Rocket Chinese vs Rosetta Stone Chinese – Which Learn Chinese Course Is A Must Have ?

With the wide variety of learn Chinese language programs out there at the moment, it is not surprising that it can be a challenge to determine what to select or what actually fits your studying style. This post will contrast Rocket Chinese to Rosetta Stone Chinese. Hopefully, you may then be able to make a better assessment about whether one of these courses is for you.

To begin, both courses teach Mandarin Chinese.

As far as Rosetta Stone is concerned, it is predominantly a software program. It is certainly one of the better learn Chinese software programs in fact but if sitting at a computer doesn’t fit your way of learning then it might not be for you. They do have an audio companion guide now – (CD’s you can load on your ipod and play at any time you feel like it) but the bulk of your time will be spent in front of a computer.

Rocket Chinese also requires you to spend a good amount of time on a computer. For instance, the 3 games (that are comparable in style to Rosetta Stone) have got to be played at a PC or Mac computer.

If you are looking to use the feedback features of Rocket Chinese then you also must be logged onto their web page.

Rosetta Stone uses their unique ‘Dynamic Immersion’ technique to teach you Chinese. In essence this calls for no conscious thinking on your part. You’re effectively immersed in the Chinese speaking world and learn vocabulary by means of repeatedly seeing pictures and words.

It does this by saying a word or sentence (or showing a word or sentence) and showing you four pictures. One corresponds to the word or sentence. You must guess which one. You proceed through a group of questions – 20-25 per lesson/module. If you receive a high score on the lesson you are able to go to the next lesson.

This is identical to how you learned your mother tongue – seeing an image and linking a word or sentence to it. You do not have to consciously learn what the word means. It merely sticks in the head with sufficient repetition of the picture/word combination. This will even be done with complex sentences. This is how babies learn their mother tongue.

Rosetta Stone even offers a program able to scrutinize your pronunciation and a headset comes supplied these days for talking and recording your voice as you speak Chinese.

Rocket Chinese is more traditional in that it is predominantly an audio program with added reading material that teaches the grammar of the language and introduces vocabulary. There’s a Rosetta Stone style series of learn Chinese games that employ the same picture/word association philosophy that is used with Rosetta Stone nevertheless it is not as wide-ranging.

It also has loads of multiple choice testing that is good to give a learner opinion on how he/she is doing.

Rocket Chinese is more conscious of students as they have a community forum and the program seems to have changed in style over the past couple of years, indicating that they are surely listening to their students regarding how to improve the program.

Rocket Chinese can be downloaded from the internet for $99. Rosetta Stone Chinese level 1 can be purchased for approximately $229 (depending on where you purchase it online). Nonetheless, you must get the other 2 levels to complete the set so it’s considerably more expensive than Rocket Chinese (you can bundle the 3 levels together for approximately $540).

Rosetta Stone Summary

Positive points – Easy teaching style, no need to commit to memory or write things down – learn language like a baby does.

Can improve pronunciation

Negative points -

Costly, if you choose to have all the levels

Involves a good amount of repetition and practice if you wish to remember what you learn. Better still, make use of what you learn right away by chatting to a Chinese speaking person and it ought to stick.

Rocket Chinese Summary

Positive points -

Get a little of everything – complete audio course, 3 Rosetta Stone style games and a decent grammar/vocabulary written guide with audio components.

Good price point – cheaper than most learn Chinese courses

Responsive to students wishes and queries – fairly active forum where you’ll be able to ask questions. Send out follow up lessons via email address.

Negative points -

No pronunciation teaching, you are required to repeat the words after they are spoken in the audio thus no real feedback.

Verdict : If you consider cost and content of each particular course, Rocket Chinese is better value for what you get in my opinion.