Do you want to learn Italian, one of the most beautiful languages in the world, but have no idea where to begin? Learning a new language is tricky enough, but choosing the right language learning program is even more confusing since there are so many on the market that all promise to be the best.
But how can they all be the best when they are all different? It’s just a matter of finding which method and approach suit your learning style. So here are two of the hottest selling programs that have very different styles. Rocket Italian Or Fluenz Italian: Which Is Best For You?

Rocket Italian

The approach that Rocket Italian takes is the interactive conversational approach. So, basically, if you think you learn best the “natural” way, the this is definitely the program for you. By “natural”, the developers behind Rocket Languages believe that people learn best the way they did when they were young- through listening and speaking. Every child learned how to understand and speak way before reading and writing.

So the Rocket Italian approach is based on this method integrated with features and tools that are supposed to speed up the learning process and make things easier for you, the student.

Learning tools and features

With Rocket Italian, you will get 29 interactive audio lessons that last around 28 minutes each class. These classes cover casual and modern Italian conversations that you will actually be able to use in a real life Italian conversation, all of which can be customized to suit each person’s specific needs and wants. That alone already promises you over 13 hours of audio for your learning pleasure. Plus all of them are fully downloadable too making it easy to take along with your MP3 player, iPhone, pocket PC and the like.

You will even have access to complete transcripts of every single Italian conversation that you hear. This is supposed to help speed up the learning process, not only for speaking but it also gives you a look on the written area, even if that is not the focus of this course.

Rocket Italian Learning Lounge will provide you with further language lessons as well as Italian culture and history ones too. All of these are fully illustrated, are embedded with audio clips, and have notes and explanations that are aimed to help you even more.

You can have fun with MegaItalian. This offers three games that are designed to help you out with certain areas of the language in a not so stressful way.

MegaAudio is supposed to help you with your listening and comprehension.

MegaVocab is for building up your vocabulary and actually retaining what you have learned.

MegaVerbs is to help teach verbs forms and conjugation.

Another interesting feature is Rocket Record that allows you to compare your own voice and pronunciation with over 1000 Italian phrases.
Through this all you will be guided by Maria and Roberto, two native Italian speakers.

>>> Go to the Rocket Italian website now <<<

Fluenz Italian

The people behind Fluenz Italian believe in a much different approach from that of Rocket Italian. Actually, their method is pretty much the opposite. They believe that since you, the student, is no longer a child, you will need to take the more adult approach to learning the language.

This means that you will have full explanations on all of the areas of the language in order for you to be able to speak Italian fluently. Or in their own words, you leverage your understanding of English to make your learning of Italian more efficient.  So things are explained from an English perspective and as Italian grammar is often very different from English, the differences are pointed out. To this extent, Fluenz is probably more aimed at an adult learner. Also the scenes and scenarios that take place in the course are generally in bars, hotels and consist of things that adults might do.

Learning tools and features

Fluenz Italian offers interactive audio CDs with lessons that are around 60 minutes long. Unlike other language learning programs, the classes here are much longer because not only will you get to hear an Italian conversation, but you will also get full tutor led explanations in step by step process.

One of the focuses of these one on one explanations that is supposed to be very helpful is Italian contractions as well as rhythm and intonation. One reason why Italian sounds as beautiful as it does is because of these.

Also, you can take Fluenz Italian anywhere by uploading the audio files to your iPod, MP3 player, and the like.

You will also have access to various workouts that are designed to help you develop your Italian skills – complete from reading to writing to speaking to listening comprehension.

These workouts are generally done after each lesson and focus on the topics, words and grammar covered in the lesson. They test your ability to read, write, listen (comprehend) and to some extent speak.

So they make you match the Italian words and sentences in the lesson to the English equivalents. You also have to match a picture to a spoken Italian word (a bit like MegaAudio in Rocket Italian).

Then write the English words displayed or spoken in Italian,

Write the English phrases in Italian,

Write the Italian words after listening to them spoken,

Write the Italian phrases after listening to them spoken,

Type out the conversation or the entire scene pretty much

The final 2 tests are to match phrases that are using the same words in the lesson but in slightly different contexts to the original lesson. And then to say the phrases out loud – repeat after the native Italian speaker. Your speech is recorded and you can listen to how it sounds compared to a native speaker. There is no graphical representation, you just have to use you ear.

Two other interesting learning tools that you get are the Fluenz Italian navigator and the voice recorder, mentioned above.

The Fluenz navigator gives you quick access to vocabulary and phrases.

The voice recorder, is different from many other courses that offer pronunciation tools. They don’t give you a graphical representation of your voice compared to a native speaker. You just have to listen for yourself and make adjustments as you see fit. I don’t mind this approach as I find the graphical representations a bit dry and hard to apply to improving your accent. In fact the best pronunciation tool I have seen is the Tell Me More  course that actually have a animation of a persons lips and tongue when they say certain words or phrases. This is how we learn in the real world – by watching how others say things.

One more interesting feature is the interface. The whole layout of this program is just so darn pretty and user friendly.

>>> Get your own Fluenz Italian course here <<<

Conclusion

Basically, when it all boils down to Rocket Italian Or Fluenz Italian: Which Is Best For You, you have to think about what you want to learn, whether it is just speaking and listening or if you want the whole nine yards, and how you want to learn, the natural way or the more traditional approach.

So here are all the facts, now all you have to do is decide.

>>> Go to the Rocket Italian website now <<<

>>> Get the Fluenz Italian course here <<<