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Bilingual engineer and francophile heads a popular language learning system

I was honored to be the first person to interview the Rocket Languages co-founder and CEO, Jason Oxenham. He is a bilingual francophile hailing from Christchurch, New Zealand, and the engineering brainchild behind this highly-effective language learning system.

Jason manages a team of 30+ educators, linguists, course writers, researchers and Web/app developers based primarily in Christchurch, New Zealand, and also sprinkled across the globe.

As I write, Rocket Languages is available for the following 13 languages:

Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Sign Language

Rocket also has products for both Japanese and Spanish speakers learning English.

The Lowdown: Proven methodology meets learning science and solid engineering

Rocket Languages is an old school player in online language learning, having emerged on the scene in 2004. (That's two years before Free Language launched!)

The methodology they've developed and the products they create - and constantly improve upon - are the result of a powerful fusion of learning science and solid engineering.

Over the past decade and a half, they've been honing and homing in on what works for language learners to achieve real success. They've done so by blending two oft-disputed "camps" in the language learning world: input and output.

Rocket Languages combines input and output to guarantee success

Camp Input maintains that it's most important to soak up a language right from the start. This means listening and reading first and foremost to get acquainted with the sounds and look of the language upfront.

Camp Output maintains that the key is to create output right off the bat. This means speaking and using the language at the beginning to develop necessary motor functions for pronunciation and create new neural pathways to strengthen memory.

The Rocket Languages method blends both input and output for language learners. But it doesn't stop there...

Community and culture are crucial aspects of this method

This unique method also adds two key elements into the learning mix that are crucial in anyone's endeavor to speak a new language: community and culture.

The Rocket Languages team examines a considerable corpus of realtime feedback from its vast community of language enthusiasts to develop tools that consistently produce positive results.

Words from CEO and co-founder Jason Oxenham about Rocket Languages

It is our vision to provide the most effective online language courses possible. For over 15 years, this vision has driven everything that we do here at Rocket Languages.

It drives us to constantly update and improve the Rocket Languages courses so that:

  • We use the latest and most successful language learning methods and research.
  • We utilize new technology to make your language learning fun and easy.
  • We act on feedback and suggestions from our members to improve Rocket Languages for everyone.

Celebrating 15 years of successful language education!

Rocket Languages is celebrating their 15th anniversary in 2019. Congratulations!

Available languages

Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Sign Language plus English for Japanese speakers and English for Spanish speakers.