If you are looking online for basic Spanish lessons that you can listen to in your car or while doing other things, chances are you will come across Pimsleur Spanish and Rocket Spanish.
Which one would be best for you? It depends on what you need at this time. In a nutshell, I think Rocket Spanish is better just before a vacation trip where you will be speaking Spanish, and either is a good start for longer term Spanish learning. Rocket is way less expensive.
I’ll describe them both, but first I would like to set the stage by saying that I have listened to many of the basic Rocket Spanish lessons and some of the Pimsleur ones. I have also had long conversations with two of my friends who used Pimsleur. I actually like both programs a lot, but see different uses for them.
What is Pimsleur Spanish?
Using an approach called the Pimsleur Method, this course is a set of CDs which are arranged in three sets of 30 half-hour lessons, so there are 90 lessons in all. They give you a good grounding in thinking in basic Spanish, and are said to be really good for pronunciation. They are short on vocabulary, but this is on purpose, as the words you learn, you know really well due to repetition. The vocabulary is based on what a traveler to a Spanish-speaking country would want to know, but it does use some more old-fashioned and more formal phrases than are current in Latin America today. Not incidentally, it is expensive.
What is Rocket Spanish?
Rocket Spanish is a downloadable course of MP3 files (also available as a physical product for people who would rather not download). It is designed specifically for people planning to go to a Spanish-speaking country, who want to be able to converse there. It comes with more add-on material than Pimsleur, so you can see the lessons you have been studying and learn some basic grammar. The dialogues take place between Mauricio, a Chilean, and Amy, an American who speaks Spanish. There are 31 lessons, and there is a second series which I haven’t seen yet.
Which is for you?
If you are planning a trip sometime soon to a Spanish-speaking country, I think Rocket Spanish is likely to do a better job of preparing you for the trip. (Assuming, of course, that you make a habit of listening to it!) It also has the benefits of being immediately downloadable and way less expensive.
If your long-term goal is to learn to speak Spanish, Pimsleur is a strong contender. The methodology behind the programs was well worked out initially and has stood the test of time. But Rocket Spanish would be a good start too. So in this case, it could come down to budget and to personal taste.
Rocket Spanish offers a free course by email, with sample lessons you can try. You can sign up for it from the sidebar of any page of this site: it says 6 Day on the image of the course. You can learn a bit of basic Spanish just from this.
To find out more, these links take you to my reviews of each program, with links to the purchasing options:
