This Rocket Japanese review provides an in-depth analysis of the course content, the quality of the language learning materials and a range of other pertinent information you may want to know before parting with your hard earned cash!
The goal of this review is to help you determine whether Rocket Japanese offers the right product for your needs when weighing up the pros and cons of various Japanese courses.
Rocket Japanese |
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Effectiveness | Value for Money |
| 4.0 out of 5.0 stars | 4.0 out of 5.0 stars |
| Highly effective at improving listening skills, reading skills and overall comprehension. | Not the cheapest option but justified pricing based on features and benefits available. |
Ease of Use | Room for improvement |
| 4.0 out of 5.0 stars | 3.0 out of 5.0 stars |
| Simple, modern dashboard designed to be as easy as possible to use. | Would be great to see live tutor option. |
✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
| 👍 No Subscription Fees 👍 Very Good App & Website 👍 Comprehensive Course 👍 Money Back Guarantee | 👎 One-Time Payment Required 👎 You May Require a Language Tutor |
SummaryRocket Japanese is one of the more advanced language learning resources we have come across. Its lesson features, comprehensive courses and culture lessons make it better than the majority of its competitors for beginners and intermediate learners. It is more expensive than many short term because it requires a one-time payment, not a subscription. There is a free trial available for all learners. |
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One-time Payment For Access to Full Course After Trial |
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A Quick Summary of Rocket Japanese
The course provides:
👍 More than 378 hours of interactive lessons
👍 Grammar sheets, exercises, tests, videos and audio lessons
👍 Culture lessons to teach you all about Japanese customs and traditions
In summary, Rocket Japanese is a more balanced online course than most alternatives. While lessons can seem a little repetitive at times, its focus on making you memorize content is highly effective.
The different cultural and social aspects of the Japanese language are described nicely throughout the course, unlike many other online Japanese courses we have tried.
We had great fun reviewing this service and anyone interested in learning Japanese online should trial Rocket Japanese.
Product description: What is Rocket Japanese?
Rocket Japanese is a course created by Rocket Languages, an acclaimed online language learning website. The course teaches numerous aspects of the Japanese language by immersing you into the Japanese culture (as much as possible without being in Japan!)
It does this through language culture lessons, writing skills exercises, speaking exercises (including voice recognition software) and grammar lessons.
Rocket Japanese is ideal for those interested in learning Japanese vocabulary, grammar and literacy, as well as those looking for language culture lessons.
The course helps you not only to speak and understand Japanese words and phrases, but also to experience Japanese as a local, providing a platform from which to use perfect Japanese pronunciation in your everyday life.
How does Rocket Japanese work?
There are 3 Levels from which to choose. The higher the level, the higher the cost and the more content is included.
Each Rocket Japanese Level option comprises:
Lesson time, voice recognition phrases, interactive audio lessons, language and culture lessons, writing lessons and a ‘Bonus’ survival kit.
Each course block comprises 8 key modules, within which there are several lessons, totalling around 24 lessons per block.
The modules grow harder and more complex thus providing a good path from beginning to end. In each of these modular lessons we have four different types: lessons in Japanese. Rocket Japanese is now available from Amazon.com for $99.99.
How much does Rocket Japanese cost?
Now we arrive at the most important question – how much does the course actually cost? Well, the first thing to mention is that Rocket Japanese offers a free trial that you can sign up to in seconds. All you need to enter is your email address.
After the free trial, the cost of the services depends on your current level of Japanese and the level of proficiency you are aiming for.
You can purchase Levels 1, 2 and 3 as a block or separately. Costs start from $99.95 for Level 1, and increase as the content increases in terms of quantity and difficulty.
Level 3 offers the best value for money, given the large volume of content provided. It covers numerous aspects of Japanese grammar, pronunciation and cultural study.
Rocket Japanese writing lessons: Learning Hiragana, Kanji and Katakana
Mastering written Japanese is not easy, and Rocket Japanese is one of the only Rocket Languages courses in which literacy is a major element.
Unlike many European languages, learning to read and write in Japanese is critical if you are planning to spend any reasonable period of time in the country.
The videos within the Literacy Section are clear, easy to follow and informative. Some may prefer a more interactive experience with the use of a teacher. However, learning Hiragana, Kanji and Katakana is pretty straightforward with Rocket Japanese.
Premium level 1 introduces Hiragana and Katakana for a total of 20 lessons. This is ample time to learn the basic characters. Believe us when we say that learning to read and write Hiragana is actually pretty easy.
Japanese Language & Culture Lessons
Rocket Japanese teaches language and culture through the study of Japanese traditions, cultural heritage and history. This includes the study of key Japanese cultural elements, such as Japanese characters, anime or food.
Linguistically, these lessons delve deep into Japanese grammar and provide a platform from which to start to speak Japanese. You can read ‘Rocket Recordings’ and practice these examples out loud, as you would in other Japanese lessons.
We recommend the section called ‘Action Replay’ at the bottom, which summarizes everything covered in the lesson and pushes you to progress towards an advanced conversational level in Japanese.
Rocket Japanese Review: The Latest Features
There are several features within the course that contribute towards the development of language skills. We’ll go through this list now in greater detail.
The Rocket Japanese Saved Vocab Tool & Extrinsic Vocab
The stored vocabulary part of the course provides a useful linguistic glossary of terms and expressions. You can locate these easily in Japanese OR English.
The ability to save vocabulary and go back to it is a characteristic of many online courses. It is a useful feature that you would hope to see in any credible language learning course.
You can put these words or phrases into an inbuilt e-book and practice or save for future review. You can also create automatically generated PDF files from this list.
In addition, there is also a leaderboard page, which is there to inspire you as a student!
Language and Culture Lessons
The language and culture lessons are designed to provide background information about Japan’s culture and lifestyle.
These lessons will focus on a city or region and use these as context to teach Japanese words, grammar, phrases, customs etc.
At a beginner level, the basic goal of these lessons is for you to be able to read signs in public places, such as restaurants or shops, without any trouble.
Survival Kit Lessons & Writing in Japanese
In 2021, Rocket Japanese updated the Writing lessons and Survival Kit lessons in order to match JLPT N5 standards.
If you are an intermediate Japanese learner, you’ll be familiar with the importance of these standards.
This update means that Rocket Japanese Writing lessons now cover Hiragana, Katakana and N5 level Kanji, many of which derive from Chinese characters.
For Kanji lessons, Rocket Languages even incorporated a tool to practice your stroke order and a new reinforcement test called Draw It!
As for the Survival Kit lessons, Rocket Japanese added more relevant topics that form part of the N5 vocabulary list.
This teaching method is incredible valuable as it prepares you for internationally recognised exams, should this be your long term aim.
Other Features within the Rocket Japanese Course
Rocket Reinforcement activities
Like many other language learning courses focusing on the Japanese language, with Rocket Japanese you can use flashcards for improving your vocabulary, with charts highlighting your progress against other learners within a leaderboard and user forum.
This element is called Rocket Reinforcement. Indeed, learning Japanese words, and indeed speaking Japanese, is easier with the Rocket Languages reinforcement activities. You can train yourself by listening to a real Japanese voice.
The flashcards and interactive audio lessons help you to develop cultural and linguistic knowledge, useful even for advanced learners.
Essentially, this tool helps you to learn Japanese vocabulary. You can also access and use a leaderboard on the user forums, and language flashcards or the language training resource to test your understanding of Japanese.
The vocabulary in Japanese with flash cards helps learners understand Japanese.
Speak Japanese with Interactive Audio Lessons
The Rocket Japanese interactive audio lessons are a great way to learn spoken Japanese, despite the fact you’re not the one speaking.
The program teaches you the proper pronunciation through native speakers, which is good because many competitor programs do not focus on pronunciation enough.
The Rocket Japanese audio lessons also focus on helping you to speak (through repetition and speech recognition software) and to understand tones.
There is also an emphasis on understanding how to pronounce Hiragana and Kanji, two of the writing scripts you’ll need to master if you want to learn Japanese.
Take Lessons on the Smartphone app
Rocket Languages have made the course available on mobile app on both the Android and iOS version.
Furthermore, there are no additional costs to use the app, which is easy to use and runs error free.
Whilst learners tend to prefer studying from a desktop, the voice recognition software on the app is actually better.
The Rocket Languages app is updated frequently and we are yet to encounter any bugs in the software.
You will always have up-to-date lessons and reference material
The Rocket Japanese course is constantly improving and expanding. It is frequently and periodically updated with new variations and vocabulary.
Additionally, the course is structured in a way that allows you to progress at your own pace.
It has an intuitive interface and the lessons are broken down into easy-to-understand sections with clear instructions, allowing for maximum efficiency.
You also have personalized feedback from the teacher, which helps improve your pronunciation skills.
You can Learn to Perfect your Japanese pronunciation
Rocket Japanese is able to teach you more than 7240 unique words through its reinforcement activities.
With modern technology and voice recognition system, it gives you the ability to develop a more accurate sound when speaking Japanese.
A huge Amount of Content is included in all Levels
Rockets Japanese includes 378 hours of learning material, including reading, writing, speaking, grammar and culture.
Through this variation, the course provides solid grounding of the language, ideal for complete beginners through to intermediate level learners.
This learning method also avoids repetitiveness and prevents you from becoming bored quickly, which is always a possibility when learning online.
Can you become fluent with the Rocket Japanese Program?
As with any language, cultural immersion is key if you want to master true fluency. Whilst Rocket Japanese does not transport you to Japan, we do believe it provides the next best thing.
One of the best things about this course is that the conversational lessons, which are audio-based, are very interactive. You’re not just reading words on your computer screen or listening to prerecorded phrases being spoken.
Instead, throughout the audio lessons, you’re engaged in conversations with native Japanese speakers.
In addition to this, Rocket Japanese provides you with many activities that you can complete offline. These include reading and listening comprehension exercises, writing drills, vocabulary quizzes and audio lessons.
A number of Rocket Languages users have claimed that they’ve become fluent in a foreign language after using the course for a 12 month period of time.
However, as always, there are no guarantees such fluency is achieved through online study.
Is Rocket Languages better than Pimsleur?
We’ve written a Pimsleur Japanese review based on our experience using it. If you’ve read it, you’ll know we like the program a lot. However, Pimsleur is an entirely audio-based course.
Rocket Languages, on the other hand, is a combination of audio and written lessons, with several opportunities to speak through voice recognition technology.
Rocket Japanese builds your confidence through these tools, which are not part of the Pimsleur model.
We prefer Rocket Languages for this reason, but that doesn’t mean Pimsleur isn’t worth checking out too, especially if you learn a lot through listening.
Is Rocket Languages better than Rosetta Stone?
Both Rocket Japanese and Rosetta Stone Japanese offer a high quality product.
However, Rocket Japanese is a superior course in our opinion, based mostly on the variation of language learning techniques it provides.
That said, if you’re looking to learn more than one language at the same time then Rosetta Stone is your best bet. A one-time purchase fee with Rosetta Stone provides access to all languages.
What is the best way to learn Japanese online?
The best way to learn Japanese online is to use a program like Rocket Japanese. Or, certainly a course that provides the same service.
What makes Rocket Japanese so beneficial is that it is an online, interactive language learning system that provides hours of lessons on how to read and write in the Japanese language, as well as talk and understand it fluently.
It has been found that students who use this method have learned quicker than those using traditional methods, such as textbooks or classroom learning.
However, if you want to learn to speak Japanese like a native (or the closest possible thing) then you need to move to Japan. Sorry, there’s usually no way around this!
That said, there’s no doubt that online learning and online courses still provide a great platform from which to enhance your speaking skills with a native speaker.
Rocket Japanese Review: Summary
The Rocket Japanese syllabus is carefully structured, thorough and comprehensive. Both the desktop version and free mobile app alike provide a trustworthy place to learn a new language from beginner or intermediate level.
If you benefit from a range of learning methods, you’ll like Rocket Japanese. It covers everything you need when learning a language, from speaking and writing it, to understanding it naturally.
The cultural elements also make it engaging, interactive and informative.
The authentic videos and downloadable audio linguistic lessons on this online course enable you to study away from the computer. The most serious of Japanese learners can make their way through 3 Levels, from beginner through to advanced.
Whilst the cost of the course is high in comparison to many competitors, the quality of learning material is high and efficient.
Rocket Languages does not offer a subscription model, which means you are required to purchase the course outright after your free trial. Whilst this does require a higher up-front fee, it can actually save you money in the longer term.
Rocket Japanese |
|
|---|---|
Effectiveness | Value for Money |
| 4.0 out of 5.0 stars | 4.0 out of 5.0 stars |
| Highly effective at improving listening skills, reading skills and overall comprehension. | Not the cheapest option but justified pricing based on features and benefits available. |
Ease of Use | Room for improvement |
| 4.0 out of 5.0 stars | 3.0 out of 5.0 stars |
| Simple, modern dashboard designed to be as easy as possible to use. | Would be great to see live tutor option. |
✅ Pros | ❌ Cons |
| 👍 No Subscription Fees 👍 Very Good App & Website 👍 Comprehensive Course 👍 Money Back Guarantee | 👎 One-Time Payment Required 👎 You May Require a Language Tutor |
SummaryRocket Japanese is one of the more advanced language learning resources we have come across. Its lesson features, comprehensive courses and culture lessons make it better than the majority of its competitors for beginners and intermediate learners. It is more expensive than many short term because it requires a one-time payment, not a subscription. There is a free trial available for all learners. |
|
One-time Payment For Access to Full Course After Trial |
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