GOLOSA WEB MASTER'S TROUBLESHOOTER PAGE

Contents

Golosa home
I can't see Cyrillic!
Can't get hold of the book!
Errors in the book / webpage
Audio problems
Video problems

I CAN'T SEE CYRILLIC!

Most computers less than five years old can display Russian Cyrillic by default. However, if you don't see Cyrillic on this or any other page, your browser is somehow missing the "instruction" line that tells it how to display Cyrillic. Try changing the encoding settings in your browser manually. To do this in most browsers, go to View --> Encoding (or Character Set). In Internet Explorer 7, it's Page --> Encoding. Most Golosa pages are in Windows Cyrillic 1251 or UTF-8. Try both and see which one works.

However typing Cyrillic is another issue. You might need to type Cyrillic to search for a word on one of the Golosa pages. Setting up a Russian keyboard is easy for both the Macintosh and Windows XP and Vista, but the default keyboard is "native" Russian, where QWERTY is ЙЦУКЕН. If you want a "phonetic" keyboard (QWERTY = ЯШЕРТЫ), the solutions are different depending on your system: WindowsXP / Vista or Apple Macintosh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GOLOSA WEB MASTER'S TROUBLESHOOTER PAGE

Contents

Голоса home
I can't see Cyrillic!
Can't get hold of the book!
Errors in the book / webpage
Audio problems
Video problems

HOW DO I GET HOLD OF THE BOOK?

Most bookstores can order directly from Pearson Education/Prentice Hall. Golosa is usually available from the big online bookstores as well. However, make sure that you watch closely which Book (volume) and which edition you are ordering. Also remember that the Student Activities manual is an integral part of the Golosa program. Finally, while the video and audio program is available in its entirety online for free, you can also order physical disks from Prentice Hall.

Unfortunately, the authors do not have access to extra copies of the book. Examination copies are available directly from Prentice Hall.

If Prentice Hall is unresponsive to your request, the authors might be able to find someone who will expedite a lost order. But please, try Prentice Hall first.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

GOLOSA WEB MASTER'S TROUBLESHOOTER PAGE

Contents

Голоса home
I can't see Cyrillic!
Can't get hold of the book!
Errors in the book / webpage
Audio problems
Video problems

ERRORS IN THE BOOK OR WEB PAGE

The authors value all your comments, especially when you notify us about typos in the book or on the webpage. We can fix webpage errors quickly. Typos in the book, of course, have to wait until the next printing or the next edition. But we're always grateful when you help us pinpoint errors, whether factual, programmatic (like bad links or Javascript), or typographical. If you want to alert the authors about an error, fill out a Golosa Error Report.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

GOLOSA WEB MASTER'S TROUBLESHOOTER PAGE

Contents

Голоса home
I can't see Cyrillic!
Can't get hold of the book!
Errors in the book / webpage
Audio problems
Video problems

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contents

Голоса home
I can't see Cyrillic!
Can't get hold of the book!
Errors in the book / webpage
Audio problems
Video problems

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contents

Голоса home
I can't see Cyrillic!
Can't get hold of the book!
Errors in the book / webpage
Audio problems
Video problems

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contents

Голоса home
I can't see Cyrillic!
Can't get hold of the book!
Errors in the book / webpage
Audio problems
Video problems

 

AUDIO PROBLEMS

Pages open up slowly or don't open at all.

Your browser has probably cached an old page. Internet browsers try to be lazy. Instead of going to the Golosa site every time you hit a Golosa link, they first look to msee whether a copy of that page is stored on your computer from a previous visit. Of course, your computer has no way of knowing whether the page is out of date. If you suspect you're getting an old page, try these two steps (in this order):

  1. Hit your browser's refresh button.
  2. Clean out your temporary Internet files.
    Internet Explorer: Tools --> Internet Options --> Delete --> Temporary Internet Files
    Mozilla Firefox: Tools --> Options --> Privacy --> Private Data --> Setting --> Cache
    Safari --> Emty Cache

 

The audio doesn't match what's printed in the book.

There are two possible explanations for mismatches between what you hear and what you see in the textbook.

  1. The most obvious: we screwed up. Fill out a Golosa Error Report. We have an in-house recording studio, and we can usually fix things with a day or two after they are reported.

  2. You're listening to an old (incorrect) version of the audio or video file. "How can this be my fault?" you ask. "All I did was click on the link provided."

    It's not your fault. Your computer is just trying to cut corners and save you some time by playing back an old audio file stored on your computer rather than reaching into cyberspace for the latest version. The solution is to go through the steps outlined immediately above (the answer to Pages open up slowly or don't open at all).

 

I click on an audio or video link, and get a "File Not Found" error message.

That's usually our fault, not yours. It means that either we wrote the link wrong, or the file is really missing. Fill out a Golosa Error Report, and we'll try to fix the problem. Occasionally "file not found" errors have two other explanations:

  1. Your Internet connection is dead. You can test this by visiting a site you have not recently been to and which updates daily such as cnn.com. If you get no answer there, check your connection to the Internet.

  2. All of the George Washington University is down. To test this, try www.gwu.edu. If you can surf the web normally but www.gwu.edu comes up blank, then the GW server is down. Fill out a Golosa Error Report. Such outtages are usually fixed in a few minutes.

 

The audio or video starts playing but then breaks up or stops.

If the audio or video comes on start-and-stop fits, then either your connection is too slow, or there's too much traffic on the Internet between you and the www.gwu.edu server.

Audio and video break up on a fast connection is almost always due to something wrong with your computer or software. (See how eagerly FAQ writers blame the user!) Most of the time, something is simply out of date:

Outdated media player and or browser. Find our how old your browser and media player are. In Windows, it's usually the last item in the Help menu item (About so-and-so). For Macs, look at the left-hand side of the menu under the program name. The first item is usually About so-and-so. Look at the release or copyright date. If it's over three years old, go online and look for the latest version. It's almost alway free. (True, you might have to drill through five or six webpages screaming at you to get the "premium" version. But eventually you'll find the free version.

Outdated operating system. Your problems may come from an outdated operating system. As of this writing, Windows 98, ME, NT (and perhaps even 2000) are simply too old to reliably support a lot of heavy-duty media. For macs, anything starting with OS 8 or earlier is suspect

Outdated computer. If your computer is too old, updating the software and the operating system won't help because the computer is too puny to handle all the new stuff. With the exception of Linux machines*, most computers have a useful life of no more than six years. After that, the stuff out there on the Internet just gets too sophisticated for them to handle without choking. Что сказать - Technology marches on!

*If you're a Linux user, you wouldn't be caught dead reading this FAQ!

 

I click on an audio link, and all I get is garbled symbols on the screen or...
I'm asked what program I want to use to open the file.

This almost never happens with Macintosh computers - unless your version of QuickTime is very old. If it's more than a year old, get the free update.

In Windows, one of two things is happening. Either your computer doesn't know how to open streaming mp3 files, or the server (www.gwu.edu) has lost its ability to configure the files for streaming. The latter possibility is unlikely, so try addressing your computer's handling of streaming mp3 first.If you know you have a program that automatically plays streaming mp3 files (RealOne and WinAmp are two such popular programs), make sure that the files are set to open mp3 content gotten from the web. This control is usually found under Tools or Options or Preferences.If you do not know know anything about how your computer handles mp3 files (i.e., if the above paragraph makes about as much sense to you as a text in Sanskrit), do the following:

Go to www.microsoft.com and download the latest free version of Windows Media Player. (Make sure that you choose the player that fits your version of Windows: XP or Vista, etc.). Yes, it may well be that you have some ancient version of Windows media Player on your computer already, but it might not be new enough to decipher mp3.

Once you have installed Windows Media Player, go to Tools, Options, and click on the Formats tab. Make sure the following are checked: Windows Media File, Windows Audio File, and MP3 Format Sound. While you're at it, put a checkmark next to Windows Audio/Video File and Windows Video File. (This will prevent problems when it comes to playing Golosa video off the Web.)

Then try playing Golosa sound files again. They should play.

 

I want to convert the audio files so I can play them on my car stereo.

All GOLOSA audio is recorded in mp3 at 40 kbs, 22 MHz, mono. This is more than adequate for voice recordings being played on computers. They will also play on iPods and similar listening devices without modification.

To create an audio CD for use on a boom box or a car CD player, do the following:

  1. Download the files you want on the CD. For each file right-click (Mac users, control-click) and Save target As...

  2. Windows users should place a blank CD into a the CD recorder. Windows will ask you if you want to burn a disk. Say yes, and drag the Golosa files you want to burn. Windows will then ask if you wat to make an audio disk (as opposed to a data disk). Click the audio disk option. This will bring up Windows media Player. Follow the directions from there.

  3. Mac users should follow the directions in iTunes to burn the Golosa mp3 files as audio files onto a CD.


 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

GOLOSA WEB MASTER'S TROUBLESHOOTER PAGE

Contents

Голоса home
I can't see Cyrillic!
Can't get hold of the book!
Errors in the book / webpage
Audio problems
Video problems

VIDEO PROBLEMS
As of Fall 2007, all Golosa video is delivered through Google's Video site.

I still want to download the videoclips in the old Windows media player format.

You can do that for Book 1, but not for Book 2. Just follow the link on the page for that unit. Right-click and Save Target As.

Can I download Golosa Video in other formats?

Google Video's native format is Flash Video (FLV). Each video page has an link that allows you to download the FLV file. (Right click or Control-Click and Save As...) However, you will have to download an FLV player to see the downloaded file. A number of free players are available. Google FLV player.

When they are available, links to DivX AVI versions and MP4 iPod versions of the videos are also made available. The possibilities of Google Video downloading change quickly. To keep up with the latest download methods, search for Dowload Google Video in any search engine.