A Thorough Rocket Chinese Review

Rocket Chinese is a premier Chinese software course that uses of a mixture of audio lessons, interactive computer games and visual learning to make learning Chinese as fun and easy as possible.

It is only available online and has been a best seller since 2008 when it was first released.

We gave it 5 out of 5 stars, and here's why!

(Visit RocketChinese website)

I bought a few CD's from a garage sale a few years ago. The CDs were from one of the best selling Chinese language courses from about five years ago.

I put them in my CD player and tried to listen to them, but couldn't get through the whole series. The course was actually pretty decent, so it wasn't a matter a quality. I just got bored because it got way too repetitive. My Chinese was already more advanced than what the course offered.

Audio CDs/MP3s Are Essential

A beginner could probably pick up a few phrases here and there listening to the tape, but they could just as easily buy cheaper Chinese beginner books. The value in having tapes is being able to hear the correct pronunciation.

I have been learning Chinese since middle school. This was before the internet and software was wally popular. Times have changed so much. New technology has really revolutionized education and how we learn. Even so, there is still a lot of junk, with a bunch of high tech software and language courses that are dead boring to go through.

Most Courses Suck and Don't Work

I've been through my share of Chinese courses and software. Some are alright, some are pretty bad. I was just about to believe that the only way that anyone could ever become fluent in Mandarin Chinese is by living abroad in China, being totally immersed in the language.

That is, until I discovered something truly amazing; something that completely shattered everything I thought I knew about the most effective way to learn Chinese – Rocket Chinese.

Rocket Chinese is Different

Now, I know that sounds pretty crazy. If I would have heard someone say something like that about a Chinese language course, I would have had some trouble taking them seriously. But in my honest opinion, the creators of Rocket Chinese are not joking when they say their course will help you “learn Chinese like a ROCKET!”

So, what is Rocket Chinese all about?

In a nutshell, it's a large collection of Chinese language learning tools that you can download and start using right away. You can also have the physical CDs and workbooks shipped to you by the mail. But the download will save you a lot more money, and you don't have to wait to get started, so it's probably the better choice.

The meat of the Rocket Chinese course is a series of interactive audios designed to get you speaking useful conversational Chinese quickly. The audios consist of 4 parts, including grammar, vocabulary, and verb exercises.

Audio Courses Get You Speaking Immediately

The audio course is designed to be interactive, and I find it to be a lot more fun than other similarly designed courses. The interactive course makes you feel comfortable and at ease while going through the exercises, which makes time fly. You’ll find yourself having so much fun through positive reinforcement that you’ll be pretty surprised when you realize you are actually learning a lot of practical Chinese.

After finishing an audio lesson, you can study that particular chapter in the conversational books included in the course.

The audio and book lessons are just the tip of the iceberg though. You’ll also get MegaChinese -- a software platform for games that you can play to greatly increase your Chinese language skills.

Interactive Games Keep Things Fun and Interesting

The games are fun and engaging. But the best part about it is the ability to change the vocabulary you want to focus on. That way, you are able to learn what you want to learn.

Rocket Chinese covers a lot of material, enough to take you from a beginner to a fluent Chinese speaker. The course is very comprehensive, but at the same time flexible enough to allow you to learn Chinese in whatever manner you prefer.

It’s also important to note the overall high quality production of the Rocket Chinese package. Take a look at some of the screenshots here.

Can Anyone Actually Learn Mandarin in 3 months?

There is one thing I am a bit skeptical about though. The Rocket Chinese course claims to make its users fluent in Chinese in three months.

Now, that certainly will be possible for a small number of people blessed with a natural affinity for learning languages. In fact, I know a guy who speaks 7 languages fluently; he is able to learn languages well enough to talk to native speakers in about 2 to 3 months.

Learning Chinese Doesn't Have to Feel Like Work

But for people like you and me, results like that aren’t going to be handed to us on a silver platter! If I wanted to achieve fluency in a foreign language like that, I’d have to work consistently every day over a period of months. But if you are willing to do that and seek out other Chinese speakers to practice with, I am pretty confident the average person could achieve fluency in about six months with the Rocket Chinese course. Of course it could take longer or shorter, depending on your level of commitment and access to other Chinese speakers.

One thing I am sure of though is that this Chinese language program will help you learn Chinese faster and more effectively than any other course on the market. It’s probably the most entertaining one as well.

Try A Limited Time Offer - A 6 Part Free Course

There’s something else I should mention. The folks over at the Rocket Chinese website are offering 6 free lessons that will give you a taste of what’s to come in the full package. It would be nice if other language courses caught on and let their potential customers sample their product before purchasing.

As for the makers of Rocket Chinese, the author is a native Chinese who comes across as a nice person. You really get the feeling she enjoys sharing aspects of her culture and language. The editor is a fluent Chinese speaker who used to live and work in Chinese. He is the brains behind the interactive audio course concept.

I went to China to study Chinese a few years ago, and I wish I would have had access to this course or something like it before going. I would have had a much easier time in the beginning, and probably would have come away learning a lot more Chinese, and having a much richer experience.

I Highly Recommend Rocket Chinese

So, I’ll end the review here! My recommendation is that if you are looking for a course that will really make it easy to learn Chinese at home quickly, go and take a look at the Rocket Chinese website.

Right now, they are offering the full downloadable course at half price. I’m not sure how long this discount will last, so take advantage of it while you can.

Rocket Chinese Overview

Course Quality: 5/5
Value For Money: 5/5
Customer Support: 4/5
Overall: 5/5
(Visit RocketChinese website)

---

Click the image below to access the Rocket Chinese homepage: