Rocket German Community

Here are some guidelines on how to get the most out of your Rocket German course:

Rocket German is a beginner's course in three main components:
1) audio lessons, which you listen to;
2) textual lessons, which you read; and
3) learning games, which you play.
But all three components have one thing in common: each one of them involves your own active participation.
With the audio lessons in the Rocket German Interactive Audio Course, you will add your own voice to the conversations that are the focus of each lesson, both by repeating words to practice your pronunciation, and by saying the correct word or phrase when prompted by your host. These audio lessons come with supplementary written transcripts.
With the textual lessons, which focus on the grammar of the German language and view it in its contemporary cultural context, you will walk through the various steps of how to change articles, adjectives, and verbs, how to build more and more complex sentences, and how to write in German. These text-based lessons are illustrated and contain embedded audio clips for new words and phrases.
With the software-based learning games, you can test your memorization of German words, sounds, and verb changes through dynamic game-play and receive active feedback in real time.
By including all of these components, the course caters to many different learning styles, and you are free to explore the course material in whatever way you'd like.
But there are some GUIDELINES that you may want to follow when taking your first steps on the path to understanding and speaking conversational German:

STEP ONE:
Listen to the first three lessons of the Interactive Audio Course. This is the best way to acquaint yourself with the sound and rhythm of the language, as well as the native speakers Paul and Nik. ( or Sarah, Matthias and Sandra for More Rocket German)
For the first time you listen to these first few lessons, we suggest doing so without the written transcripts, so that the focus remains on listening comprehension.

STEP TWO:
Go back and listen to the lessons again. This may sound like unwelcome advice, but you will find that you will often have to go back to go forward when learning any new language. The process is incremental, which means you will only be able to take in so much at any given time. But you will notice not only how much more of the material you recognize, but also how much quicker you pick things up the second time around.
The second time you listen to the Interactive Audio lessons, you should be comfortable enough to refer to the written transcripts of the conversations.
You'll find that your comprehension will skyrocket when you are able to see what the language looks like. Keep in mind, however, that even if you keep the transcript in front of you when you listen, you should always try to THINK of the meaning of what you hear BEFORE you read it (even if that means continually pausing the audio track to give yourself more time for the meaning to appear in your head).

STEP THREE:
When you have found that you can comfortably listen to the audio lessons, AND participate in them on cue without getting lost or overwhelmed, then it's time to explore the lessons that make up the Rocket German Grammar & Culture Series.
These lessons dive deeper into the mechanics of the language, and also reward you with relevant explanations about where, how, why, and when to use the language skills that you have gained.
In total, there are 31 lessons in the Grammar & Culture Series, and these correspond closely (but not exactly) to the 31 lessons in the Interactive Audio Course. When you reach the stage where you are confident with the audio lessons, it may be a good time to set yourself a more regimented schedule of progress. For example, you may do one audio lesson plus one grammar lesson each day for a month, or every other day (getting through them in two months).
However strict a path you want to follow, always remember the magic word: incremental. That is, if you decide to set one day aside to stuff your head with five lessons, it is very unlikely that you will retain most of what went into it! Also, even when you are well into the course, you can only make things easier when you go back and listen to the lessons over again. You'll hear your own German accent getting sharper each time.

STEP FOUR:
Get your game on with Rocket German's range of software-based learning games. Even though we've listed this as a possible step four on your fast-track to learning conversational German, you can use these learning games at any time, and especially when you feel like you want a break from sustained listening or reading with regard to the other course material. Because they are so entertaining and easy to use, the MegaGerman games make "motivation" an after-thought.
No matter how "competitive" you think you are, you will find these games a welcome challenge, and gain great satisfaction when you see your score improve each time!

We do suggest you follow one guideline in structuring your learning:
Before playing the MegaVerbs game, it would be best to wait until you have completed the first third or so of the Grammar & Culture lessons. Here's why: there are three types of MegaGerman games:
o MegaVocab
o MegaAudio
o MegaVerbs
The first two will allow you to build your vocabulary (MegaVocab) and improve your recognition of spoken German (MegaAudio), and these two games do not require much if any background learning.
The MegaVerbs game differs in that it involves the fundamentals of German verb changes. This will be covered in the Grammar & Culture lessons.

STEP FIVE:
A fifth step in the process of learning conversational German with your Rocket German learning package doesn't necessarily DIRECTLY involve any of the materials included IN the package! But it is still a most essential step: PRACTICE and SHARE what you've learned.
We implore you to take what you've learned and practice it in the real world. Whether that means saying the date and time in German whenever you check it yourself, or teaching your dog commands in German, do whatever it takes!
There is also a fantastic resource to share thoughts and get answers to any questions that may be stumping you: the Rocket German Leaner's FORUM. This is a virtual helpdesk where you not only get answers and advice from the Rocket German team but also from fellow learners who are often working with the same material you are.
Even better, YOU can give answers and advice to them, and that's a great way to reinforce your own knowledge. This is in fact the place you are right now.

All the best for your German learning and alles Gute!

Good morning,

Could you kindly indicate where I can find the Rocket German Grammar & Culture Series. I already finished the course, I am now going over it. But I have always experienced problems due to the fact that the Grammar does not always correspond to the audio lessons. I always feel I need more written material to go back to for revision. Kindly advise.

Paulina

Hi there,

the Rocket German Grammar and Culture series with embedded audio are in email form. You should have received the emails already. Please check your junk folder to make sure they didn't end up in there.
By the way we are also in the process of revamping our grammar lessons at the moment to add more interactive exercises. I will keep you updated.

All the best to you!

Guten Tag,

I just bought your software. Where do I get access to the text lessons? I see the link for the audio and grammer/culture downlads but not the text.

Danke!

Zeya

zalikhan wrote:Guten Tag,

I just bought your software. Where do I get access to the text lessons? I see the link for the audio and grammer/culture downlads but not the text.

Danke!

Zeya

The text for the audio is in the interactive audio section of the members page under each audio lesson is its corresponding text.

Also on your members page underneath the interactive audio link is the "Grammar Guide" link which contains the .pdf (adobe reader) files that contain text as well.

The "Grammar & Culture" link takes you to the Online version of the Grammar Guide, which contains audio for most of the sections.

hope that helped!

Hello,

I have recently bought the rocket german series. I have been trying to work out how to downloaded the conversation text for the audio series. I noticed in the more rocket german course you have included a pdf with all the conversations in it (part 8 ). Is there such a pdf for the first course?

Cheers

Alison

Hi Alison,
quite a few of you requested having a transcript pdf, so we added it for More Rocket German, however we haven't added it for Rocket German yet. I'll talk to the product development team to get one done for Rocket German as well.
Thank you and all the best for your German learning.

Have you talked to the product development team to get a downloadable transcript done for Rocket German? It seems a transcript in pdf would be easy enough. Would I have gotten a hard copy if I had bought the CD version? Also would the grammar and culture series have been included on the CDs? I don't always have internet access when I would like to be studying

Hi again,

yes I have talked to them and they have created a transcript pdf containing all the conversations and their English translations.
They are in the process of adding the pdf to the members area now. Once we have tested the download it will be visible for you. Please check again after the weekend.

If you prefer to have Rocket German mailed to you, you also have the option of requesting a complimentary copy of the complete German-learning package as a two-CD set. This is a free option with your membership; however, we will charge $19.95 for S&H. The two-CD set will enable you to install the complete Rocket German package directly onto your computer without wasting download time. Or, if you're short on space, you can run Rocket German straight from the CDs. The audio files are in MP3 format, which you can download to your iPod or burn to an audio CD.
The grammar and culture series is also on the CD's but not as a hard copy.

I hope that helps.

Nathalie,
Quick response and just what I wanted to hear!
Thank You

Nathalie,

Just to be absolutely clear - the CD's will include the grammar lessons with audio clips for studies off-line, Yes?

Auch, wo ist der Link zum Mitglied oder CD's?

Danke

Hallo,

der Link für die Members Area ist hier:

http://www.rocketlanguages.com/german/members/

Der Link für die CD's ist in der Members Area.

Die CD's have the grammar lessons on them however the audio is only available in the members area at this stage

We are in the process of revamping the whole members area and adding more quizzes as well as progress tracking etc. Everything going well we should have the new members area up and running early next year.

Help.....just purchased the download version. Went to the members area page but cannot find the download links...???

Hi there,

welcome to Rocket German. Would you mind contacting our customer support team through our contact form:
http://www.rocketlanguages.com/contact.php
That way you don't have to publish your login details on the forum and we can test out your login to make sure that you have access to all the components.

Thank you and all the best for your German learning.

I just started today but I had a question regarding spelling. As I move further along is there a lesson to help me start to spell the words I'm learning?
I was often trying to take notes but I didn't know how to spell the extra words.