- Comprehensive courses
- High quality dialogues
- Video role plays on every dialogue
- Lifetime access with a 60 day refund grace period
- Free mobile app access included
- Downloadable audio (app-only)
- Inbuilt gamification and leaderboard
- Slightly pricey
- Slow forum replies
- Spammy affiliates
Rocket Italian is one of the better Italian courses, is comprehensive in its content, covering all skills, and uses high quality, natural dialogues.
NOTE: If you
This Rocket Italian review looks at one of the most popular online audio courses for learning Italian.
In many ways it’s been a market leader for a long time now (Rocket was founded back in 2004, so it’s over two decades old).
The team behind Rocket Italian provided me with full access to all three levels of their course (plus the Play the Part add-on) in exchange for a detailed and honest review. Since I’ve spent time living in Italy doing Italian immersion, produced my own language course and write language product reviews professionally, I was more than happy to look at their Italian course.
I’ve gone through the course with a fine-tooth comb and looked at all the pros and cons below.
With Rocket Italian, you have the option of buying Level 1, Levels 1 & 2 or Levels 1, 2 & 3 (plus a Play the Part add-on, which I cover below). There’s an enormous difference between Level 1 on its own (72 lessons) and all three levels (205 lessons, or 235 with Play the Part) both in terms of price and overall lesson content/value.
You can find specifics on each of these levels here:
Full disclaimer: I do use affiliate links on this site from time to time so if my reviews help you make an informed decision to purchase a language product, I make a small commission. This helps support my site and enables me to continue to produce great content.
Make sure to comment below if you’ve used Rocket Italian before and share your experience with it.
Rocket’s also available in the following languages: Spanish (Latin American), French, Japanese, German, Arabic (Egyptian), Korean, Chinese (Mandarin), Hindi, Russian, Portuguese (Brazilian), Sign Language (American), English and Inglés (English for Spanish speakers).
On to the review.
Table of contents:
NOTE: Spammers do harm to Rocket Italian’s reputation
You may have landed here on this page after looking around for a Rocket Italian review and had to sift through a heap of fake videos or sites full of misleading points. It really is infuriating.
I avoided Rocket Italian for a long time because of this.
While the product itself is good, the company’s reputation has been hurt severely because of careless 3rd party affiliates.
Just be aware that these spammers don’t represent Rocket Languages and are no indication of the quality level of their Italian course (they’re trying to mislead people for profit).
There’s a plague of “language product review” sites out there purporting to offer objective opinions on courses and products but they’re not. Don’t believe everything you read/watch.
What is Rocket Italian and what sets it apart?
Household names in language learning like Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur are known for their unique methodologies.
Although well-known, they receive frequent criticism for their limited style and usability (e.g. RS doesn’t provide explanations but instead relies on ‘intuition’ and Pimsleur is 100% audio-based).
They suit a specific niche of learner types and are therefore ineffective for a lot of other learners.
Rocket Italian on the other hand is unique in that it’s a structured and graded course where you have the option to learn in a linear fashion (i.e. lesson 1 -> lesson 2 -> lesson 3, etc.) or to jump right ahead and focus on the topics you need.
It has what I consider to be a minimal grammar focus where the Italian language is instead demonstrated using natural audio dialogues instead of dry textbook explanations.
You’re learning the language in context rather than having to memorize complicated rules.
You own what you pay for (mostly)
One of the most important differences I can mention in this Rocket Italian review (and one of its biggest selling points in my opinion) is that you own what you pay for: it’s a one-time, lifetime purchase rather than a subscription, and the audio lessons are downloadable for offline use (though only through the mobile app now).
This is very different to programs like Rosetta Stone where you’re totally restricted by the software or online membership.
The downloads side has been watered down a bit since I first reviewed the course though. Back then, every bit of audio was downloadable as MP3 files straight from the web dashboard, along with printable PDF lesson notes. The PDFs disappeared a while ago and now the MP3 downloads have gone from the web app too.
That’s unfortunate. Downloading MP3s from the website was one of the things that set Rocket apart from programs like Rosetta Stone and it felt like you actually owned the content you paid for.
The good news is that you can still download the audio lessons through the mobile app (Android and iOS) for offline listening, so commutes and flights are still covered. You just can’t pull the files onto your computer anymore. For the Language and Culture lessons, Print to PDF from your browser works fine if you want them saved locally.
With Rocket, you can use either the website or the mobile app (see below), and you still own what you pay for - you just have to use their app to take it with you.
Rocket Italian’s sheer volume of content stands out
As I mentioned above, the full Rocket Italian course provides you with 205 lessons in total across three difficulty levels (72 in Level 1, 68 in Level 2 and 65 in Level 3), or 235 lessons if you add the Play the Part add-on. Level 1 is 6 modules of 10 lessons plus an intro module and the Survival Kit, and each level finishes with a Benchmark Test to gauge where you’re at.
The breadth and scope of the content is indeed large and depending on the amount of time you spend studying in a typical week, would probably be something you could continue referring to over a period of years to learn Italian rather than weeks or months. I’ve criticized competitors before over their shallow depth (e.g. see my Mango Languages review) but Rocket Italian stands out as having tremendous depth.
In addition to a Survival Kit of foundational terms and expressions (which used to be a paid extra but is now included in every level), the content is broken down into 2 main sections:
1) Audio Lessons
These are theme-based lessons delivered in a podcast-style format by an English-speaking host and native Italian speakers. The audio lessons are humorous and engage with the content of each topic.
Every audio lesson follows the same shape: the dialogue, then a role play where you take one side of it (see the video section below), the lesson vocab, an ‘expert tip’ from the host, and finally five practice activities: flashcards (spaced repetition style, where you rate how well you knew each card), listening (hear the phrase, then record it), writing (hear the phrase, then type it), speaking (record the phrase) and a short multiple-choice quiz.
2) Language and Culture Lessons
These lessons deal specifically with Italian grammar and touch on various aspects of Italian culture (e.g. polite phrases, shopping, going to the bank in Italy, etc.).
Since there is so much covered and on such a wide array of topics, Rocket Italian is a suitable tool for learning Italian that covers most objectives, whether it be tourism, business, relationships or general interest.
It’s still not a video course in the sense of what you’d find in a program like ItalianPod101, but my old complaint that Rocket Italian had no video at all is now out of date (see the next section).
Rocket Italian now has video role plays (this is new)
When I first reviewed Rocket Italian it was audio and text only, which was my one consistent gripe with the whole Rocket series.
That’s changed.
Inside the Role Playing part of every audio lesson, the two speakers from the dialogue are now filmed (vertical, phone-style clips) and you watch them deliver the conversation one line at a time. You can Watch the Full Conversation to see it play through, or Talk To one of the characters, which means you take one side of the dialogue and record yourself while the other speaker responds on video.
This isn’t a video course in the sense of a teacher standing in front of a camera giving you a 20 minute lesson. The podcast-style audio is still the core of every lesson. But it makes the dialogues feel a lot less like a listening drill and a lot more like an actual exchange with a person.
It’s on the audio lessons and the Play the Part lessons (see below). The Language and Culture lessons and the Survival Kit don’t have it. There’s an Audio only mode toggle if you’d rather skip the video, and you can set how much text you see under it: the full Italian, every second word, or just the English.
Rocket Italian and Rocket Record (voice recognition)
Rocket’s voice recognition feature is called Rocket Record. Under the hood it uses your browser’s built-in speech recognition by default (the Google Web Speech API) with a second engine (Deepgram) as a fallback, and Italian is one of the languages the fallback supports. It works on both the website and the mobile apps.
When I first reviewed the course they were using very outdated technology for the speaking/voice recognition component of their Italian course (and others) which put competitors like Rosetta Stone light years ahead.
That’s no longer the case. It’s accurate and gives an immediate ‘grade’ as to how close your pronunciation is to the native Italian speaker, and the place it really gets used is the Talk To mode in the role plays I described above.
I’ve personally never been a fan of technology teaching you how to pronounce words correctly (you improve through practice!) but this is still a very helpful feature for many people wanting to get their Italian pronunciation right.
I would still recommend getting a cheap tutor or practice partner on italki to improve your Italian pronunciation rather than relying on a computer to tell you though.
The Rocket Italian iOS and Android app
I was surprised that the Rocket Italian app wasn’t a separate feature being charged for.
When you buy any level of Rocket Italian, it includes free use of their mobile app which gives you access to the course wherever you are.
I actually personally prefer the app over the web version to learn Italian. It runs seamlessly and pretty much everything from the web version is in there (the audio lessons, video role plays, practice activities, flashcards, favorites, the leaderboard and Rocket Record mentioned above) without any issues I’ve seen.
There are only two real differences between the app and the website that you need to know about:
- Audio downloads are app-only. If you want the lessons offline for a commute or a flight, this is where you download them (see above).
- Certification tests are web-only. You’ll need to sit those on a computer.
Having the entire lesson library available on my Android tablet or wife’s iPhone means that I can take it outside or relax on the couch while working through the material.
Since I also have access to other Rocket language courses, I can connect to any of them through the app as well.
Rocket Italian lessons’ effective delivery style
As mentioned above, Rocket Italian lessons are delivered primarily as podcast chats or casual explanations.
You have an English-speaking host and native Italian speakers who bring up an Italian topic (being in a cafe, pharmacy or post office for example), and then walk you through typical scenarios and language used in those scenarios to help you learn Italian.
What I like about this is that the lessons are interesting both from a language and cultural point of view.
They’re not dry, boring grammar lessons but rather thematic and practical.
If you find the English discussion too distracting then you also have the option of only listening to the Italian dialogues too.
The Rocket Italian Play the Part add-on is worth getting
When you buy Rocket Italian, take my advice and get Play the Part.
This used to be called ‘Travelogues’ when I first reviewed Rocket Italian. The Travelogues are gone now and Play the Part has taken their place, but it’s almost the same feature.
Play the Part is a separate add-on of 30 lessons (3 modules of 10) built entirely around role play conversations set in Italy, where you follow a character called Mario through everyday situations: a trip to the bakery, buying fresh and local at the market, a cannoli a day, a wedding, Christmas, money matters and so on.
Each lesson gives you a short culture note, two role play conversations (with the video role plays I described above) and vocab lists. It’s light on grammar by design so it works best once you’ve got some of the language under your belt.
It’s priced at $149.95 on its own, but you’ll be able to get it at a much lower price when adding it on to the main course package.
Cost of Rocket Italian, the payment plan and sales (is it worth the money?)
I have to talk briefly about the cost. 🙂
In this Rocket Italian review, I already mentioned the course’s different tiers (one-time payment, lifetime access):
Level 1 - $149.95
Levels 1 & 2 - $299.90
Levels 1, 2 & 3 - $449.85
Play the Part - $149.95 on its own (cheaper when bundled with the course)
The complete Rocket Italian package, while slightly expensive, is very clearly the smartest choice if you’re after the Best Value option for Rocket Italian (if you can afford it).
If you don’t want to pay for all three levels up front, there’s a 6-month payment plan on the full bundle: six monthly payments and then it’s yours for life. There’s no ongoing monthly subscription option.
The best deal by far is the family discount. If someone in your household already owns a course, Rocket will sell a second copy (with its own login and progress) at 60% off. You have to arrange it through their support team rather than at checkout.
Periodically throughout the year, Rocket runs special promotions or sales which are good to look out for but these are unpredictable.
NOTE: I have a unique, exclusive discount for Rocket Italian that’s only available to my email subscribers. I don’t ever share it publicly. Subscribe by
You can also try the course for free before buying and it doesn’t ask for a credit card.
Obtaining a refund for Rocket Italian
Rocket Italian has a no-risk trial period for all their courses.
It’s a long 60 day satisfaction, cooling-off period, meaning you have two months to request a refund if you’re unhappy. One caveat: that only applies if you buy through the website. If you buy inside the iOS app, you’re under Apple’s refund policy instead, which is roughly two weeks, so buy on the web.
From what I’ve heard, they’re good at responding promptly to people’s concerns and requests, and I should add that their refund rate is very low (meaning most people are generally satisfied).
Additional features that are part of the Italian courses
For this Rocket Italian review, there are 5 useful additions to the course content worth mentioning here.
1) Gamification
There’s a great little extrinsic motivator built into the course that enables you to compete with other members and aim for ‘study streaks’.
You get points for every lesson and activity you complete (and for posting in the forum), with a daily goal of 400 points that you can hide if it annoys you. Hitting your goal each day keeps your streak going (much like Duolingo or Babbel), and the points move you up a leaderboard where you can compare yourself against other Italian learners or across all of Rocket’s languages, over the last day, week, month or year.
This is a handy way to stay motivated and to help encourage you to keep coming back.
2) The Search tool (previously ‘Saved Vocab’)
This may not seem like much at first glance but the ability to be able to search for any term or expression within the course is a powerful addition.
You can input any word and the search tool will not only show you a definition but it will also provide contextual examples with audio to listen to (it searches the forum posts too). Very useful indeed.
This has been through a few names over the years (it was ‘Saved Vocab’ when I first reviewed the course) and it’s now split into Search and Favorites. Functionality and appearance are a lot better than they were.
3) Favorites and Custom Flashcards
Favorites is the part I like most. Every phrase in every lesson has a little heart icon next to it and anything you heart goes into your Favorites list, where it gets its own set of flashcards, listening, writing and speaking drills. So you can build a personal practice deck out of whatever you’re struggling with, without leaving the lesson. There’s also a Custom Flashcards tool if you want to build your own sets from scratch (or use sets other members have made public).
4) Certification and benchmark tests
There are also two kinds of proper tests now on top of the per-lesson activities. Benchmark tests sit at the end of each level to give you a rough gauge of where your ability is at, and certification tests live under the Tools menu (web only, not in the app), one for every module, which you unlock once you’ve finished that module. Rocket maps its levels to the CEFR roughly as A1 to A2 for Level 1, A2 to B1 for Level 2 and B1 to B2 for Level 3. Take that with a grain of salt though: a test set and marked by the same course you’re studying is never the same as a real CEFR exam, but as a way of checking the material actually stuck it’s a useful addition.
5) The forum
Members get an Italian learners forum as well as a general forum for everyone. The forums are moderated by Rocket’s own tutors and they do reply, but on a lag of months rather than days, so treat it as a reference library more than a live help desk.
It would be far better, in my opinion, to have an AI expert built in to this, so that instead of waiting months for a reply, you get an instant answer - especially if it’s a simple grammar question.
Review summary: Rocket Italian’s content scope, natural audio quality and flexible learning style confirm it as a rock-solid market leader
Household names in language learning tend to lose their usefulness quickly due to either a) restricted use (mentioned above) or b) insufficient breadth of content.
Despite the slightly high-end cost of Rocket Italian, it offers an enormous amount of content and is a flexible learning tool. Best of all, you own what you pay for: it’s a lifetime purchase and the audio is still downloadable for offline use through the app.
Italian is one of the editions that gets the full three levels plus the Play the Part add-on, so there’s plenty of runway in it even for higher-level learners.
The natural Italian dialogues they use, the new video role plays and lesson comprehensiveness make it a strong market competitor.
Will Rocket help you speak Italian?
While there are some minor issues that need improvement, overall I think it’s a quality Italian course and good value for money for any serious learner of Italian.
Here’s a video demo I put together of a recent edition of the French, Spanish and Arabic versions. The brand new edition has significant improvements since this was made:
Click here to make a free trial of Rocket Italian:
Used the Rocket Italian course already?
What did you think?
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Also take some time to check out my epic list of online Italian courses for other products (also includes Rocket Italian).
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3 COMMENTS
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Natan Carvalho
I wanted to use Spanish to learn Italian. Can I change my user language from English to Spanish so Iearn Italian through Spanish?
Sander Selier
I was wondering, would you recommend doing all the interactive audio courses and survival kits first, before doing the language & culture lessons, where most of the grammar lessons are? I know you don’t advice learning grammar until later stages of learning the language. With Rocket Italian, the ‘normal order’ puts language & cultural lessons (part of it is grammar) right after some audio courses in each module.
Thanks
Kristina Davis
I am considering purchasing rocket Italian. I do not have a microphone for my desktop for the voice recognition part of the program. Are you able to do voice recognition on the app on iphone?
Thanks.