My Review of Rocket Spanish

Rocket Spanish reviewd by a "Gringo-Latino" who began to learn Spanish after he was 30 years old.

I grew up in the U.S. (Virginia) and, of course, became a product of the U.S. educational system.  Happy as a clam with only one language.  But my father was Latino and I have relatives in Argentina, Venezuela and Costa Rica.  My mother and father separated when I was 3-4 years old, and weren't on very good terms afterwards. 

So I never met my Latino grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins until I undertook to do so on my own.  This happened when I had occasion to travel in Central and South America for business reasons, after I was 30 years old.  What a culture shock when we first met!

And the worst of it was that my Spanish vocabulary at the time was limited to "gracias", "adios", "por favor" and "sombrero"!

Suddenly, I had to learn Spanish for both business and family reasons!  I tried the usual stuff.  Bought "How to" books, took some courses (difficult, because I traveled a lot in those days) got CD's to listen to and pestered people around me, asking "How do you say...".  Wow! I certainly wish Rocket Spanish had been around when I was going through that!  It would have saved me hours, days and weeks of poorly-spent or wasted time!

Most approaches to learning a second language are academic drudgery.  I remember sitting around in a class conjugating verbs, when half the time I didn't even know what the verb I was conjugating meant!  Crazy!! Complete waste of time! 

And learning by talking with people can teach you bad habits.  A college student I hired as a tutor once told me that my Spanish sounded more like that of ignorant lower-class street people than educated "Castellano"; proper Spanish! I realized that most of the educated Latinos I knew spoke English, and were practicing their English with me. 

The only time I really had to speak Spanish was when I was speaking with taxi drivers, gardeners, mechanics, street vendors... People who had a lower level of education and sounded like it!  These were not the best sources from which to learn! I was unknowingly picking up their lower-class accent and vocabulary!

But Rocket Spanish starts you off right and keeps you on sound footing.  They emphasize working spoken Spanish, the Spanish you use in everyday conversations and communication.  That is the perfect way to start, just like the way you learned English!  They recognize that their students are both mature and voluntary--a classroom approach won't work very well.  So they make it easy, fun and practical.

They approach the complex task of learning a new language from several different directions at once, optimized for how people really learn.  They use pictures for instant association (so that you learn to see a thing and know its name in Spanish instantly, rather than thinking of the English name and translating!).

They make it interesting and fun.  They break it down into digestible "bites" of learning, so you don't get overwhelmed and lost.  And then they give you games to play to see how much you have learned and reinforce what you know.  They help you absorb, internalize, learn and know correct Spanish, fast. It's adult education at its very best.

I personally tried many different programs, from Barrons "Mastering Spanish" for the Foreign Service Institute (used by State Department personnel who need to speak Spanish) all the way down to courses, books and learning aids too numerous to mention.  I must have spent over three thousand dollars on books, courses, CD's and classes.  Rocket Spanish beats them all, hands down!  It could have saved me a ton of money....

Whether you just want to know a few words and phrases to help you along in Spanish-speaking areas, or you want to be fully conversant and fluent in Spanish, Rocket Spanish will get you there.  And it will get you there faster and easier than any other method I know of.  And it costs no more than, and frequently less than, any other serious Spanish-learning course!

Speaking from my personal experience, I highly recommend Rocket Spanish as the very best way available to learn the Spanish of the Americas.  I recommend it to anyone who wants to develop or increase his or her ability to communicate in Spanish at whatever level.  It's very good, it's fast, and it's priced right -- a real bargain!  Don't waste your money on lesser products that may sound good but don't work.  Get Rocket Spanish first!

With Rocket Spanish you will learn to speak Spanish faster than I did, because you will be starting with the right learning course first, rather than wasting time with less effective methods.

by Jorge Chavez