Online Language Course Reviews – Perapera

JapanesePod101 Review

Michael — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 09:10:43 +0000

Thanks for checking out our JapanesePod101 Review! Information on this page was last checked and updated on Feb 12th, 2023.

When I started out on my path to Japanese fluency, resources such as textbooks and audio courses on CD were the only realistic way to make progress with this challenging language. Thankfully, there’s now a lot more options and learning tools when it comes to studying Japanese online.

The problem that students of Japanese now face is one of quality rather than quantity. So which solutions give you the best bang for your buck?

In my humble opinion, JapanesePod101 is one of the better online courses out there for people who are serious about making significant progress in the language. As promised, I’ve finally got around to writing a complete JapanesePod101 Review, so here goes!

Already made up your mind and looking for our promo code?

JapanesePod101 Review: Summary

JapanesePod101 uses a combination of video and audio lessons to teach you everything you need to improve your Japanese. The course provides supplementary written materials & listening comprehension exercises that go into more detail for each lesson. This audio + video + written immersive technique has a proven track record of success for students of many languages, and that’s why it’s used by JapanesePod.

Name: JapanesePod101

URL: www.japanesepod101.com

Price: From $4 to $23 per month

Currency: USD

Operating System: Web Browser and Mobile App

Application Category: Language Learning Software

Description: JapanesePod101 is a real world language learning software that teaches Japanese language mainly through video and audio lessons.

In a Nutshell: I’ve been a JapanesePod101 user for a few years now, and overall it’s been extremely helpful for learning Japanese. No product is perfect, but the JapanesePod team is continually producing high quality new content and lessons that are easy to understand, making this an exceptional resource. Highly recommended. Read our full review below.

Quality of Learning Materials:

Quantity of Lessons:

Effective and Efficient:

Teaches Useful Japanese:

Price:

 4/5

 5/5

 4/5

Overall Score: 4.4

 4.4/5

The Goods

The Bads

❝ Now I communicate with Japanese people on a daily basis, and I am positive it all has been possible thanks to JapanesePod101.❞ ― Victor Trejo

Why Learn Japanese in the First Place?

Learning a new language is one of the most rewarding skills a person can acquire throughout the course of their life. It enriches the soul, unlocks new ways of understanding, and helps understand a different culture. It even deepens your understanding of your own language and culture.

Research has been done by universities around the world about the benefit that learning languages brings; and the results are immensely positive. A variety of University studies have even gone as far to suggest that learning new languages increases cognitive abilities in many other areas. The research is there, and a whole new world awaits for anybody looking to expand their horizons with new language skills.

Japanese is spoken by about 128 million people throughout the entirety of Japan and the Japanese diaspora. Japanese learners can benefit in their Japanese learning by understanding a language that can be valuable in business; or if you’re just looking to understand your favorite anime or Japanese drama.

The problem is: Japanese is also one of the hardest asian languages to learn, and it has a reputation for being challenging amongst first time language learners and polyglots alike.

Let’s take a look at how well JapanesePod101 performs as an effective Japanese learning program and set of learning tools to help you learn new words, grammar and vocabulary.

The Pros: What We Like Most About JapanesePod101

Pro #1: Structured Lessons for Optimal Learning

When it comes to learning a new language, there are two things that are of great importance:

QUANTITY – That is, listening to and reading a LOT of content.
QUALITY – Choosing content that is not only interesting and engaging, but suitable for your current level of knowledge, challenging you just the right amount.

So how does JapanesePod101 shape up on the basis of quantity and quality? Well, first off, an incredible amount of content is on offer. At the time of writing, a JapanesePod101 membership includes 6935 video & audio lessons. Pretty incredible, as the staff continues to add high quality audio and video content regularly. The breakdown by learner level was as follows:

Absolute Beginner: 1,629 audio and video Lessons and 445 assignments spread over 67 lesson pathways
Beginner: 1,641 audio and video lessons and 320 assignments spread over 58 modules
Intermediate: 894 audio and video lessons and 199 assignments spread over 27 modules
Upper Intermediate: 584 audio and video lessons and 203 assignments spread over 17 modules
Advanced: 632 audio and video lessons and 124 assignments spread over 17 modules
Bonus: 1555 audio and video lessons and zero assignments spread over 10 modules

That’s literally 10’s of thousands of hours of content which, if tackled systematically and mastered, would provide a solid base of Japanese proficiency. So it’s double thumbs up on the quantity front for japanesepod101 com.

How about quality? The lessons are professionally recorded and engaging. Certainly above and beyond your average Japanese audio course. There was clearly a lot of love and effort put into the content creation. The tutors go out of their way to explain any cultural information and to keep the lessons light hearted and fun.

Pro #2: Gradually Phasing Out English

I do like how English is used for the early lessons, but then gradually lessened and then later removed entirely. This is a nice way to wean you off English over time, until you’re learning 100% in Japanese.

Pro #3: Extremely Thorough Lesson Materials

Another cool aspect of the JapanesePod101 library is the level of detail they have put into the formats and resources provided. With each lesson, you get:

The complete lesson (audio or video)
Line-by-line transcript (with recording feature)
The Japanese dialogue only (no English)
Lesson notes
Kanji close-up
Lesson checklists
Downloadable MP3 file & PDFs

In short, the resources provided are very thorough. With so many incomplete courses out there, it’s nice to see a provider that cares about its audience and covers all the possible bases.

The Cons: Things We Didn't Like About JapanesePod101

Assuming that you steadily learn the content and put in the necessary time, JapanesePod will give you a solid foundation in spoken Japanese. Period. However, no one language course can be 100% exhaustive. As I’ve written before, you should always use multiple resources to make progress in any language. With that said, here are some of the things that you won’t find included with this course:

Con #1: Lack of Speaking Practice

JapanesePod101 is great for building up your passive vocabulary and getting used to hearing the language spoken naturally. What it won’t give you is improved speaking proficiency. At least not immediately. For that you need to actually speak the language with friends or, better, a private tutor. JapanesePod doesn’t provide this with the Basic or Premium subscriptions, but the PremiumPlus membership does include 1-1 teaching time.

I’m of the opinion that learning to speak Japanese doesn’t need to be rushed. This goes for double if you’re a beginner-intermediate learner and don’t live in Japan yet. Focus on building up your passive knowledge first, which will give you a wider vocabulary and overall grasp of the language. Once you are understanding a fair amount of the dialogues, you can upgrade your membership or jump online and hire a private tutor to get some practice hours in. But only when you are ready. Far too many people go too quickly, perhaps feeling obligated to start speaking immediately.

Con #2: The Kanji Basics

Although JapanesePod provides extremely thorough lesson notes and introduces new kanji systematically, you’ll still need a grounding in the kanji to get the basics down before these notes are useful. There are a number of ways to achieve this, but studying on your own will produce faster results than any offline Japanese class.

I personally recommend the Heisig Approach (previously covered in this article) to get to grips with the kanji. Even if you don’t fully master all 2000 of the commonly used characters, the Heisig course will get you comfortable with the radicals and general concept of kanji.

Con #3: Information Overload

Whilst the quantity of lessons is amazing, it can also leave you feeling overwhelmed and lost for direction. For those who like to be hand-held through a language course and follow a strict curriculum, the JapanesePod101 methodology might be a bit of a struggle.

It’s unsurprising that the syllabus is a bit messy given that JapanesePod101 is the flagship program of Innovative Language with the largest library of lessons, and is getting constantly added to. They did try to counter this problem by grouping lessons into pathways, and believe it or not, there is actually a natural progression to the lessons. That being said, however, without a decent amount of independence and self-assessment, you can easily be left with gaps in your knowledge and a lack of motivation. For this reason, some learners may benefit from using JapanesePod101 as a supplementary tool alongside a more structured textbook.

Top Tip: The Premium+ membership will provide you with a fully personalized learning program with professional assessment and 1-on-1 language instruction. We highly recommend this option for those who like to have more structure and guidance in their learning progression.

Useful Extra Features & Tools

To aid you in mastering Japanese, there’s a bunch of extra tools that are available to use within the platform. It’s very nice to have these options for whenever you get bored during the lessons or just want to take a break. Browsing around these extra features was quite enjoyable – for example, we loved building up our own flash card decks, and categorising them all into interesting topics.

Flashcards

Similar to Anki or Quizlet, the flashcard feature within JapanesePod101 allows you to create your own flashcard decks, or choose a premade deck from a list of over 100 possible decks. You can go through and study each word in isolation and then test yourself when you’re ready, based on the audio, Kanji, transliteration or an image (your choice). It’s also very encouraging to see that the comments section is super active, with some decks having hundreds of comments from other learners just like yourself.

Word Bank

Ever learnt a new word only to forget it again the next day? The word bank ensures you never lose a word. At any point during a lesson or when learning new vocabulary, you can hit the plus icon and add a word (or phrase) to your word bank for you to review later. You can even categorise them into groups and export your entire list as an excel file. A great way to keep track of all your new vocabulary.

Most Common Words List

A comprehensive list of the 2541 most common words in the Japanese language. You can filter by category and by ranking (the most common 100 words, 200 words etc.) – very useful for selecting which vocab terms to learn, ensuring you don’t go off track by learning outdated or obsolete vocabulary.

Topical Vocab Lists

100s of lists based on fun & interesting categories such as ‘Top Anime Words & Phrases’, ‘Inspirational Quotes’ and ‘Gossiping Phrases’.

Japanese Dictionary

Quite useful to have. Also includes expletives!

‘Word of the Day’ Emails

An added optional bonus. You’ll receive a new word to your inbox every day.

Japanese Grammar Bank (Love This!)

Got a niggling question about a specific grammar point? Can’t quite remember how to conjugate a verb? The grammar bank is really something unique that we haven’t seen in other programs by Innovative Language. You can search and filter by level, spelling and category, and get a detailed breakdown of the grammar with examples. The grammar bank is always being updated and added to – there’s over 400 articles at the time of writing this.

Japanese Key Phrase List

A list of useful phrases to get you started. Things like ‘good morning’ and ‘what’s your name?’.

Top tip: Click slideshow, toggle off the English, and select loop. You’ll then get a full hands-free audio rundown of all the phrases. Allow your brain to absorb the phrases as listen to the phrases whilst cleaning your room, doing some exercise or stretching. Perfect for beginners.

Mobile App

The mobile app acts as a mirror-image of the browser based application, providing all of the same content. Having it all accessible from your mobile device is a huge selling point as it means you can practice lessons and review flashcards from anywhere.

JLPT Practice Tests

One great addition is the JLPT practice tests, so you can test your knowledge before the actual exam. Our only complaint is that they are only for N4 and N5.

What are the Lessons like?

Audio Lessons

The audio-only lessons are informative, usually engaging, and are presented with an easy to use media player with pause & play functions. There are sometimes additional tools to maximize the value of each lesson.

Video Lessons

The video lessons are well-produced with nice graphics. The speakers are professional and concise in their dictation.

PDFs

Sometimes watching videos or listening to audio files doesn’t give someone all the tools they need to learn. Many people (like myself) need to read and study written material with structured lesson notes in order to best commit it to long term memory. Each and every lesson has an accompanying set of lesson notes that can be downloaded as an easy-to-read PDF.

A Sneak Peek Into Some of the Lessons

To give you a better idea of what to expect from the lessons we thought it’d be a good idea to actually show you 3 sample topics from the beginner, intermediate and upper intermediate levels:

Level 2 Lesson Pathway (Beginner)

Level 3 Lesson Pathway (Intermediate)

Level 4 Lesson Pathway (Upper Intermediate)

Level 2 Lesson Pathway (Beginner)

Level 3 Lesson Pathway (Intermediate)

Level 4 Lesson Pathway (Upper Intermediate)

Who Should Buy JapanesePod101?

Japanese is an excellent learning resource that will be incredibly useful if you are someone who:

Has plans to live & work in Japan, and is looking to learn functional everyday language
Wants to start a business in Japan and is looking to understand the business culture
Is looking to take the JLPT exams to qualify for a university in Japan
Has a keen interest in Japanese culture, food and traditions
Enjoys the freedom of independent learning, from anywhere, at your own pace

Who Should NOT Buy JapanesePod101?

JapanesePod101 is not for everyone. The methodology goes against the norm of the traditional textbook approach, and so it’s not exactly everyone’s cup of tea. You might want to look elsewhere if you are someone who:

JapanesePod101 vs. Competitors

When it comes to learning Japanese, there seems to be no shortage of content out there in the world to help you achieve this (admittedly challenging!) feat. Whether you are a casual learner seeking to expand your horizons, a businessperson with connections in Japan with a need to learn, or an avid language expert, there are lots of options out there. How does JapanesePod101 stack up to its competition?

JapanesePod101 vs Rocket Japanese

Rocket Languages is a language learning company that has made it their mission to use technology to its fullest extent to help people learn languages. Their Japanese language program is very immersive and is offered at a competitive price to that of JapanesePod101. Their key selling point is that their content is offered at one price for life (They also offer a tiered membership level similar to JapanesePod101). The structure of the lessons is also similar to JapanesePod101 in that there is heavy emphasis placed on audio content.

Read our Review of Rocket Japanese here.

JapanesePod101 Vs. FluentU

FluentU is a language immersion company that has placed a big emphasis on video content to engage learners and teach 12 different languages. Their approach is unique in that they take videos from Youtube and add interactive captions. The concept is unique and interesting but one of the main complaints about FluentU’s platform is that they lack in content, and some of the content is from advertising/commercials. In a world where we are constantly inundated with advertising, the last thing we need is commercials in our language learning.

Read our full review of FluentU here.

JapanesePod101 Vs Duolingo

Duolingo is great because it’s free! While they do offer a paid version that adds a few features and removes advertising from the site, the free version is great as is. From short lessons that focus on teaching Japanese from the ground-up, to gamifying your language learning effort to have you collect virtual currency; DuoLingo is a fun and interactive way to learn Japanese at your own pace. Whatever your current level, if you’re serious about learning Japanese you might want to look elsewhere, and use Duolingo as a sort of secondary service to reinforce the lessons learned in a more comprehensive program to learn Japanese.

Read our in-depth review of Duolingo Japanese here.

How Much Does JapanesePod101 Cost? Is it Worth The Money?

JapanesePod101.com offers three levels of membership at different price points to help accommodate people of varying budgets. Anyone looking to sign up for a membership with JapanesePod101 should consider how serious they are about learning Japanese and also their budget.

The three tiers are branded as Basic, Premium, and Premium plus and the price points run at $4, $10, & $23 respectively. The basic membership offers the bare minimum of access to the site’s extensive list of features such as Japanese audio podcasts and lots of regular new lesons, while the Premium Plus membership offers everything you would ever need to have to learn japanese plus the kitchen sink! The $10 version offers a healthy medium of value and affordability, and would be our suggestion for anybody serious about using JapanesePod101 as a way to learn Japanese.

JapanesePod101 Basic vs Premium vs Premium Plus: What’s the Difference?

The three tiers of membership are curated towards the interest and seriousness one has in learning Japanese. While the Basic Plan for $4 includes access to the thousands of lessons and their corresponding notes, there is plenty more content and features that are under ‘lockdown’ for premium memberships only.

The Premium membership, which starts at $10 per month, includes a wealth of features including, but certainly not limited to; HD video lessons, 1900 more core words and phrases, word banks, vocabulary slideshows, voice recording tools, and interactive lesson quizzes.

There is also a Premium Plus membership, and for $23 per month you can have a teacher assigned to you from JapanesePod101 that will custom tailor you a lesson plan and give you ongoing professional assessment, assignments, and curriculum for as long as you pay the monthly recurring fee. If you’re serious about learning Japanese, the PremiumPlus membership is for you.

Use Our Promo Code To Get 30% Off

We have a special deal going with JapanesePod101. If you sign up through our link, you’ll get 30% off the regular price. For this value, I can wholeheartedly recommend getting a membership.

Here’s the link:

We’re not sure how long this one will last, so take advantage while you can!

The Secret Lifetime Membership Option (Up To 77% Off!)

For those that don’t like monthly payments, JapanesePod101 has a special secret lifetime membership package designed for those who want to make learning Japanese, and other languages, a lifetime pursuit.

They don’t really like to advertise it, but for a one-time payment of $599, you can purchase lifetime access to the ever-expanding JapanesePod101 content of materials at the Premium level. That means if you use the program for 5 years, you’ll be saving 60% off the regular price.

There are other deals too: an additional 2 languages for $999, and even the option to purchase the entire Language Pod curriculum spanning 34 languages and hundreds of thousands of lessons, all at a premium membership level.

This deal might be a head-scratcher for some. I mean: who really needs access to learn 34 languages? That said, there are people this might appeal to. For example if you are an avid world traveler and want to learn a bit of the language from every new country you visit, you could have one purchase to take care of all of your language needs forever.

JapanesePod101 Review Conclusion: One of The Best Options For Self Study of Japanese

So, is JapanesePod101 worth it? As someone who’s tried countless Japanese courses, I think JapanesePod101 is an excellent resource for learning Japanese, from beginners to advanced. For beginner to intermediate there are tons of lessons that cover a wide range of useful vocabulary, topics and cultural learning.

In the past, high intermediate and advanced learners may have complained that there was not quite enough material at their level to be worthwhile, but that has been addressed in recent years.

The teachers are — for the most part — entertaining and fun, which makes it feel less like a classroom, and the language used is both authentic and natural. JapanesePod101.com is a great way to learn Japanese and get some exposure to Japanese culture.

The course creators are constantly creating new and interesting lessons that are actually useful if you live (or want to live) in Japan. I certainly would have made even faster progress as an absolute beginner with my studies if I’d had this course back when I started learning Japanese!

Michael

Michael has lived in Japan on and off for almost 10 years. He loves studying Japanese, and is currently working on going from N2 to N1 on the JLPT.

Rosetta Stone Japanese Review

Editorial Team — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 07:29:18 +0000

Editor’s Note: This Rosetta Stone Japanese Review has been updated on Feb 15th, 2022.

With around 127 million speakers, and Japan having the second largest economy in the world, being able to speak Japanese would be a huge personal asset for business, work or travel.

The language provides a gateway to understanding Asia’s great civilizations and cultural treasures. Plus, it’s not as hard as you think!

Did you know that Japanese has no articles or plurals? And apart from sharing the writing system with Chinese it’s considered one of the most unique languages in the world, with no direct derivative language that came before it.

So, you’re wondering what’s the best way to learn Japanese. The internet is jam-packed with all sorts of online language programs and various courses, which can be an absolute minefield to navigate and a nightmare to determine which one is deserving of your time and money.

Rosetta Stone is one of the most popular options available, boasting millions of students and used by over 1500 corporations – one that you might be considering. But is it really the best way to learn Japanese? Find out in our in-depth Rosetta Stone Japanese review.

Rosetta Stone Japanese Review: Summary

Name: Rosetta Stone Japanese

URL: rosettastone.com/languages/learn-japanese

Operating System: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS

Currency: USD, GBP, Euro, Yen, Won

Price: A 3 month-subscription of $35.97 for one language, 6 month subscription of $95.88 for one language, or a lifetime membership of $179 for all 25 languages. Additional 12 months of weekly 25 minute group coaching calls for an extra $100 (Lifetime Plus membership).

Application Category: Language Learning Software
Description: Taking its name from quite possibly the most famous rock in existence, Rosetta Stone has grown to become one of the most recognizable names in the language learning industry. It is currently the only language learning software company that is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (Code: RST). They are the undisputed heavyweight champion of the language learning world, and have an undeniable influence on the entire industry.

In a Nutshell: Like the rest of Rosetta Stone’s courses, Rosetta Stone Japanese uses a series of quizzes to expose you to the target language, repeatedly testing you through a variety of different questions, all based upon isolated images and voice clips. Unfortunately we felt that the program was very overpriced and inefficient for learning Japanese alone, without using any supplementary textbooks or resources.

Quality:

Quantity:

Effectiveness:

Practicality:

Price:

 2/5

 3/5

 2/5

 3/5

 2/5

Overall Score: 2.4 / 5.0

 2.4/5

The Goods

Built-in speech recognition software
Lots of content
Can toggle on/off the Kanji, Hirogana, Katakana & Romanji
Professionally recorded audio (both male & female native voice)
Variety of gamified exercises
Diversity of pictures
Automatically reviews what you’ve learnt
Structured syllabus
Sleek website design & integrated app

The Bads

Expensive
Voice recognition software doesn’t always work properly
No placement test
Often teaches outdated/inauthentic language
Slow paced, time consuming and repetitive
No focus on pronunciation, grammar or writing
Not enough context or authentic dialogue

Rosetta Stone Japanese Review: Overview

At the core of the program is the multiple-choice style questions which systematically introduces new vocabulary and verbs, and then proceeds to test you on different combinations of these through a variety of different questions.

You are shown a series of photos and then asked to select the right answer based upon what you hear or read. The course is designed to be cumulative so that the learner is exposed to the new concepts progressively as they learn the language. The latest version now incorporates an online classroom with group tutoring, though it costs an extra fee.

A Rosetta Stone Japanese membership includes:

12 modules of lessons (each module had 4 lessons, each lesson has one hour of learning)
Live scheduled lessons (a few lectures per month)
On-demand videos (currently only four 1-minute videos, given in English)
Stories, read by a native speaker (typically two per module)
Audio companion – downloadable audio files to review what you’ve learnt
Alphabet – a table of Hiragana and Katakana with accompanying voice clip and Romanji
Group coaching classes (for Premium members only)

Rosetta Stone was one of the first language programs to incorporate a voice recognition software that prompts you to repeat the audio clips and will give you instant feedback by filling up a circle (green if correct, red if not). They advertise this element of their program as ‘the most advanced speech technology’, which perhaps was true in its prime, but we found that it had some issues (as we’ll see a bit later on).

Most voice recognition technology just isn’t there yet and most programs who have incorporated this software suffer the same problems. Therefore, Rosetta Stone might indeed have ‘the most advanced’ voice-recognition software, but that doesn’t mean that it works properly or is a valuable asset to your language learning.

So how useful is the course for learning Japanese? Let’s take a look at the Pros & Cons.

The Pros: What We Liked About Rosetta Stone Japanese

Pro #1: Original Innovator

Rosetta Stone has led innovation in the language learning space for nearly three decades now. Their positive contributions have helped millions of people learn more than two dozen languages and they have helped pave the way for innovation in the language learning sector. For this reason, they deserve some respect even if they are now a bit outdated.

Pro #2: Embraces Simplicity

When it comes to software applications, Rosetta Stone seems to have embraced the idea of creating simple and easy-to-use applications. Rosetta Stone is quite possibly the easiest language learning program out there. The interface is simple, easy to navigate and user friendly. Their website, billing system and the software itself are also well-designed with rich colors and beautiful typography. Aesthetically, the service is great.

Pro #3: Includes All The Japanese Writing Systems

We loved to see that you can easily switch between the Kanji, Romanji, and Katakana & Hiragana. Provided you already know the basics of the writing system, Rosetta Stone could be a great help for reading and learning the Kanji because you can test yourself by switched between the two writing systems.

Pro #4: Professionally Recorded Audio

We liked that you can hear the pronunciation very clearly and fluidly. A lot of competitor programs have a robotic-sounding voice with choppy clips that have been automatically stitched together (which is very off putting, let alone it’s obvious inauthenticity). Both a male and female voice are used interchangeably which is nice.

Pro #5: Flexible Learning

The app is well developed and is automatically synced with the desktop version, allowing you a lot of flexibility to learn from wherever. Furthermore, you can continue learning offline, and the downloadable audio files are great for listening to the language when you are on-the-go or out and about. Since it’s an online course and not a fixed classroom setting, you can easily fit your studies around your busy lifestyle. You can even turn off the speaking function if your out in public.

The Cons: The Things We Didn’t Like About Rosetta Stone Japanese

Con #1: Outdated Methods

Sometimes the traditional methods are traditional for a reason, because they’ve stood the test of time and they work. In the language learning world, however, a lot of research has been done to suggest that we need a lot more variety and stimulus to emulate an immersive learning environment, rather than just images and isolated audio clips. We also learn much more effectively when we are motivated to learn and enjoy the process, receiving a sense of satisfaction and progress.

Rosetta Stone would do well to consider using more motivational strategies to motivate learners, for example by earning points, maintaining learning streaks and unlocking bonus levels, like the more popular Duolingo. It’d also be more effective if they added more variety to the way they conduct the lessons. Every lesson is identical in its format, with the same style of questions. This can get very tedious and boring after a while, and can have a negative effect on our ability to memorise the information.

Con #2: Generic Syllabus

It was a big disappointment to see that the syllabus was identical to all the other languages that Rosetta Stone offers, which suggests the lack of thought that went into designing the course. Japanese is a very unique language and deserves a tailor-made program to get a proper understanding of the intricate grammar and unique characteristics. It seems they’ve started with English and then simply translated to all the languages that they offer. It’s really a terrible idea that can lead to confusion and inaccuracies.

For example, in English there aren’t too many differences between formal and informal language, however Japanese has an entire complex system of respect, known as ‘Keigo’. In the Japanese course this language point is crudely oversimplified and taught as if it were a direct translation to the English system.

Con #3: No Grammar Explanations

It’d be nice even to have a line or two in places just to clarify to much-needed grammar points that you inevitably encounter throughout the course. Japanese has a specific word order and a system of complex verb conjugations. Without any explanations, it’s incredibly difficult to get a proper understanding of how the language works and how to form your own sentences correctly, from just context alone.

Con #4: No Pronunciation Lessons

The voice-recognition software alone is not enough to teach you how to speak properly in Japanese. What you need is an in-depth explanation of all the pitch accent patterns and how to actually make the sounds with your mouth. This is very difficult from just an online language course but some competitor programs do it very well (see competitors). Unfortunately Rosetta Stone provides no instruction whatsoever so you’ll need to look elsewhere to learn the proper pronunciation in Japanese.

Con #5: Voice-Recognition Software Doesn’t Work Properly

For a feature that’s so widely advertised in the course we were surprised to find out that it didn’t work so well. It often marked us as correct even when we made deliberate errors to test it out (and vice versa). To be honest, we weren’t expecting it to be perfect (none of these built-in systems are) but we at least expected it to pick up on the right sounds. On a positive note, it does at least get you speaking, which is an essential component of language learning that is so often left by the wayside.

What Other Reviewers Had To Say…

Don’t just take our word for it, we encourage you to try the program out for yourself. When reading reviews of a language learning tool, it’s important to understand that everyone has different learning styles. And while the language learning community tends to review Rosetta Stone’s Japanese edition unfavorably, it’s not a uniform consensus.

However, some people have some pretty extreme views about the program, and things can get a little controversial at times. One staff writer at language101.com even offered to eat his Rosetta Stone discs if someone could carry a conversation in Japanese after practicing solely with Rosetta Stone for 45 minutes a day. He also expressed his frustration with their customer service department after not receiving answers to questions about the program:

Who Is Rosetta Stone Japanese For?

Those who might find the program useful are those who:

Are looking for a tailor-made program that can teach them some basic phrases and vocabulary
Are planning a trip to Japan and want to get used to the language before going
Prefer to learn through immersion rather than understand how the language works
Have a lot of motivation, time and dedication to finish the course

Who Is Rosetta Stone Japanese NOT For?

The program is probably not a best fit for you if:

You get bored easily and require some variety in your learning
You prefer to have real conversations and connect with real Japanese people
You want to learn about Japanese culture and traditions
You are looking to learn real-use language through dialogues and authentic material

Rosetta Stone Japanese Alternatives

While Rosetta Stone might be the global leader in language learning software products, that by no definition of the word means that it is the best and most comprehensive product out there. Thankfully there are many other innovative language learning programs that are worth your money and your time.

The two we are most willing to recommend today are JapanesePod101 and Rocket Japanese.

JapanesePod101: Tons of High Quality Material

JapanesePod101 is quite possibly the most well put together language learning product we’ve tested. It has literally thousands of audio and video lessons, and detailed pdf’s with useful cultural context, and intuitively designed lesson plans to help teach Japanese efficiently. In our opinion, JapanesePod101 is the clear and definitive winner in Japanese language instruction.

Read our review of JapanesePod101 here.

Rocket Japanese: A Well-Designed Course

Rocket Japanese is a close second, and provides a quality product that is well researched, logical, and provides tangible results. One of its main selling points is that it provides many useful lessons in the complex world of Japanese grammar. Japanese grammar and sentence structure bear almost no similarities to English, and Rocket Japanese teaches that system efficiently. This is completely devoid in the Rosetta Stone Japanese program.

Read our review of Rocket Japanese here.

Rosetta Stone Japanese Pricing

Rosetta Stone is definitely not cheap – most of the online criticisms are about the price. However, they have lowered the price in recent years and there’s now a few different options to choose from:

3 month-subscription -> $35.97 (Japanese only)
6 month subscription -> $95.88 (Japanese only)
Lifetime Membership -> $179 (for all 25 languages)
The group coaching calls vary in price from around $14-$19 for two 25 minute sessions.

They also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied with the program.

Is It Worth The Money?

When you compare the price to a traditional university course then it seems much more affordable. However, there’s many other programs that exist at a far lower price that will teach you Japanese more comprehensively than Rosetta Stone. In our opinion it’s simply not worth the hefty price tag.

Rosetta Stone Japanese Review: Conclusion

For such a large financial investment, shouldn’t a language learning program provide more than just word association and clunky software? The consensus in the language learning community is a definitive yes. You can get the same amount of practice for vocabulary far more efficiently by just using any standard space repetition system such as Anki.

We can see how the program could be useful for practicing reading Kana and Kanji since there’s a lot of written material included, such as the books. However, this is providing you know some of them already since they don’t teach you and it doesn’t really allow you to pick it up. For this reason we don’t recommend it for complete beginners since they don’t teach you the script.

Overall, the general concept is very good, it’s just executed poorly with not enough immersion in real-use language with proper context. Other language programs do a much better job at a fraction of the price.

You could learn exponentially faster by learning from a set of materials that you actually enjoy. In this day and age, you no need to learn through brute force, there’s loads of great authentic materials and modern courses to teach you Japanese, such as manga & anime, videos, music etc. for you to keep yourself interested and engaged on a daily basis. Self-study requires a knowledge of effective learning methods but allows you to tailor a much more effective program, plus you have the option to use a structured language course in tandem.

An effective Japanese program should provide ample context, examples, and explanation. which is why we believe JapanesePod101 is the best choice for learning Japanese. It has thousands of hours of video and audio content, and is as close as one can get to learning Japanese from a real teacher without the high price tag of taking classes.

JapanesePod101 has options for different budgets, and there really is no substitute that we’ve found that compares. With all of these options considered, we highly recommend JapanesePod101 for all of your language learning endeavors.

You can read our full review of JapanesePod101 by clicking the image below, or use our special discount link to get 65% off.

Editorial Team

Our Editorial Team is a group of language learning enthusiasts who are passionate about testing new apps and finding the best ways to learn a language.

Yoyo Chinese Review

Michael — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 05:41:49 +0000

Editor’s Note: This Yoyo Chinese Review has been checked for accuracy and updated as of Aug 10th, 2022.

What’s the best way to learn Chinese? Over the past year, our editors have tested and compared the most popular Chinese language learning resources available. Read on to find out what we thought of Yoyo Chinese, one of the more popular language programs, in our Yoyo Chinese review!

Already made up your mind and looking to start your free trial?

Yoyo Chinese Review: Summary

Name: Yoyo Chinese

URL: www.yoyochinese.com

Operating System: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS

Currency: USD

Price: Subscription (to all courses) is $29/month, $149/6 months or $249/year. Lifetime access to everything is $399.

Application Category: Language Learning Software

Description: An online Chinese language learning company that focuses on quality video production to teach Chinese to students around the world.

In A Nutshell: As a program that began as the result of a Youtube video gone viral in 2007, founder Yangyang Chen has been passionately pursuing her goal of making the Chinese language accessible for people around the world. With over 8 million lessons delivered to over 120,000 students worldwide, the consensus is clear that Yoyo Chinese is making good on Chen’s goal to teach Chinese to the world in a structured and effective manner.

Quality:

Quantity:

Effectiveness:

Practicality:

Price:

 5/5

 4/5

 5/5

 4/5

 3/5

Overall Score: 4.2

 4.2/5

The Goods

High quality professional video lessons
Teaches Chinese Characters effectively
Very engaging and likable host
Brilliant grammar explanations
Courses are logical and structured very well
Integrated spaced-repetition flashcards, review quizzes and lesson tracking
The first 45 lessons are free!

The Bads

Uses more English instruction than competitor programs
Limited to beginner & advanced learners
Somewhat expensive
No mobile app for on-the-go lessons
The Chinese character courses only focus on simplified Chinese
Better programs exist for Chinese writing (like Scritter, for example)

Yoyo Chinese Review: Overview

Yoyo Chinese is always being updated and improved, and it’s gone through some pretty major changes since when we first wrote this review over a year ago, however the essence of the program is still the same – high quality video lessons delivered by the very likable host (and founder) Yangyang Cheng.

The program actually consists of 6 unique courses, focusing on both conversational Chinese and the Chinese writing system. These courses are:

Beginner Conversational (60 units, roughly equivalent to HSK L1-2)
Intermediate Conversational (60 units, roughly equivalent to HSK L3-4)
Upper Intermediate Conversational (48 units, roughly equivalent to HSK L4-5)
Chinese Characters (300 commonly-used characters spread over 24 units, roughly equivalent to HSK L2)
Chinese Characters 2 (300 commonly-used characters spread over 24 units, roughly equivalent to HSK L3)
Chinese Character Reader (6 books over 30 units, roughly equivalent to HSK L3)

Each unit contains between 2 and 5 lessons and focuses on a single topic or aspect of the Chinese language (for example, ‘Talking About Hobbies’ or ‘Measure Words’). Some units are also there to review what you’ve learnt so far in the course.

The Pros: Here’s What We Liked Most About Yoyo Chinese

Pro #1: Makes a ‘Difficult’ Language Easy

The Yoyo Chinese curriculum and language is broken down for complete beginners, using concepts that are easy for English speakers to understand. The lessons often utilize mnemonic devices, songs and even some rather comical raps to help you remember what you’ve learnt! Within a few lessons you’re already learning usable vocabulary and building basic sentences in Chinese.

Pro #2: Consistently Good Quality Lessons

One of the things we loved most about Yoyo Chinese was the fact that the program gives off the appearance that the founder, YangYang Cheng is our personal Chinese instructor. You’ll find that every lesson is delivered by her and she maintains the level of engagement and professionalism throughout the entire course (something that can’t be said for some more botched-up curriculums like ChineseClass101).

This sort of personal dedication to the quality of the content by the founder of the company is something that is almost devoid amongst competing Chinese language learning programs and was something we thought makes Yoyo Chinese really stand out amongst the competition.

Pro #3: It’s Very Motivating

Yangyang is very upbeat and positive, always saying ‘good job’ and praising you at the end of each lesson. Now that they’ve introduced the progress tracker into the platform, there’s an extra motivation to maintain your study streak and see your progress bars fill up. The study schedule is also a great help. Knowing exactly what to study on each day, right down to a checklist, really helps you to see the end goal and stay motivated.

Pro #4: Downloadable Resources

Yes, everything can be downloaded (apart from the videos). This allows you to study completely on your own time and fit your learning around your busy schedule. You can listen to the audios whilst driving to work, at the gym or on a lunch break. The Chinese books can be uploaded onto your kindle to read before bed, and you can browse through vocab lists when sitting on the toilet.

Pro #5: Active FAQs & Social Media Channels

In case you didn’t know already, Yoyo Chinese has a BIG YouTube presence – over 300,000 subscribers! They give a lot of their content away for free and are constantly uploading new videos. But it’s not just their social media that’s growing but the course itself. They are always coming out with new updates and adding more content to the blog.

Similarly, the FAQ section for each lesson is always brimming with comments from other students and is definitely worth browsing through. It’s encouraging to see that the support team responds to almost every message, clarifying any confusion and providing further explanations.

Pro #6: Focus on People and Culture

You’ll often get a lesson which is slightly different from the usual ‘stand in front of a digital whiteboard and talk’ kind of lesson and instead takes you out into the streets of China, into a restaurant, or supermarket. These interviews provide you with an insight into how the language is used in context and how people actually speak. Most of the time people don’t use complete sentences or correct grammar, so it’s really useful to get this kind of exposure to the language. It’s also a great way to test your listening skills.

The Cons: Yoyo Chinese Is Very Good, But Not Perfect

So what’s the catch? It’s true, Yoyo Chinese is a brilliant resource for learning Chinese but it’s not perfect. Here’s a few of the things we didn’t like as much.

Con #1: Simplified Chinese Only

Yoyo Chinese only teaches Simplified Chinese characters and completely ignores the traditional characters that are widely used in places like Hong Kong and Taiwan. So if you are looking to base your travels or the majority of your Chinese speaking in either of those places, then Yoyo Chinese might not be the language learning program for you.

Con #2: No Mobile Application

Yoyo Chinese is a great program on a desktop computer, and even works well on a mobile browser. but in the age of the mobile application, we see that as a significant downside, especially given the fact that the majority of Yoyo Chinese’s competitors offer great mobile apps that can be easily used on the go.

Note: They have promised that the new app will be coming out soon, but when exactly is anyone’s guess.

Con #3: Too Much English!

To learn a language you really need to get as much exposure as possible, seeing it being used in different contexts over and over again. Unfortunately, the video lessons contain more English explanations than spoken Chinese which can be quite limiting and even time consuming when you just want to hear the language being used. The street interviews are great, but there’s not many of them. So you may want to supplement the course with outside material if you want to progress faster.

Con #4: The Writing Lessons Could Be Better

There’s better options out there for learning how to write in Chinese, for example Scritter. Yoyo Chinese simply shows you the stroke order and lets you get on with it, but Scritter actually provides real-time grading and stroke-level feedback which is really important for any pictorial language, especially Chinese.

Con 5: Limited To Beginner/Intermediate Learners

While the quality of content contained within Yoyo Chinese is very high, there is a limited amount of content. Each module contains between 100-200 lessons and those lessons tend to be on the short side.

Learning Chinese is no casual affair, and while we believe Yoyo Chinese is great for beginner and intermediate learners of the language, the program does not contain materials that will help someone become completely fluent in the language. You’ll need to supplement the course with extra materials and look elsewhere for an advanced course.

The Main Dashboard & Course Layout

The new update brought about a new sleek facelift to the main dashboard and how everything is laid out. In the top left you have 3 options: Me, Learn, & Mastery.

‘Me’ is where you can see your own personal profile and your learning stats; your current learning streak, number of completed lessons etc. You can change your name and enter your details here, and your profile picture will get changed to your Zodiac animal – pretty cool!

Clicking on ‘Learn’ will take you straight to the meat of the course – the lessons. You can toggle between the 6 courses and move between all the levels. Completed lessons will be shown with a green ring around them.

Finally, the ‘Mastery’ option gives you access to further learning through additional learning resources, namely the integrated spaced-repetition flashcards, a pinyin chart, and access to the download center.

The interactive pinyin chart is super useful for drilling your pronunciation. It’s a chart showing all the possible sounds in the Chinese language, including the tones. Yangyang even has videos demonstrating how to create each sound correctly, and you can listen to each sound by hovering your mouse over it. It’s something that we found ourselves returning to time and time again.

The download center is an absolute treasure trove of content! Here you’ll find all the lesson notes (for every course), complete study schedules, vocab glossaries, all the audio files, quiz worksheets, ebooks, HSK word lists, Chinese resume templates, infographics… the list goes on.

So, what are the lessons like?

Every lesson follows the same basic format. First, you have the video, where Yangyang usually reviews what you’ve previously learnt and then builds upon it by introducing new vocabulary, explaining the grammar, and providing many examples. These videos are very engaging, and you can easily find yourself binge watching your way through them with all the interesting examples and cultural cues.

Yangyang giving a lesson on Chinese Characters.

A typical anime-style reading lesson.

Yangyang giving a pronunciation lesson.

Underneath the video there’ll automatically be a full list of all the vocabulary and phrases from the lesson. You can click on each one independently to listen to the audio again. You can also toggle on/off the English, Chinese characters or pinyin. Plus, you can select either a fast or slow pronunciation.

There are 3 ways to practice what you’ve learnt in the lesson. First, you can click ‘Practice’, which brings up the flashcards onto the screen for you to test yourself and record your own pronunciation. Second, you can listen to the audio which prompts you to repeat the words and phrases in the lesson.

And finally, there’s the FAQ section which is sometimes very useful since you’ll often find other students have exactly the same questions as you, and the support team are very quick to clarify them. Plus you can ask you’re own.

Once you feel you are ready, you can take the lesson quiz. You’ll be guided through 10 questions, asking you to translate specific phrases/words, write down what you hear, put the words into the correct order etc. It’s not necessary to get 10/10 to continue; however if you get anything below around 7 they’ll recommend you review the materials and try again.

The lesson quiz has a variety of diffent question styles.

Who Is Yoyo Chinese For?

Those who’ll benefit the most from Yoyo Chinese are those who:

are serious about learning Chinese and can dedicate time each day to completing the lessons
are independent learners who can study in their own time
plan to travel or work/study in China
are looking for an all-in-one structured beginners course for learning the Chinese language

Who Is Yoyo Chinese NOT For?

Those who might not find Yoyo Chinese as helpful and may want to look elsewhere are those who:

Yoyo Chinese Alternatives

Chinese is indeed a challenging language, and it’s not something you can pick up just by passively watching Chinese TV. It requires dedication, commitment, and a lot of memorization.

Thankfully, there are many different options out there. When compared to competitors such as Rocket Chinese and FluentU, we believe Yoyo Chinese stands as the strongest competitor for self-study of Chinese.

ChineseClass101 Is Our Favorite Alternative

The one program we’ve tried that really competes is ChineseClass101. That said, which one you choose will really depend on your learning style preferences, and which personality you want teaching you Chinese. We’d recommend reading our review of ChineseClass101 and signing up for both free trials to see which one you like more.

Free trial of ChineseClass101

Free trial of Yoyo Chinese

Yoyo Chinese Pricing

Yoyo Chinese used to be only available for a one time fee which restricted you to a specific course (unless you bought them all). However, you’ll be glad to know that they now offer a subscription plan so you don’t have to make that big commitment from the very start. There are 3 subscription options:

Monthly -> $19.99 (full access to all 6 courses, over 1000 video lessons and all the downloadable resources)
Every 6 months -> $89.94 (25% off)

Personally, we recommend the 6 month subscription since it’s unlikely you’ll still be at a beginner/intermediate level after a year of regular study. YoyoChinese do still offer the lifetime option, which gives you full lifetime access to everything and all their future additions/updates:

Lifetime access (pay once) -> $299

Click here to see the current discounts available for Yoyo Chinese.

You can use the Coupon Code PERAPERA10 to get 10% off now.

Yoyo Chinese Review: Conclusion

We loved reviewing this product and are more than confident that Yoyo Chinese will help make you a better Chinese speaker from day one. YangYang’s expertise being a Chinese language instructor for the past 15 years is well-reflected in this product. We believe that the combination of lessons focusing on both Chinese grammar and Simplified Chinese characters will make you a very capable and adept Chinese speaker in a short period of time!

Michael

Michael has lived in Japan on and off for almost 10 years. He loves studying Japanese, and is currently working on going from N2 to N1 on the JLPT.

VietnamesePod101 Review

Michael — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 16:45:24 +0000

Note: This VietnamesePod101 Review is our honest opinion after spending hours testing out the program. There are affiliate links in this post — if you use them, it helps support our site. This review has been checked for accuracy on Feb. 13th, 2023.

There are plenty of reasons to learn some of the more romanticized and popular languages out there, like Japanese or Spanish or even French. But what happens when you want to study a language that most people overlook?

Vietnamese is one of those languages that is often forgotten by the language-learning crowd, despite being spoken by more than 75 million people. In the past, if you wanted to learn the Vietnamese alphabet or learn how to speak Vietnamese, you may have had some trouble getting the help you needed.

Fortunately, you don’t have to worry any more. The same people that brought us JapanesePod101 and ThaiPod101 have developed one of the most extensive and thorough online Vietnamese courses available on the internet right now.

VietnamesePod101 can help you master the language faster than you thought possible. Here is everything you need to know about the program to help you decide whether it’s right for you!

Already made up your mind and looking for our unique discount code?

VietnamesePod101 Review: Summary

Name: VietnamesePod101

URL: www.vietnamesepod101.com

Operating System: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS

Currency: Depends on region.

Price: 7-Day Free Trial; Free content is also available, whereas subscriptions run from US$8.00 for a 1-month Basic subscription to US$47.00 a month for Premium+ subscriptions. Price depends on subscription period and type.

Application Category: Language Learning Software

Description: VietnamesePod101 is a language program that’s created for beginners, and right through to advanced learners of the Vietnamese language. The extensive library of podcasts, videos, grammar lessons, interactive quizzes, authentic dialogues and additional learning features that can be bought on a subscription model gives the learner tons of information & resources to effectively learn the Vietnamese language, in a way that is both structured and complete. The breadth and overall quality of the material is excellent and even advanced learners get great value for money.

In a nutshell: Learn the Vietnamese alphabet, phrases, expressions, and more with VietnamesePod101, a platform developed by the popular Innovative Language Learning company that gives you video, audio, and other resources to learn Vietnamese quickly and efficiently.

Quality of Learning Materials:

Quantity of Lessons:

Effective and Efficient:

Teaches Useful Vietnamese:

Price:

 5/5

 4/5

 5/5

Overall Score: 4.1

 4.1/5

The Goods

A Well established suite of grammar notes and vocabulary tools (such as flash cards, vocab lists and word banks)
Distinguishes between northern & southern Vietnamese dialects
Over 1300 audio & video lessons, taught by knowledgeable and energetic native speakers
Convenient mobile app for on-the-go learning

The Bads

VietnamesePod101 Review: Overview

The lessons are arranged neatly into five levels of difficulty, absolute beginner to advanced. Those who are just beginning their studies can start with a placement test to see what they already know, or just jump right into the level 1 beginners course. Each level corresponds roughly with the standard CEFR framework with level 1 equating to A1, level 2 to A2, and so on – right up to level 5 (C1).

Every lesson introduces real-use language that is relevant to daily life, whether that’s going to the grocery store, introducing yourself or asking for directions. The lessons are not repetitive at all, and you can select from a diverse range of topics from the lesson library. Regardless of what you choose to learn first, every video or podcast is packed full of new language. The lessons are well thought-out and are delivered by a variety of very enthusiastic and engaging language tutors from Vietnam.

VietnamesePod101 Features

Aside from the free subscription, every membership option (discussed later) gives you access to the following features:

Extensive library of video and audio lessons
Downloadable lesson notes, transcript & checklist
Responsive flashcard app for on-the-go studying
English to Vietnamese dictionary
Interactive quizzes
Grammar and word banks
Printable worksheets
Pronunciation reviews via an interactive voice recorder

The Pros: What We Liked About VietnamesePod101

Pro #1: Hundreds of Videos and Audio Files

VietnamesePod101 is an excellent place to learn Vietnamese, because you get access to more than 800 videos that range from a basic level all the way to advanced. You can find topics on almost anything, so whatever your goals for learning Vietnamese, you can achieve them easily.

Not only that, but the videos are designed to be interesting and refreshing. You never feel like you are being forced to memorize words or follow a boring textbook. The main idea and methodology behind VietnamesePod101 is one of independent learning, meaning the syllabus is completely down to you.

Maybe you just want to be able to introduce yourself in Vietnamese? Then the basic boot camp pathway will be the one for you. Or maybe you want to learn more about Vietnamese food and culture? There’s another learning pathway dedicated specifically for that. You can pick and choose any learning pathways that pique your interest and add them to your main dashboard, where you’ll be able to track your progress and get recommendations for what to study next.

Pro #2: Easy To Use

What is easier than listening and repeating after a native speaker? VietnamesePod101 immerses you first in the language and then dives deep into the nuts and bolts of how the grammar works with the new vocab. The interface for both the computer-oriented program and the mobile app is clean, crisp, and intuitive. You will find everything arranged by level, category, media type, and so on.

Best of all, you can take the downloadable resources with you wherever you go. Gone are the days of worrying about whether the language app will work on airport WiFi – everything (including the mp3s) can be downloaded for offline learning.

Pro #3: Excellent Features

If you are willing to pay for a subscription (which you should), you’ll unlock hundreds of additional goodies that help keep you motivated. The basic account alone gives you access to full transcripts of the podcasts and flashcards. Premium accounts provide more customized study plans, and if you opt for Premium+ you’ll receive full access to one-on-one tutoring with a native Vietnamese speaker.

Pro #4: Skill-based Learning

When learning a new language, it’s important to focus on all four language skills – reading, writing, listening & speaking. Listening is usually the bottle neck for most people since authentic audio content at the right level can be very hard to come by. This is why VietnamesePod101 is our language program of choice. For listening specifically, it’s second to none.

Research has long been shown that listening to the language whilst reading along with the transcript repeatedly and breaking down the meaning of what you’ve just heard is a very effective way of learning a language. Thankfully, every lesson on VietnamesePod101 is structured exactly this way, usually with some kind of dialogue with the option to listen again to each line in isolation whilst reading along with the transcript.

But what about the other 3 skills? Although the program doesn’t give you direct speaking practice with a native speaker, there is the option to record yourself and compare your pronunciation alongside a native speaker. Not quite as good as a real life dialogue but still a brilliant way to really nail those difficult tones and get you sounding like a local.

For reading and writing, there’s many lesson pathways that are dedicated specifically to improving these skills. In fact, you can filter all the lessons by specific skill type and you’ll quickly discover lessons that cover such things as miniature books and writing exercises.

Pro #5: Cultural Exposure

What’s better than learning Vietnamese? Soaking one of the oldest and most fascinating cultures in the world, of course! As you might expect from a comprehensive language program like VietnamesePod101, there’s a huge cultural emphasis integrated into all the lessons.

You’ll discover the best of Vietnam’s mouth-watering foods like Phờ (rice noodle soup) & Xôi (steamed sticky rice), the most popular festivals and holidays, influential Vietnamese writers, musicians and leaders. The tutors go well out their way to explain the cultural significance of the language and to share their traditions and how society functions. Learning this way keeps the lessons fresh and interesting, and the language becomes far more memorable and fun.

The Cons: What We Didn’t Like About VietnamesePod101

There’s no language program that’s perfect, and VietnamesePod101 is no exception. Here’s a few things we didn’t like.

Con #1: Lack of Community

Since Vietnamese is not widely spoken or learned, the community is not as active as other forums on the same site. This makes finding learning partners difficult, especially if you are looking for someone to practice conversations with. While this is not entirely the fault of the program itself, it can be a bummer for more extroverted learners.

Con #2: Lack of Speaking Practice

Although, like we already mentioned, VietnamesePod101 does allow you to take oral quizzes and practice your pronunciation, it can get repetitive, because you are simply saying phrases over and over again. You are not getting real speaking practice, unless you purchase the most expensive subscription plan—an option not financially viable for everyone.

Con #3: Geared Towards Beginners and Low Intermediate

The content, while broad and interesting, can also be too basic for some learners. If you are someone who has lived in Vietnam for a while or is wanting to brush up on the language after taking a break from it, you will not find a lot of content that will challenge you. Granted, it is good for review, but you probably won’t learn anything new, even in the advanced section of the video and audio.

What Does A Lesson Look Like?

Every lesson first starts with the video or podcast. It’s recommended to listen to the dialogue several times to listen for language you may already know before studying the transcript. You can then listen again, line-by-line and record your own voice. The vocab section gives you a full list of the new words you encountered, and the option to listen again, record yourself, or add a word to a flash card deck or into your word bank. This ensures you never lose a word, saving it to review later.

The lesson content is then summarised concisely into the lesson notes, which includes a grammar section and cultural insights. Finally, you can test yourself by taking a multiple choice quiz before marking the lesson complete and moving on. This process is summarised in a downloadable checklist should you wish to structure your lessons this way – otherwise you’re free to use the platform as you like (for example, just listen to the dialogue, or focus on a specific grammar point).

Find yourself still struggling? You can go to the dictionary that provides hundreds of words with example sentences, sound clips, and pictures to help with recognition. You will also see the Vietnamese written out a couple of ways to aid in pronunciation, as well.

In short, you will never be at a loss about what to learn or how to study. The courses are structured to build upon one another. You can then supplement your studies with vocab lists, customizable flashcard decks, your personal word bank, most common words list, ‘word of the day’ emails, the mobile app, and so much more.

Who Should Buy VietnamesePod101?

VietnamesePod101 is ideal for the following people:

Who Shouldn’t Buy VietnamesePod101?

VietnamesePod101 is not recommended for the following people:

VietnamesePod101 vs. The Competition

Because Vietnamese is a lesser known language that is rarely studied in learning institutions or by travelers, the amount of resources available, including competition for programs like VietnamesePod101, pale in comparison to the competitors for, let’s say, JapanesePod101, which is made by the same company.

That said, there are a couple of language learning platforms that offer similar programs, such as Loecsen, Duolingo, Babbel, and Memrise. Since the last three mentioned are severely limited in their Vietnamese lessons, we can’t truly call them competitors, can we?

That leaves Loecsen. Like VietnamesePod101, you can find the course by simply searching “learn Vietnamese audio” into google, since it utilizes podcasts, free grammar and essential phrases downloads, and video to teach you common phrases. The speakers are native, too. Loecsen’s Vietnamese program is entirely free of charge, including all the resources. The downside, however, is the quantity of study material.

While VietnamesePod101 has over 800 audio and video files at your disposal, Loecsen’s resources will only give you a general understanding of Vietnamese. It’s great for a passing traveler but not for someone who wants to get fluent in the language.

Is It Worth The Money?

The free membership, as mentioned earlier, can be limited, so it is highly recommended that you make the commitment and choose a subscription if you are serious. Otherwise, free access gives you content such as pronunciation practice, grammar practice, information about verbs, the Innovative Language 101 app, and access to the “Daily Dose of Vietnamese.” This might be enough for you right now, especially if you are looking for a taster.

However, if you know that you want to learn Vietnamese, this language learning platform is one of the best on the market and worthy of your money. With a Basic subscription, you can access the language and culture collection, print out notes, and get complete access to archived audio.

Premium and Premium+, which are $120 and $220 for 6-months, respectively, offer up one-click downloads, lesson specific tools like grammar checkers, interactive voice recording, review quizzes, flashcards, transcription translation, and so much more. When you consider other language learning software, like Rosetta Stone, the price on 6-months or even 24-months (at $240-$549) is honestly a bargain that is too good to pass up.

In short, is it worth the money? We think so.

How To Get 30% Off VietnamesePod101

It’s no secret that we’re big fans of the Pod101 language programs. So we’ve asked the Innovative Language team for the biggest discount they offer — 30% off!

Check this page for the latest VietnamesePod101 discounts.

The Lifetime Membership Option

This option is not well-advertised (in fact, it was difficult for us to get access to), but if you don’t like subscription payments, you can get a lifetime membership to VietnamesePod101 as a one-time payment of $599. Here’s the link in case you’re interested:

On the same page they even offer a lifetime access to ALL their language programs.

If you’re really serious about becoming a polyglot in multiple languages, the lifetime access to all languages option could be worth checking out:

I think this is actually an amazing deal, despite seeming expensive at first glance. The Pod101/Class101 programs are often the best language courses available for Asian languages (we haven’t tried their others yet!). They’ve got some really smart people on staff building their curriculums, and it shows.

VietnamesePod101 $1 Offer

As soon as you sign up for VietnamesePod101 you’ll get offered a 30-day trial of the Premium membership for only $1. We’re telling you this now because once you click off the page you won’t be offered this again. It’s excellent value, and highly worth it if you want to try out the platform for a longer period of time before buying. Do bear in mind though that after your 30 days are up you’ll be automatically rolled onto the monthly $25 payment plan.

VietnamesePod101 Review: Final Thoughts

Our Verdict: VietnamesePod101 is a Superior Learning Tool For Learning Vietnamese Quickly and Efficiently.

As with many offerings from Innovative Language, VietnamesePod101 is an undisputed champion for studying and gaining fluency in Vietnamese. The course provides you with everything you need to gain confidence with learning this beautiful language. Whatever your goals may be, VietnamesePod101 can elevate your listening, speaking, and reading abilities much higher than the competitors or traditional classrooms.

If you are determined to learn Vietnamese, you have nothing to lose with this program and everything to gain!

Michael

Michael has lived in Japan on and off for almost 10 years. He loves studying Japanese, and is currently working on going from N2 to N1 on the JLPT.

The 5 Best Apps for Learning Thai

Josiah — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 11:32:21 +0000

A sleek, well-designed app that features a massive library of video/audio lessons.

Highly gamified and fun, Ling teaches the basics using native dialogues and quizzes.

The best option for learning how to read and write all 72 letters of the Thai alphabet.

Learning a new language can be an exciting endeavor, and learning Thai is absolutely no exception. It can open doors to wonderful new travel experiences – whether it’s navigating the depths of Bangkok’s exotic food markets, or getting local recommendations for the most off-the-beaten-track island beaches, the Thai language is a powerful entry point to experiencing Thailand’s wonderful culture and friendly people on a whole new level.

But it’s not easy. And without the right tools it can feel like hitting your head against a brick wall, with all it’s complex tones and confusing characters. But here’s the good news – there’s a TON of amazing apps out there to get you up to speed quickly, reading street signs and conversing with locals. Whether you’re a seasoned polyglot or just looking to know a few phrases to avoid being ripped off, there’s an app for everyone.

But which apps are actually worth your time? In this article, we’ve created our top 5 list of apps for learning Thai. We’ve taken into account everything from effectiveness, user experience and price. Furthermore, we know how important it is to develop all your language skills simultaneously so we’ve included the best resources to improve speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. With this list you can’t go wrong. Let’s dive right in!

1. ThaiPod101

Best Overall – Most Comprehensive

Coming in at number one on our list is ThaiPod101, one of the most comprehensive and regularly updated language courses on the market. And, they have an awesome app. The lessons are mostly based around short podcasts (hence the ‘pod’) however there’s loads of video lessons too, all delivered by native speakers in a relaxed and engaging tone.

The unique thing about ThaiPod101 is the ability to completely customise your own learning by selecting your own ‘pathways’. You can filter by level, category, skill type etc. and add pathways to your dashboard to track your own learning. There’s a ton of interesting content, from food to dating. Plus, the app includes flashcards, word lists, a dictionary, and all sorts of bonus features. The only thing lacking is the speaking element of Thai, and the writing lessons could be better.

Click here to read our full ThaiPod101 review.

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 3/5

 4/5

 5/5

2. Ling

Most Engaging & Fun

Ling is a highly gamified app (much like Duolingo) that offers short themed lessons for over 50 languages, including Thai. It’s not the most comprehensive app out there but it does offer a great entry point into the language and it’s very engaging for new learners to use. Unlike duolingo the activities don’t feel overly repetitive and are generally very varied with everything from dialogues to vocab-matching. We love that they’ve incorporated native voice clips into the activities and best of all it’s free! Note, we did find some mistakes in the material and there’s not much in terms of grammar explanations

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 5/5

 3/5

 5/5

3. Write Me

Best App for Learning the Thai Alphabet

To learn any language, it’s a good idea to start with the alphabet. Once you can read, every street sign, menu or newspaper becomes a language lesson. Plus, you can get locals to write words down for you that you don’t understand, making translation much easier. Write Me does an excellent job at teaching you the Thai alphabet in a pain-free way. This is quite a task given that there’s over 70 letters!

Similar to Ling, it incorporates quizzes and games to keep you motivated to continue – you’ll grow virtual flowers as you progress through the levels. But not only is it fun but seems to be very effective. They’ve incorporated a spaced recognition system to gradually up the ante, until you’re eventually identifying each letter and writing it with precision. The writing software is similar to skritter, giving you real time feedback with handy arrows & animations. It also has voice clips so you can start learning the pronunciation alongside the writing.

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 5/5

 4/5

 5/5

4. Simply Learn

Most Useful for Travel

Planning a trip to Thailand? This app isn’t really a comprehensive course but more of a travel phrasebook that conveniently has all the key phrases you’ll need to get around in Thailand. The app is laid out nicely to make navigation quick and easy, with intuitive categories and search functions. Every phrase has a voice clip by a native speaker and a transliteration to help you. We love that you can favorite specific phrases if you know you are going to use them often.

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 4/5

 3/5

 4/5

5. You too can learn Thai (podcast)

Best for Listening Practice

You too can learn Thai is an absolute gem for Thai language students. It’s designed specifically for learners of Thai by linguist Dr Khru Nan. Every week she releases a new episode on interesting and relevant topics, often with special guests, all in Thai! But don’t fear, she always guides you along with short interjections of English to avoid confusion, and she’ll repeat everything at both slow and natural speeds. It might be a little too much for complete beginners, but it never hurts to listen anyway to get used to the language and pick out the words that you do know.

The podcasts are available on Apple, Spotify or Youtube, and they are free – supported only by amazon affiliate links.

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 5/5

 3/5

 4/5

Runners-up for Best Thai App:

Here’s our list of apps that didn’t make it into our top five but are still worth checking out.

Glossika Thai

This app is best for only upper-beginner to intermediate learners. It’s audio based and focuses on learning key phrases through their spaced-repetition system. It works very efficiently and is easy to use, however you are expected to already have a good grasp of the Thai alphabet since you’ll be expected to write in Thai. It’s very clever how it adjusts to your level, however for beginners we recommend avoiding Glossika and sticking with ThaiPod101.

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 3/5

 4/5

 3/5

Pimsleur

Pimsleur is a well known name in the language learning space, and for good reason! They are awesome at getting you up to a basic conversational level fast. Again, it’s purely audio based which is very handy for when travelling or out and about, and the 1 hour lessons each focus on an authentic dialogue and then breaks it down, prompting you to repeat and ‘participate’ in the dialogue. Many students find it very effective for boosting their speaking and listening skills however it does nothing for reading and writing. Furthermore, their Thai course only has one level, so it’s very limited in scope.

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 3/5

 5/5

 4/5

italki

FInally, this article wouln’t be complete without mentioning italki. It’s always a great go-to resource for getting real conversation practice woth native speakers. The tutors are affordable and lessons can be scheduled to fit around your lifestyle. The only con is that you can’t expect the tutors to do all the work for you – to get the most out of each lesson you should keep it focused and structured.

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 4/5

Conclusion: The 5 Best Apps For Learning Thai

I hope you’ve found this list useful – now you have no excuse to get out there and start practicing your Thai! And most of, have a lot of fun whilst doing so.

To recap, serious Thai learners should consider a ThaiPod101 subscription, the number one app for learning Thai. For those just looking to wet their feet we reccomend having a play around with Ling or Simply Learn. For writing, we strongly reccomend the Write Me app, and for listening you should check out the ‘You too can learn Thai‘ podcast.

Josiah

Josiah is a digital nomad with a passion for language learning and adventure travel. He’s taught English as a foreign language for many years and is currently learning Georgian, French and Chinese.

The 5 Best Apps for Learning Chinese

Josiah — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 10:54:24 +0000

A fully comprehensive course with a well developed app. Lessons are taught by a range of engaging native speakers.

Olly’s course is based upon his unique ‘storylearning’ methodology. His method is fun and effective.

A well-structured course with a linear syllabus, perfect for beginners due to it’s thorough explanations and detailed notes.

Learning Chinese is no easy task, and with an endless choice of apps on the market it’s hard to know where to start. Luckily for you, we’ve compiled this list of our 5 best apps for learning Chinese, based on our experience personally using them and testing them all out.

Each app has its own unique style – some are best for just learning the Chinese characters whilst others are just great all-round courses. Whichever app you choose to go for, bear in mind that everyone has their own preferences and specific learning styles when learning a language, so what works for us might not be your best fit.

So without further ado, let’s jump right into it! Coming in at number one on our list is our personal favorite – ChineseClass101.

1. ChineseClass101

Best Overall

ChineseClass101 is technically an online course, but their mobile app has everything you need to access their comprehensive library of lessons, and more! The instructors at ChineseClass101 teach you Chinese through a series of professionally-made video and audio lessons. What’s unique about ChineseClass101 is the fact that you are not limited to a set syllabus but can actually pick and choose your lesson ‘pathways, as they call them, to fully customise your own syllabus based upon your goals and interests.

It comfortably hits the number 1 spot on our list for one main reason – it covers everything. For a beginner or intermediate in Chinese, we feel it is the best option to keep you engaged and learning, providing you with an enormous array of useful content – up to date cultural information, a focus on listening skills (in addition to reading, writing etc.), and the use of authentic dialogues and videos from real native speakers.

Click here to read our in-depth review of ChineseClass101.

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 4/5

2. Olly Richards’ Chinese Conversations (Intermediate)

Most Effective

This one’s really only useful if you’re already at an intermediate level of Chinese, so if you’re just starting out it’s best to skip this one for the time being (but keep it in mind for later). We kept this option on our list because we just love the teaching methodology, making it one of the most effective techniques for rapidly improving your Chinese language skills.

Olly Richards is a well-acclaimed polyglot, having taught himself over 8 languages and developed a massive range of language courses, each one modelled on his own method he developed for learning languages – through stories. His intermediate conversation courses are a little different, and instead focus on authentic dialogues covering loads of useful topics.

However, the central methodology is the same – to immerse you in as much new language as possible. Only after spending plenty of time with the audio does he then give a comprehensive, line-by-line breakdown of the entire audio clip. You are sure to learn loads from this course, plus everything can be accessed on mobile or downloaded offline.

Note: 'Chinese Uncovered' for beginners will be released this year (2021) and will follow the popular story format as all the other 'uncovered' language courses.

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 3/5

 5/5

 4/5

3. Yoyo Chinese

Most Comprehensive

Coming in at number 3 is Yoyo Chinese, a comprehensive video course that takes complete beginners right through to an intermediate level using a very effective and highly engaging teaching style, delivered by the founder (and course designer), Yangyang Chen.

The course is broken down into multiple sub-courses that each focus on a different skill – reading, writing and conversational skills. It’s ideal for anyone who easily gets overwhelmed since everything is explained in very easy to understand terms, using clever analogies and memory techniques that are suited to the native English speaker. In the custom-built app you’ll find flashcards, downloadable lesson notes, review quizzes and more – and better still, the first 45 lessons are free!

Click here to read our in-depth review of Yoyo Chinese.

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 3/5

 4/5

 5/5

4. Duolingo

Best Budget Option

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it’s unlikely you haven’t heard of duolingo, everyone’s favorite go-to option for language learning. Despite having it’s flaws, it’s still a great entry-level option for anyone starting Chinese, especially if you’re on a budget. The course is logically structured and gets harder as you progress through all the levels, covering everything from family to eating out.

The main benefit with duolingo is its ability to keep you engaged and motivated – it’s highly gamified. You’ll earn ingots and be able to spend them on bonus levels and all sorts of goodies, and the friendly old owl will be your personal cheerleader throughout every lesson.

Click here to read our in-depth review of Duolingo Chinese.

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 5/5

 3/5

 5/5

5. FluentU

Most Immersive

We LOVE FluentU, it just had to make it onto our top 5 list. Whilst it’s not strictly a language course, there’s a ton of value to be had from it as a supplementary learning tool. You can think of FLuentU as youtube for language learning. You can binge watch your way through thousands of level-appropriate video clips that are nicely categorised into such things as movie trailers, music videos, vloggers, instructional videos, interviews etc. The interactive platform then gives you an instant translation when you hover your mouse over a word in the subtitles, and even tests you on your newly learnt vocabulary.

As mentioned, it shouldn’t be used as a primary learning source, but rather an additional extra to improve your listening skills and to boost your vocabulary. We love how the app automatically logs all the words you know or don’t know, and then gives you a nice indicator for each video to tell you how many words you already know and how difficult it’s likely to be, before you even begin the video.

Click here to read our in-depth review of FluentU.

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 3/5

 4/5

 5/5

Runners-up for Best Chinese App:

Our list wouldn’t be complete without at least giving these runners up a mention, which are still 100% worth checking out.

Rocket Chinese

Rocket Chinese is a very comprehensive language course which covers everything from writing to speaking. They’ve incorporated a handy voice-recognition software into the lesson dialogues which is a nice touch since many language programs are lacking when it comes to speaking. The lessons are primarily audio-based but come with plenty of supplementary notes and loads of memory based games and quizzes.

Rocket Chinese is a very comprehensive language course which covers everything from writing to speaking. They’ve incorporated a voice-recognition software into the lesson dialogues which is a nice touch since many language programs are lacking when it comes to speaking. The lessons are primarily audio-based but come with plenty of supplementary notes and loads of memory based games and quizzes.

Click here to read our in-depth review of Rocket Chinese.

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 3/5

Skritter

All the other apps we’ve mentioned so far use quite generic methods for learning the Chinese characters. They work, but it’s certainly not the best way to learn. Chinese has thousands of characters, and memorising them all can be quite a challenge. This is where Skritter comes in. It’s a brilliant tailor-made tool for learning Chinese characters that utilises research-based methods such as active recall and spaced repetition to create a very effective learning tool.

There’s no other app that has such a smooth on-screen handwriting tool, and the way it curates purpose-made example sentences for each character is a huge bonus – one that really enhances your ability to retain the new information. Skritter is for learning characters only and doesn’t provide anything on grammar, conversation or reading.

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 3/5

 5/5

Pimsleur Chinese

Pimsleur has been around for a long time, but it’s effectiveness still endures. It gets you using useful phrases from the very beginning through a structured syllabus of 30 minute audio lessons. It’s immersive so don’t expect to see any grammar explanations or much English being spoken. Instead, you are first introduced to a native speed conversation and then prompted to repeat each phrase, each sound being meticulously broken down to get you speaking with the right pronunciation. You can then participate in the dialogue when prompted.

Many students feel that their speaking and listening skills have massively improved since taking the Pimsleur Chinese course. It’s a great option for those looking to quickly get conversational before a trip to China, but not if you are looking to get a high level understanding of how the language actually works, or are looking to be able to read and write Chinese.

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 2/5

 4/5

italki

Last on our list is italki, an app we always recommend to students who need extra speaking practice. It’s perfect for connecting you with an affordable native tutor who can work around your schedule and adapt to your needs. It’s the perfect complementary app to use alongside a structured course or textbook.

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 4/5

Conclusion: The 5 Best Apps For Learning Chinese

So, there you have it. Overall, it really depends on what you are looking to improve to be honest. For a complete beginner looking for an all-encompassing course that’ll keep you engaged and progressing, we recommend checking out ChineseClass101. Likewise, Yoyo Chinese will give you everything you need, but with a more structured approach.

For those already with an upper-beginner/intermediate level of Chinese, check out Olly’s conversational course, and for a quick and easy way to achieve a basic conversational level, we recommend Pimsleur. Unsure which to start with? Give Duolingo a try. Bonus points go to FluentU (awesome for vocab) and Skritter (for learning Characters).

We hope this list helps you decide which Chinese-learning apps are right for you, and we wish you the best of luck along your language learning journey! 再见! (zài jiàn)!

Josiah

Josiah is a digital nomad with a passion for language learning and adventure travel. He’s taught English as a foreign language for many years and is currently learning Georgian, French and Chinese.

Japanese Uncovered Review

Michael — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 13:34:13 +0000

The following is our honest Japanese Uncovered Review. Please note that there are affiliate links in this post, but most importantly: we only recommend products that we’ve have thoroughly tested and believe in!

The information in this review is up to date as of February 16th, 2021.

There are a variety of reasons to learn to speak Japanese. First, it is often included as one of the most important languages to learn for global business. Next, Japanese is a language and culture so different from our own that it can be an exciting adventure to learn something so new. If you are ready to take on this adventure and learn to speak Japanese, check out our review for Japanese Uncovered.

If you’re looking for the free trial of Japanese Uncovered, click here.

Japanese Uncovered Review: Overview

Japanese Uncovered is taught by Olly Richards, a fluent-Japanese speaker who also speaks seven other languages. Olly has a team of two others that help explain the writing system, grammar, culture, and pronunciations. Richards uses his own immersive StoryLearning method to teach you how to speak Japanese.

A pronunciation lesson with Ai Sensei

You are expected to read and listen to the story without committing anything to memory. A portion of the quirky story is told over the course of 20 lessons. You begin by learning simple words and phrases and build upon this foundation as you advance.

Japanese Uncovered promises to:

help you learn Japanese quickly through immersion instead of memorization
help you memorize and retain vocabulary by seeing it used
help you understand the language because of extensive listening
help you learn Japanese grammar without memorizing the rules

Good Points About Japanese Uncovered

Less Intimidating than Other Courses

The very idea that Japanese is so different from our own language can scare people away from learning to speak it. However, once you begin the first lesson, Richards and co-instructor, Ai Sensei, make you feel at ease like it is possible to learn Japanese regardless of your preconceived ideas about it. You aren’t expected to begin memorizing, but instead to simply listen and practice speaking.

Japanese Uncovered’s hosts: Olly Richards and Ai Sensei

Learning all Writing Systems

While many programs begin with romaji, or the Romanization of Japanese, and eventually turn over to the Japanese writing systems, Japanese Uncovered begins giving you hiragana along with Romaji right away. Eventually, katakana and kanji are also introduced to get you used to thinking like a Japanese speaker.

Japanese Uncovered introduces writing hiragana right off the bat.

Comprehensive and Structured

Because of the complexities of speaking Japanese, any self-teaching course must be comprehensive. Each Japanese Uncovered lesson covers vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, pronunciation, culture, and writing. It also covers Keigo, the levels of formality and politeness to use in various situations.

High Production Value

From the quality of the videos, to the PDF layouts and course design, it’s obvious that a lot of time, money and attention have been paid to production value. Japanese Uncovered ‘feels’ like a premium product, and the video quality is one of the best we’ve seen in a language course.

Bad Points About Japanese Uncovered

Lack of Learning Tools

The majority of your learning will be through video, which can feel redundant, at times. You can download and print the writing worksheets, but there are no voice-recording tools to practice and hone your pronunciation. You also won’t find flashcards or other game-like activities if you need a break from lessons.

Lessons can be Monotonous

Richards can sometimes give long introductions and explanations about lessons, which left us spacing out somewhat. On the other hand, there are times where you almost feel as if there is too much being crammed into one lesson, which also left us drifting away. It is a love/hate relationship with Richards’ teachings in that it is interesting, personal, and comfortable, but sometimes drawn out.

Who would like Japanese Uncovered?

Japanese Uncovered is a great resource for those with little to no knowledge of Japanese up to low-intermediate speakers. If you plan to become fluent in Japanese, this is an ideal beginner course that strongly mingles the language and culture as it is in real life.

Who would NOT like Japanese Uncovered?

Because this course is structured and comprehensive for learning to speak Japanese, it would not be relevant for those who may just want to learn quick travel phrases or the like. The goal of this course is to give the beginner a solid foundation into speaking Japanese.

Features of Japanese Uncovered

Welcome and Introduction

Olly Richards offers a warm welcome to introduce you to the course and show you how to use it. This is important, because ultimately you are responsible for recording whether you’ve completed a lesson or not. Richards is encouraging and friendly, making this feel like you are learning from a friend.

20 Chapters

Each chapter consists of seven lessons along with an introduction to the chapter, review quiz, and additional listening resources. Your first activity in Richards’ StoryLearning method is to Listen & Read. A Japanese speaker narrates a story, and there are transcripts to follow along in Romaji. After this activity, you will advance through the lessons about what you’ve read.

Vocabulary, Grammar, Pronunciation

Richards and Ai host the next videos which point out key vocabulary and grammar in the text. Most of these videos consist of Richards highlighting onscreen words and word combinations. The pronunciations are usually hosted by Ai, and because you are watching her in the video, you can learn exactly how she forms her words. This helps you learn your own pronunciation. Both hosts feel like friends, but some of these videos last up to 40 minutes and can feel too long.

Screenshot from a vocabulary lesson

Learning the Script and Language & Culture

We really enjoy Learning the Script lessons. You can print out the writing worksheets to easily follow along with Ai as she shows you hiragana and eventually, katakana and kanji. We would recommend getting Japanese writing pens in order to give yourself the most genuine experience with Japanese script. It can also make this section more enjoyable.

Richards covers the Language & Culture lessons and generally explains the differences between English and Japanese. For example, in English, we say “your friends.” In Japanese, we say “Alex’s friends” instead of using you or your.

Keigo

The Keigo lessons cover the way you speak in Japan. Some instances will be much more formal than others, and Keigo covers speaking to others and showing respect. It also encompasses how to speak humbly about yourself.

Each Chapter has an accompanying Keigo lesson to help you better understand its use

Speaking Activities

These activities can be completed alone or with a Japanese instructor. Print these activities and practice speaking with another.

Quizzes and Progress Reports

The quiz is a short multiple-choice test over what you have learned in the chapter. Though it can be useful for review, it really isn’t significant enough to cover the entire chapter.

Progress reports are a way for you to get feedback from your instructors. You are asked what you need help with, how the chapter could be improved, and what you liked the best. This gives you a chance to ask questions or share your input.

Bonus Lessons

Bonus lessons include the Deadliest Chopsticks Sins and Japanese Golden 100. The chopsticks lesson teaches some etiquette about how to use them and what not to do with them. The use and placement of chopsticks have very certain roles in Japanese culture, so this bonus lesson is much more important than many might initially think.

Additional Resources

This section includes transcripts of the story in kana and kanji, vocabulary lists, slow and regular speech recordings, and the chapter syllabus.

Click the images below to see screenshots of PDF transcripts in the Kana version and Furigana:

How Japanese Uncovered Compares to Other Popular Japanese Programs

Japanese Uncovered vs. JapanesePod101

JapanesePod101 is a monthly-subscription language-learning program brought to you by Innovative Language. It uses a combination of videos, podcasts, and learning tools to help you learn to speak Japanese. Higher-priced premium subscription plans grant you the ability to speak one-on-one with your instructors and receive personal learning plans. New materials are added regularly to each subscription level, so the content can feel endless. You will also find a variety of game-like tools to help you retain information you’ve learned.

JapanesePod101 offers a huge variety of lessons, from beginner to advanced

Though we cannot argue about the comprehensiveness of JapanesePod101, it feels much less personal than Japanese Uncovered. We like having the option of posting comments or questions after each lesson and receiving answers to those questions. With JapanesePod101, you only get access to your instructor after paying a higher monthly rate for it.

You can read our full review of JapanesePod101 here.

Japanese Uncovered vs. Pimsleur Japanese

Pimsleur Japanese is based on a similar concept as Japanese Uncovered in that it uses a more organic approach to learning to speak another language. Pimsleur consists of Japanese podcasts for lessons. You are only expected to listen and absorb the language just like you did your native language. There are two monthly subscription rates to access Pimsleur, and you can listen to the podcasts anywhere you go.

The Pimsleur Japanese Dashboard

Unlike Japanese Uncovered, there is very little taught about Japanese culture and formality norms. We think this can leave you wanting for more, and Pimsleur might be better used as a supplemental program.

You can read our full review of Pimsleur Japanese here.

How Much Is Japanese Uncovered?

The Japanese Uncovered beginner course is $297 and includes 20 chapters loaded with content. Once you have completed this course, you may want to try the intermediate Japanese: Conversations course to further your knowledge. This course is $197 and includes 20 chapters of conversations also using the StoryLearning method. Once you’ve purchased a course or courses, you have access to the lessons and content for life. You can also access it on all of your electronic devices.

Purchase Japanese Uncovered

Japanese Uncovered Review: Final Thoughts

Is Japanese Uncovered worth the money? For a serious beginner student who wants to learn Japanese at their own pace, we say it definitely is. This is a very comprehensive course with a unique teaching method that will keep you motivated to study. Some of the information can feel monotonous, but that is to be expected of learning any new language.

Probably our favorite aspect of Japanese Uncovered is the hosts. Both Olly Richards and Ai Sensei are encouraging and welcoming. This helps give you the confidence to overcome the idea that Japanese is too difficult and intimidating to learn.

Overall, we give this course a 4.2 out of 5. If you’re on the fence, you can use this link below to get a free trial of Japanese Uncovered:

7-day Free Trial of Japanese Uncovered

Michael

Michael has lived in Japan on and off for almost 10 years. He loves studying Japanese, and is currently working on going from N2 to N1 on the JLPT.

Rocket Korean Review

Editorial Team — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 13:25:07 +0000

Note: The Rocket Korean program received some major updates in the new 2021 Edition. We’ve updated our Rocket Korean review below to reflect the changes.

The Korean language is unique in that it is considered by many to be a language isolate. This means that it is a natural language that has little to no association with another language. If you are considering learning Korean, you might be wondering what’s the best way to do so.

Korean is spoken by over 75 million people worldwide. Knowing the language opens doors to Korea’s ever-growing job market and deepens your travel experiences, getting an insight into a fascinating culture.

Apart from learning by total immersion, a quick internet search will yield a handful of online language-learning programs promising to teach you how to become fluent in Korean. Do they live up to their own hype? In this article, we’ll be reviewing one of the more popular language programs – Rocket Korean, a part of the award-winning Rocket Languages group.

Already made up your mind and looking to start your free trial account?

Rocket Korean Review: Summary

Name: Rocket Korean

URL: www.rocketlanguages.com/korean/premium

Operating System: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS

Currency: USD

Application Category: Language Learning Program

Price: One-time payment of $149.95 for lifetime access to Level 1 — Beginner to Intermediate. There are often coupons that can be applied for up to $50 off this price.

There is now the option to break down the cost of Rocket Korean into six monthly payments for added convenience.

Description: Rocket Korean is a product of Rocket Languages, a comprehensive language program with lessons on grammar, vocabulary and Korean culture. The lesson get you learning the Hangul from the very beginning and the platform features lots of extra learning tools, such as flashcards and voice recognition software.

In a nutshell: Overall, Rocket Korean is a brilliant option for those looking for an introductory course that covers all aspects of the Korean language (excluding reading). Our only issue is that it’s only for beginners and limits your progression, forcing you to find an alternative course beyond an intermediate level.

Quality of Learning Materials:

Quantity of Lessons:

Effective and Efficient:

Teaches Useful Phrases:

Price:

 4/5

 3/5

 4/5

 3/5

Overall Score: 3.6

 3.6/5

The Goods

Newest updates address customer concerns
Comprehensive - covers everything from writing to culture
Lots of prompting to practice what you learned
Interactive games and leaderboard helps keep you motivated
Course content is fully downloadable for offline learning
Free app with a membership

The Bads

Expensive
No activity in forums
Exercises can feel repetitive
Not enough focus on Chinese pronunciation
Voice recognition software is not always accurate
The teaching methodology is quite old fashioned, relying too much on memorisation
Beginner's course only

Rocket Korean Review: Overview

Unlike other Rocket Languages courses, Rocket Korean only offers a beginners course, taking you from beginner level to intermediate. Once you’ve completed the course you will have reached a good conversational level. The course consists of seven modules and a bonus “Survival Kit,” which offers quick vocab lessons that are ideal for travel and other specific situations.

The entire course contains over 120 hours of lesson time, broken down into 3 distinct lesson types:

32 Interactive audio lessons
28 Language and culture lessons
27 Writing lessons

Each lesson type focuses on a different skill or aspect of the language. For example, the audio lessons focus mainly on basic conversations by providing authentic dialogues, broken down line-by-line for you to practice and study.

The next type of lesson, the ‘language and culture’ lessons, go deeper into the Korean grammar, breaking the language down into its basic building blocks to help you understand how it works and eventually start constructing your own sentences.

FInally, the writing lessons introduce the Hangul writing system, letter by letter. Short videos show you the stroke order, accompanied by explanations and background information about each letter which helps with the memorisation. Unfortunately, there is no functionality for you to write the letters yourself (unlike other courses) so it’s recommended that you practice writing the Hangul out yourself on a notebook or pad of paper.

A membership to Rocket Korean not only gives you full access to the lesson but also offers:

reinforcement activities
members-only forum
progress tracking and leaderboard
voice-recognition for pronunciation practice
flash cards
mobile app for on-the-go learning

The Pros: What We Like About Rocket Korean

Pro #1: New, Simplified User Interface

We love the updates Rocket Languages made to its platform. In the past, users were a bit confused on where to begin lessons. Now, the dashboard is clearly labeled and numbered, so you can easily start or pick up where you left off.

Pro #2: Leaderboard

We are a bit on the competitive side, so we love the idea of the leaderboard. Comparing your progress to that of other users is one way to keep motivated to use the program each day. Daily study and maintaining motivation will help you achieve your goal of learning to speak Korean.

Pro #3: Lots (and lots) of Content

Each lesson is jam-packed with information. They even have extra testing and extension vocab for you to learn more content beyond the scope of the lessons. The new Survival Kit provides quick, easy-to-pick-up phrases if you are planning to travel soon. The cultural lessons offer additional insight into the language. All in all, there’s enough lessons to keep you occupied for quite some time.

Pro #4: Focuses on Authentic Language

We like how they’ve placed a big emphasis on real everyday language by incorporating an authentic dialogue into every audio lesson. You can listen to the native speakers and mimic their pronunciation and intonation by recording your own voice and playing it back alongside the native speaker. You can effectively take part in the dialogue too by taking on one of the roles in the dialogue. The computer will play only the audio of the other speaker, leaving gaps for you to speak, automatically recording your voice.

Pro #5: Useful Tools & Features

Within the learning platform, you’ll find some useful extra tools when you click on the profile icon. For example, they’ve integrated a flashcard function right into the program, allowing you to test yourself on what you’ve learnt, even create some of your own flashcard decks.

Other tools allow you to add notes during the lesson, save useful vocabulary into a vocab bank, and take benchmark tests to gage your level. And finally, let’s not forget the forum, which allows you to ask questions and connect with other like-minded students.

The Cons: What We Didn't Like About Rocket Korean

Con #1: Beginner’s-Only Course

You can only go so far with Rocket Korean’s course. If you are striving for fluency, you will need to find an additional program once you’ve finished this course. This can be a huge inconvenience because you will need to change to a new platform, after you’ve just got used to the Rocket Japanese teaching style. You might find overlap with other content and waste time re-learning content you know already. You may also have difficulty choosing what level to start at with a new program.

Con #2: Empty Forums

Though we love the idea of interactive user forums for questions and answers among users, we found that most are empty or outdated. Users simply aren’t using the forums very often making it difficult to connect with other Korean students.

Con #3: English is Used Too Much

We felt that the audio lessons were too English-heavy, with a big emphasis on explaining what everything means rather than just demonstrating and letting you figure it out yourself. This means that the lessons move quite slowly with everything getting clarified first in English. You may want to sometimes skip the audio files and dive straight into the dialogues to get as much immersion into the language as possible – something that’s very important when learning a language.

Con #4: Voice Recognition Software is Not Great

It’s awesome that they now include a voice recognition software to give you a score on your pronunciation, however it is far from perfect, often giving a perfect score even when I made deliberate mistakes. Instead, we’d like to see more focus on the pronunciation itself, how to make the unique sounds in Korean, rather than rely on a buggy technology. We’d recommend finding a Korean tutor on italki to help you hone your pronunciation skills.

Con #5: Can Get Repetitive

The practice exercises are all very similar, based upon memorisation only, which can get boring very quickly. We’d like to see more fun and varied ways of testing yourself rather than basic translation exercises.

What are the Lessons Like?

As mentioned, the course features 3 lesson types. They alternate throughout the course which helps to keep everything fresh and interesting. Each lesson takes around 20 to 40 minutes to complete and you can download the MP3 files for you to study whilst on the go (for example, when at the gym or on a commute). This makes it very easy to fit around your busy lifestyle.

The topics are very interesting and focus mainly on useful situations that you may encounter while living or travelling in Korea. For example, you’ll learn how to order food, hail a cab, or ask for directions. The culture lessons provide a fascinating insight into Korean society, looking at honorifics, traditions and dining etiquette.

At the end of each lesson, there’s a section called “Rocket Reinforcement” where you’ll find a series of activities to drill home what you’ve learnt. Each activity uses a slightly different method to test you on what you’ve learnt.

These activities are:

- Play it! Take part in the dialogue by recording your own voice.
- Flashcards: Translate each word or phrase and then rate it on how difficult you felt it was
- Hear it! Say it! You get fed each word and you are asked to record yourself pronouncing it
- Know it! You must translate the meanings
- Quiz: A multiple choice test

It’s also worth noting that you can change the difficulty of the ‘Rocket Record’ between hard and easy. Plus you can toggle the romanization on or off.

Some users have noted that they appreciate the fact that the instructors do not waste time engaging in eye-rolling jokes on the audio lessons (a common issue before the update). On the flip side, the lessons can now feel a little too dry in comparison to other programs.

Who Is Rocket Korean For?

Those who’ll get the most out of the course are those who:

are interested in learning about Korean culture and traditions
have time each day to study and progress through the lessons
are self-motivated and independent learners
plan to live, work or travel in Korea
are looking for a solid introduction to the Korean language

Who Is Rocket Korean NOT For?

Those who might not be a best fit for Rocket Korean are those who:

Rocket Korean vs. Competition

Rocket Korean vs. Pimsleur Korean

Pimsleur Korean offers a premium monthly subscription for $19.95. Like Rocket, it includes mostly audio lessons, but you can also find quizzes and flashcards for visualization. Up to three household members can use the account on different devices. It also offers some reading lessons in addition to audio.

Rocket Korean vs. KoreanClass101

KoreanClass101 is a member of Innovative Languages’ Pod101 courses. It has three monthly subscription levels based upon how much access and learning features you want. It claims to be one of the fastest and most fun ways to become fluent in Korean. Lessons are comprehensive and include both video and audio along with transcripts. Expertise levels range from absolute beginner to advanced speaker.

Read our full review of KoreanClass101 here.

Rocket Korean vs. Duolingo Korean

Duolingo Korean is a game-like application designed to make learning to speak the language fun. You will find a variety of exercises including fill in the blank, multiple choice and arranging words in order. Understanding the most basic aspects of Korean is a good idea before starting Duolingo, as there are few to no grammar explanations.

Is Rocket Korean Worth the Money?

All in all, the price is very affordable for a serious student. There is plenty of content for the absolute beginner to get started in Korean. For a comparable program, you will have to fork over a monthly subscription fee. We’re a big fan of the one-time or six-month payment plan fees with Rocket Languages.

Rocket Korean Review: Conclusion

We want to love Rocket Korean like we do other Rocket Languages, but our biggest complaint is the lack of intermediate to advanced lessons. For the price, you do get a good quantity of information you can access for a lifetime, but you are limited in how far you can progress in Korean.

It’s definitely worth it for all of the comprehensive information that’s packed into the 8 modules (plus all the extra tools). Rocket Korean is an excellent introductory course with everything you’ll need to reach a basic conversational level.

However, in order to become fluent, you will need to find an additional course. This can be a huge inconvenience financially as well as academically when you consider various learning methods between programs. Still, if you only need a basic introduction to the language and a few phrases, Rocket Korean will suffice.

Editorial Team

Our Editorial Team is a group of language learning enthusiasts who are passionate about testing new apps and finding the best ways to learn a language.

Rocket Chinese Review

Editorial Team — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 09:38:07 +0000

Note: The Rocket Chinese program received some major updates in the fall of 2020 for the 2021 Version. We’ve updated our Rocket Chinese review below to reflect the changes.

With more people speaking Chinese more than any other language, brushing up on your Chinese language skills is a great way to get ahead in a fast-paced globalized world. Among the different Chinese varieties, which are mutually unintelligible to each variety’s speaker, are Mandarin, Wu, Min, Gan, Hakka, Xiang and Cantonese.

However, learning to speak Chinese can be a challenging undertaking for anyone to pursue. If you are considering trying to learn this language, you may be wondering what’s the best way to do so. Rocket Chinese is a great option to consider for your language studies – a comprehensive course with over 366 hours of structured lessons, teaching you everything from grammar to Hanzi, the Chinese writing system.

But is Rocket Chinese really worth your time and money? How does it compare to other Chinese language programs? Read on to find out in our honest Rocket Chinese Review.

Already made up your mind and looking to start your free trial account?

Rocket Chinese Review: Summary

Name: Rocket Chinese

URL: www.rocketlanguages.com/chinese/premium

Operating System: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS

Currency: USD

Price: One-time payment of $149.95 for Level 1 — Beginner to Intermediate; $299.90 for Levels 1 & 2 — Beginner to Advanced; $449.85 for Levels 1, 2 & 3 — Beginner to Advanced. However, you can get from $50 to $190 off these prices with special coupon codes. A payment plan is now available for the entire lesson series — Beginner to Advanced — for just $47 a month for six months.

Description: Rocket Chinese offers a comprehensive course to help you reach your language-learning goals, promising to cut your learning time in half by using their dedicated learning platform. It offers a well-balanced learning system which covers a variety of individual learning styles.

In a Nutshell: With lots of cool features like their game-like leaderboard system, points and study streak, it’s easy to stay motivated with Rocket Chinese. The updated version for 2021 takes into account customer feedback, and now includes lots of bonus features and new content that is both modern and relevant to daily life in China. Though costly, it’s now one of the better Chinese language programs on the market.

Quality:

Quantity:

Effectiveness:

Practicality:

Price:

 4/5

 5/5

 3.5/5

 4/5

 3.5/5

Overall Score: 4.0 / 5.0

 3.8/5

The Goods

Newest updates address customer concerns

Comprehensive - covers everything from writing to culture

Lots of prompting to practice what you learned

Interactive games and leaderboard helps keep you motivated

Course content is fully downloadable for offline learning

Free app with a membership

The Bads

Expensive

No activity in forums

Subject to some spam

Exercises can feel repetitive

Not enough focus on Chinese pronunciation

Voice recognition software is far from perfect

上 (Shàng) means 'up' in Chinese.

Rocket Chinese Review: Overview

If you’ve never heard of Rocket Languages, it’s an online-based language learning program that offers a true on-the-go learning experience for complete beginners.
The course is broken down into 3 main levels which can be bought individually, each one increasing in difficulty. Overall, there’s 23 modules (spread evenly amongst the levels) and a ‘survival kit’, containing many extra vocab lessons on useful topics ranging from catching a cab to socialising in China.

There are 3 main lesson types.

Unlike other programs, they don’t just focus on the pinyin (the romanization), but they actually introduce you to the Chinese characters from the very beginning. Rocket Chinese offers a number of ways to learn along with several learning tools and useful tips.

You can test yourself on the stroke order.

If you need a quick lesson for travel purposes, the syllabus is easy to navigate to find exactly what you’re looking for. Generally though, it’s recommended to go through the lessons in order since they build upon one another in a logical way.
A membership to Rocket Chinese comes with full access to:

audio lessons (containing authentic dialogues & downloadable MP3 file)

Language & culture lessons

Extensive memorization exercises including integrated flashcards

Your personal dashboard with tracked progress

leaderboard and points system

forums that allow you ask questions and connect with other students

There's loads of interesting cultural information.

The Pros: What We Like About Rocket Chinese

Pro #1: No Subscription - Flexible Payment Options

Unlike most language-learning programs, Rocket Chinese does not charge a monthly subscription fee. Instead, you pay a one-time fee for a lifetime account. This may sound quite committing, but it’s useful to know that they offer a very generous 60-day refund policy if you are not satisfied with the course.
Additionally, if you purchase all three levels, you can set up a monthly payment plan, so you don’t have to fork out the money all at once.

Pro #2: Comprehensive Lessons with Transcripts

Each audio lesson is taught by two instructors, and at least one is a native speaker. The dialogue is very engaging and useful to daily life, and is broken down line-by-line for you to practice. They encourage you to repeat what you hear and they even leave gaps in the audio for you to work on your pronunciation. Listening to the audio whilst reading along to the transcript is a brilliant way to improve your listening skills.

You can take on the role of Dave or Lin and actually participate in the dialogue.

Pro #3: Simple and Easy-To-Use Dashboard

The newly-revamped dashboard makes the program super-easy to use. Rocket Languages listened to customer complaints about being confused with the old dashboard and took it to heart. You now have a clean, updated dashboard to check your progress on the leaderboard, personal progress, change lessons, and access all learning tools.

Pro #4: Variety of Lesson Types

We like how they keep you engaged and interested by mixing up the lessons throughout the course. First, there’s the audio lessons, which get speaking straight away and up to speed on simple conversations. Next, the grammar is explained in depth in the language and culture lessons (as well as lots of fascinating cultural insights).

A typical grammar lesson.

Finally, you have the writing lessons which teach you the chinese characters through short videos and explanations. It seems that whenever you start to get bored in a lesson the next one focuses on a different skill or aspect of the language, keeping it all very fresh and engaging. You can also dip into the survival kit at any time to boost your Chinese vocabulary.

Pro #5: Immersive

The course immerses you in the language from the get-go, and by level 3 almost everything is in Chinese, giving you constant practice and exposure to new material. The lessons often contain many bonus vocab lists and exercises which go beyond the scope of the lesson, allowing you to further expand your knowledge if you wish to do so.

The Cons: What We Don’t Like About Rocket Chinese

Con #1: The Lessons Skip Around

By this, we mean that lessons do not always feel very linear and can jump from subject to subject. Instructors sometimes input their own jokes or take on the lesson that aren’t necessarily relevant at that particular time, and it can take away from the instruction and overall flow of the lesson. We’d like to see some more common themes or topics that tie everything together, rather than disjointed topics that are seemingly random.

Con #2: Exercises can be Repetitive

We get it, repetition is a big part of learning another language, but many of these exercises are exactly the same as others with just a few words changed up. This kind of repetition can get boring really quickly and make you less interested in pursuing your course.

Con #3: Heavily Based on Memorisation

The exercises place a huge emphasis on memorisation, through the use of flashcards, testing games, quizzes etc. Whilst I agree that this can be useful in learning vocab, it’s certainly not the only way to learn and it doesn’t suit everybody. We’d like to see more variety in the exercises that focus more on real world applications and creative methods for testing what you’ve learnt.

Constant memorization gets boring & exhausting after a while.

Con #4: No Focus on Chinese Reading

It seems that Rocket Japanese has all bases covered however when it comes to reading the program is seriously lacking. Reading is an essential component to learning Chinese and unfortunately you’ll have to find your own resources outside of the course.

Con #5: Not the Best for Advanced Speakers

If you already have a good base in Chinese, you will probably need to look elsewhere for more in-depth and advanced teaching. We think Rocket Chinese can be valuable mostly for beginning to low-intermediate learners, but there is simply less content for advanced speakers.

What are the Lessons Like?

The program mainly centres around audio lessons with accompanying transcripts. The transcripts allow you to follow along with what you hear. Written lessons give quite a bit of detail about certain aspects of Chinese such as when and how to use certain words, and some useful mnemonic and memory tricks to help you remember what you’ve learnt.

All the lessons follow pretty much the same basic format.

As we’ve briefly mentioned already, there’s also a variety of activities that accompany the lessons including Sort It!, Write It!, Hear It!/Say It!, flashcards and quizzes. These can help to practice what you’ve learned and give you some experience writing, listening and speaking. You can also keep up with your progress with regular quizzes.
Additionally, most lessons include a brief culture lesson to give you more insight into Chinese.

Did you know that China has 56 recognized ethnic groups?

Who Is Rocket Chinese For?

We feel that Rocket Chinese would be a best fit with those who:

Are motivated and dedicated to their language studies

Have time to practice daily

Are looking for a comprehensive, one-size-fits-all language program to teach them spoken Chinese

Have plans to live, work or study in China

Are looking to learn some basic phrases for travel or for fun

Enjoy independent studying and learning at their own pace

Who Is Rocket Chinese NOT For?

However, the course is not for everyone. Those who might not benefit from the program are those who:

struggle with self-motivation and would be better suited with a dedicated language tutor

prefer to learn through conversation with native speakers

are looking for reading material to immerse themselves more in chinese

are visual learners (this course focuses mostly on listening)

cannot afford the hefty one-time payment and would prefer a monthly subscription plan

Rocket Chinese vs. Competition

Rocket Chinese vs. ChineseClass101

ChineseClass101 is a part of Innovative Language’s Pod101 courses. Like Rocket Chinese, it provides an in-depth learning of the Chinese language including grammar essentials, cultural norms and Chinese characters. It also builds upon each level to increase your overall understanding with a guided, academic learning pathway. ChineseClass101 has three monthly subscription levels to choose from ranging in price from $8 to $47.
Read our full review of ChineseClass101 here.

Rocket Chinese vs. Pimsleur Chinese

Pimsleur Chinese is a language-learning program based upon organic learning. It consists mostly of audio lessons, which can be a drawback for learning Chinese characters, writing and reading. However, Pimsleur’s method is based on the idea that you learn another language the same way you learned your native language—by listening and repeating what you hear. There is a monthly subscription fee of $19.95 for premium service.

Rocket Chinese vs. Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone is one of the classics in language learning for good reason. You can either purchase a lifetime membership or pay a monthly subscription fee. Like Rocket Chinese, it offers a structured course to learn to speak the language. We found that most of the practice exercises are multiple choice, and this doesn’t give students as much leeway to learn variations of the language.

Is Rocket Chinese a Good Investment?

In a word, yes. With the latest updates for 2021, we have to say that Rocket Chinese is right up there with some of the most comprehensive language-learning programs. The price point is on par with other programs, and it is much cheaper than taking a college course in Chinese.

Try Rocket Chinese For Free

Rocket Chinese Pricing

There are several different options when it comes to pricing. You can buy each level individually or go for all 3 levels at once (the best value option).
Hint: Use the discount code ‘EARLYBIRD’ to get a hefty discount on your order:

Level 2 and level 3 are also available to purchase individually. The one time payment plan gives you lifetime access to all the tools, content and future updates.
Prefer to pay in installments? You can get all 3 levels on a subscription plan by paying $44 every month for 6 months. You can cancel at any time.
And finally, they offer a 60-day returns policy if you are not satisfied with the course.

Rocket Chinese Review: Conclusion

We really like that Rocket Chinese listened to customer feedback to improve their platform. With that being said, it still has it’s issues and can feel old-fashioned in it’s teaching methodology. However, without a doubt, it’s still a very effective way to learn Chinese. The platform is easy-to-use and provides an in-depth way to learn to read, write and speak Mandarin Chinese.
The serious student should have no problem achieving a decent level of fluency by completing all three levels. Since there is no recurring monthly fee, students can take their time to complete the course and study on a flexible schedule.

Sign Up For A FREE Trial of Rocket Chinese

Editorial Team
Our Editorial Team is a group of language learning enthusiasts who are passionate about testing new apps and finding the best ways to learn a language.

11 Best Japanese Learning Software Picks

Editorial Team — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 04:52:58 +0000

Whether it’s for personal travel, business or family connections, you’ve decided you want to learn to speak Japanese online. So, how do you know who offers the best Japanese learning software? Have no fear, we have done our research and tested over 50 apps. The following are our top 10 picks for the best Japanese language-learning programs (and one bonus, just for luck).

1. JapanesePod101

JapanesePod101 offers over 10,000 hours of videos and podcast lessons to teach you to speak Japanese. You will find grammar lessons, cultural lessons, and the latest Japanese news and events.

There are four subscription levels from $4 to $47 per month. There is also a free subscription which offers a lot of material. You can also find coupon codes to discount the monthly cost.
Check out our full JapanesePod101 review.

Pros

Tons of learning content

Useful Learning Tools

Grammar and culture lessons

English is phased out in advanced lessons

Cons

Lacking in speaking practice

Quite expensive

Better methods out there for learning Kanji

Price:
Effectiveness:
User Experience:

 3/5

 3/5

 5/5

CHECK LATEST PRICE

2. Olly Richard's Japanese Uncovered

This is a new addition to our list in 2021, as we hadn’t tried this course until recently. Japanese Uncovered is a beginner Japanese course (intermediate also available) created by Olly Richards, a polyglot who believes in the power of story to learn a language.

Japanese Uncovered’s hosts: Olly Richards and Ai Sensei

Our editors recommend this as one of the most entertaining and effective structured courses for learning beginner Japanese.
Read our full review of Japanese Uncovered.

Pros

Comprensive course covering everything from speaking to grammar

Ties everything together through an enjoyable story

Gradually increases in difficulty

Cons

Lack of additional learning tools (like flashcards and voice-recording tools)

Lessons can be drawn out

Expensive

Price:
Effectiveness:
User Experience:

 3/5

 5/5

 5/5

CHECK LATEST PRICE

3. Pimsleur Japanese

Pimsleur Japanese uses four key principles put together by Dr. Paul Pimsleur with the belief that you learn a foreign language best when you learn it like you did your native language—by listening and repeating. These principles include focusing only on core vocabulary words, optimally-timed repetition, the principle of anticipation and organic learning (as mentioned).

Pimsleur is $14.95 each month you choose to use it. You can upgrade to Premium features for $19.95 per month. These features will include more, but not extensive, emphasis on writing and grammar.
Read our full review of Pimsleur Japanese.

Pros

All lessons are 30 minutes or less

Audio-only lessons can be accessed anywhere

All vocabulary taught is useful

Easy-to-use interface

Cons

Lacking grammar explanations

One of the most expensive programs

Lessons can be boring

No writing or reading lessons

Price:
Effectiveness:
User Experience:

 2/5

 3/5

 3/5

View on Google Play

View on Apple Store

4. Anki

Anki is an app available for smartphones and desktops. It consists of spaced-repetition flashcards designed to help you memorize kanji and Japanese vocabulary. Spaced repetition introduces new words at varying intervals that are optimized for memorization. After each flashcard, you determine whether it was easy, medium or difficult. You will see your difficult cards more often until they become easy.
Anki is a free download for Android devices and $24.99 for iOS devices. With the ability to import your own cards from textbooks and even JLPT lists, it is well worth the money.

Pros

Anki’s algorhythm enhances memorization

Useful learning tool

Can make your own flashcards

Cons

Not a complete language program

Does not offer grammar explanations

Difficult to write characters

Price:
Effectiveness:
User Experience:

 5/5

 5/5

 5/5

View on Google Play

View on Apple Store

5. Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese for iPhone

Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese is a book based on the principle that Japanese simply cannot be taught in English. It has been converted into a mobile app for easy access and covers grammar in-depth along with vocabulary with kanji and hiragana and katakana with content that his relevant and interesting.
You can purchase the book or use the desktop version or app for free or donation if you choose.

Pros

The most comprehensive covering of Japanese grammar

Variety of tools, books, videos to assist in learning

Listening, speaking, writing and reading practice

Now available in iOS and Android

Cons

Not much audio/video content

Some type mistakes

Price:
Effectiveness:
User Experience:

 5/5

 5/5

 5/5

View on Apple Store

6. Lang-8’s HiNative-Language Learning

Lang-8 is unlike most other language-learning programs in that is is basically a social blogging sight in which you post and comment with others speaking Japanese. Native speakers proofread and correct your text for you. An absolute beginner might have trouble jumping right in, but it is a great way to get authentic, native dialogue going and possibly even make friends. Lang-8 is easy to use and you can sort blog entries by language or topic.

Pros

Native speakers help correct Japanese

Easy to use interface

Fun way to study and make friends

Ideal supplemental learning tool

Cons

Brand-new users will have trouble jumping in

No direct language lessons

Price:
Effectiveness:
User Experience:

 5/5

 4/5

 5/5

View on Apple Store

View on Google Play

7. Duolingo Japanese

Duolingo Japanese is a fun and motivating way to learn Japanese. It is designed to feel like a game complete with level-ups and rewards. On the flip side, you will also find that you lose “lives” and cannot always proceed when you get something wrong. Duolingo is excellent at motivation and introducing hiragana, katakana, kanji and romaji right from the beginning.

It offers little, if any, grammar explanations and introduces new phrases and topics quite fast for beginners. Duolingo is free as an app or desktop version with Premium features for $9.95 per month.
Read our full review of Duolingo Japanese.

Pros

Highly motivating and fun

Useful phrases

Includes hiragana, katakana, kanji and romaji

Cons

Little grammar and writing

Moves quickly for beginners

Some translations are inaccurate/confusing

Price:
Effectiveness:
User Experience:

 5/5

 2/5

 4/5

View on Apple Store

View on Google Play

8. WaniKani

WaniKani uses mnemonics to teach you radicals, the building blocks of Kanji. All words come from the official kanji guide put forth by the Japanese Ministry of Education and are useful in everyday communication. It uses spaced repetition flash cards to help you memorize radicals, kanji and vocabulary words.
WaniKani is free to try for the first three lessons and then there is a small monthly charge. It is also highly recommended that you have a good understanding of hiragana and katakana prior to starting this program.

Pros

Uses mnemonics for memorizing

Words learned from the Japanese Ministry of Education

Teaches radicals to learn kanji

Example sentences for vocabulary

Cons

Should know hiragana and katakana beforehand

Not a grammar program

Cannot go back and retake levels

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9. LingoDeer Japanese

LingoDeer Japanese is another game-like way to learn to speak Japanese. It claims to have you learning to speak Japanese from your very first day. Using a building-block approach, LingoDeer slowly adds to what you’ve learned in previous levels. It uses audio from native Japanese speakers and integrates culture and grammar into each lesson.
LingoDeer costs $11.99 per month, but you can purchase lifetime access for a one-time purchase of $99.99. There are also three-month and yearly subscription levels.

Pros

Fun and motivating game-like app

Heavy focus on pronunciation

Grammar tips and notes within lessons

Cons

Lack of speaking practice

Not a well-structured course

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10. Memrise

Memrise uses a three-step approach to learning Japanese based upon how you learned your native language. First, it uses real-life scenarios to keep lessons interesting. Next, you are immersed in video and audio lessons from native speakers. Finally, you practice speaking. Memrise’s smart learning engine automatically adapts to each learner.
Memrise Japanese offers both a free version and a PRO version. The PRO version is $129.99 for a lifetime membership or you can purchase monthly or yearly access. Upgrading to the PRO version will yield you the ability to converse with chatbots, adaptive technology and access to your learning statistics.

Pros

Great content for beginners

Customization options

Interesting content and visually appealing

Native speakers supply information for lessons

Cons

No structure to learning format

Absolute beginners may get confused

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11. Rocket Japanese

Rocket Japanese is an extensive program designed to take you all the way to Japanese fluency. Based mostly upon interactive audio lessons, you will encounter comprehensive explanations of grammar and pronunciation.
Rocket Japanese is different from other programs in that you purchase your lessons instead of monthly subscriptions. There are a total of three lessons designed to take you from absolute beginner to advanced speaker. You have the option of purchasing one, two or all three lessons for a one-time fee—anywhere from $99.95 to $259.90.

Pros

Extensive language-learning program

Customized learning

Quick lessons

Plenty of speaking activities

Cons

Sometimes technical difficulties with microphone

Lengthy, unnecessary explanations

Confusion when beginning lessons

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View on Apple Store

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The Best Japanese Learning Software: Final Thoughts

Every person has a different learning style and focus in their language study. That said, whether you’re looking for an extensive Japanese course, a kanji learning app, a supplemental app for a more extensive course, we think you will find it in this list!

Editorial Team
Our Editorial Team is a group of language learning enthusiasts who are passionate about testing new apps and finding the best ways to learn a language.