writing and the megaverb game allow the student to practise the conjugation endings of verbs.

Michel Thomas course is easy to use, all you need is a cd player. You can listen to the lessons anywhere, however, Michel prefers that you give all your concentration to the lesson so driving a car or other activities are discouraged.

Rocket French can be downloaded from the internet. Broadband internet is best but you can use dial up. Once downloaded the program starts with a main menu. The main menu lists all the lessons available, with descriptions of the topics covered . It also lists the French learning games and the flash cards. All the lessons and games are controlled by the mouse.

Michel Thomas French is aimed a people wanting to learn French quickly. If you are planning a sudden vacation in France or a French speaking country then Michel Thomas is a perfect choice.

Rocket French is aimed at people that want to get a fully rounded French language education. You will spend many hours using the program as an educational tool and as a reference guide for French words and verbs. The games provide a useful distraction when you need a break from the lessons or need to get into the french learning groove. Using the games you can practice verb conjugation, vocabulary recognition and listening/comprehension skills.

If you are interested in more information about Rocket French then visit their site. Try the 6 day free course as it provides a good taster of what the full course is like.

Many French learning products say that you can go from beginner to advanced in 3 months. One such course is Rocket French. Do you believe this or is it just a sales pitch? Many would scoff at the claim. I have learned French and Spanish using a variety of methods over the years. I have gone to classes and used self study courses and wouldn’t describe myself as advanced in 3 months. Having said that I know people that have decided to learn French and become proficient within 3 months.

It seems to depend on 2 qualities that have nothing to do with the method of study that you decide to take. These 2 qualities are your aptitude with languages and your determination to master the new language.

I saw a documentary recently about Daniel Tammet, an autistic savant that had an incredible ability to pick up languages. The gist of the documentary was that many people with autism that have incredible abilities, have often learned and honed these abilities to compensate for abilities that non-autistic people take for granted, like social skills, for example. Tammet proved his ability by learning icelandic in one week, previously, having no knowledge of the language (which is claimed to be one of the hardest languages to learn in the world). At the end of the week he was interviewed on icelandic television and conversed in a relaxed manner to the TV presenter. The presenter was amazed that he had learned icelandic from scratch in one week.

Clearly, he had an aptitude for languages that the average person could only dream of, but each person will have an aptitude for learning a language. This aptitude might be closer to Tammets’ ability or probably less so. It is also claimed that aptitude for languages is greater in young child and this ability decreases as people get older and more conditioned to speak one language.

So how do you know if you have an aptitude to learn languages ? The best way is to try to learn a language an see how it goes. Other than that, you may feel that you have ability with languages because you have learned your native language to a high level. You might feel you have a natural ability to understand and manipulate symbols because you like word games, puzzles and crosswords. You may feel that you enjoy speaking new words or phrases. All these things might suggest you have ability but trying to learn a new language is only way you will ever know.

The second quality that will make your learning faster is a strong desire to learn the language. This is a very personal issue. If you are living in a country where you do not speak the language your desire to learn it will be stronger. You will learn faster because your life will be greatly improved if you do so.

Many people that buy a self study French course or take a class once a week have a vague ambition to learn the language but it is never a strong desire. It’s a ‘like to have’ rather than a ‘need to have’ skill. So the secret, if there is any secret, to learning a new language, for people with average aptitude, is to create a strong desire.

This is hard and you need to remain disciplined. Set goals and don’t allow yourself to be diverted from achieving those goals. You may have to sacrifice other things that you enjoy in your life to achieve these goals. You may have to work long hours. You may have to do things that you can’t see the point of. You have to keep going and keep focused on your goal.

With language learning you could set yourself a grand goal, like visit France next year (or in 3 months!). Within this grand goal, set yourself mini goals like learning the present tense for all -er ending verbs. Stick to these goals, put the effort in for the mini goals and build towards the grand goal. You may have to revise the date you achieve your grand goal but remain focused on reaching it.

Where french courses come into this equation is that they can help you to set your goals. They can motivate you to stick to these goals. And, they can teach you the ‘nuts and bolts’ of how the language works.

Rocket French ticks all three of these boxes.

The Rocket French course can be split into three main sections.

There is the basics section, the intermediate, where subtler aspects of the language are introduced and the advanced, where real life conversations are discussed.

Within each section are a number of exercises. Each exercise covers a topic which you can use as the basis to set your mini goals.

Within the basic section there are 25 lessons or goals for you to attain. The basic section should take you from French novice to an understanding of basic grammar and sentence structures. You will also be able to listen to the words, verbs and sentences spoken by a native French speaker. At the end of each lesson are a series of exercises that help to re-inforce your understanding of the lesson. Success in these exercises should help to keep you focused on attaining your goal and motivate you to continue.

The intermediate section has another 9 lessons that follow the same format. They introduce more verbs and more conplex uses of the verbs including past and future ways to use the verbs.

The advanced section features another 9 lessons. In these lessons, the teaching becomes more practical and actual everyday conversations are discussed and analysed.

So there are 45 lessons in the complete course. If you want to become advanced in French in 3 months that gives you approx. 90 days. If you study one lesson per day you can go through the course twice. I would advise that you concentrate most of your attention on the basics section. This is the ‘nuts and bolts’ of how the French language works. You need to know this section very well or the next sections will be lost on you. I would suggest going through the basic section twice.

Take notes on each lesson and revisit your notes the next time you do the lesson. If you go through the basic section twice, you will have taken 50 days. You should have a firm grasp of French basics at this stage and you can go onto the intermediate and advanced sections.

This leaves 40 days to master the next 20 lessons. Some of the next lessons may only need one visit if you feel you understand the material well. If this is the case you are a day ahead of schedule. You can use this day to work on lessons that you are not so sure about.

Rocket French also have a number of games that help to motivate a student. These include French flash cards that you can print out and play a word or phrase recognition game with. The course also offers a megavocab game where you guess the word based on a picture that is shown on the screen. There is also megaaudio, where you listen to audio and try to march it to one of 4 pictures shown on the screen. The third game is megaverb. This game allows you to practice conjugating your verbs. Verbs appear on the screen and you are asked to conjugate the verb in a particular tense and person. This helps you to remember verb endings. These games are good to warm you up before a lesson begins proper. You can also use them just for fun and re-inforce skills learned in the latest lesson.

You should strive to complete the course in 90 days. If you manage to complete the course you will have an understanding of french to an advanced level. I understand this to mean that you know how the french language works. You can speak to a good degree. This could mean having conversations with people in shops, asking for directions and small talk with acquaintances.

I still believe that you will have to learn a lot of vocabulary to be totally confident of your abilities. You will also have to learn many turns of phrase that French people use or you may lose the thread of the conversation. If you have an ability to comprehend conversations you can always ask what a certain word or phrase means. This helps you to make valid contributions to the conversation and also learn more French as you go.

So what is your next step ? Go to the Rocket French website and see what you think of the product. They give more details of what the course offers. They also have a free 6 day course which gives you a good taster of how the whole course works. Good luck with your studies.

This site deals with learning French using a language course. A self study course can be really useful when you are learning a new language but it can have some disadvantages over other ways to learn a language.

This site will cover some of the major advantages of various learning courses, including Rocket French. It will also highlight the aspects of learning a new language that a typical self study course cannot really help with and it suggests some way to get round these problems.