Ugh. So, tomorrow we start homeschooling. We had bought a new laptop about a month ago. One of the reasons we did is because Rosetta Stone no longer worked on the old computer. So I finally get around to checking out to make sure Rosetta Stone works on the new computer. I knew I should have done this weeks ago. I knew there would be a rigamarole involved in installing Rosetta Stone, but they have always been so helpful in the past. Well, children, there is a lesson to be learned here and it's about procrastination. It looks like this is not going to be an easy (or free) fix. I need to upgrade to a newer version. (But if I act now, for this low low price of $98 plus tax...) Ugh. I don't want to spend that kind of money. I'm expecting/hoping this will be my last year homeschooling. And if I had found this out weeks ago, I could have been researching other Spanish II options for my daughter. But no, I have to go and put it off until the day before school starts.
Can you google to see if there are others out there who found an option to fix it? I wouldn't be impressed at all if I couldn't use an older version I had one hand, especially if that version had worked for me in the past. It sounds like the company just wants you to purchase additional items.
@Amethyst, I'm sure the last thing you want to hear is a sales pitch for a Rosetta-Stone-competing product, so in deference to you (and in accordance with the board's guidelines), I won't. Suffice it to say that there are others that do what they do (often better and sometimes free). Libraries don't provide free language programs as much as they used to, but check them out (Mango is big in libraries, lately). Live Mocha is free online (but it has a social networking aspect, so exercise parental controls if you do). The FSI Language materials are public domain (free online, but a little on the dry side...good content, though). Anyway, good luck!
I"ve decided that Rosetta Stone has abandoned the homeschool community. That's something I've learned quite a while ago!
Newer versions of windows can still run older programs. If the trouble is with installing, you will want to put in the cd-rom or dvd and instead of letting it auto start, cancel that then click start, computer then click once on the dvd/cd drive, then right click explore. Look for a file called somehting like install.exe or setup.exe or similar. Then right click on that file and select properties, then select the compatibility tab. Select a previous version of windows that you successfully installed and ran the program under. this will tell windows to create a "old school" environment for that program so it thinks it is being run under an older version. If you were able to install but cannot run the program, then go to start, computer, then select the hard disk drive and double click on it, then find programs files folder and double click on that then find the rosatta folder and double click on it. find the main exicutable file it will be an application in the colum that indicates file type, then right click, properties, compatibility tab and change to earlier version. HOpe you can try this before buying anohter version. When an earlier version of rosetta stone was written it was not programed to look for future versions of windows. By telling windows to act like an earlier version you might get around this.
Just a heads up to anyone considering buying RS. If you're gonna get it...get it directly from RS, not from Amazon, or eBay...even if they say it's new. There was a report I saw last year about fake RS. They'll send you what looks like a genuine RS, but it quits after about the 5th lesson, or you can't use it at all because they don't send you the license key (or some such thing). And, you really shouldn't be looking for a used one either, because supposedly you can't resell it (not sure if they would work or not).
Thanks for these suggestions! My library has Mango. I played around with it during the summer. It seemed like it wasn't going to go that far though so I don't think it's right for my dd in her second year of Spanish. I'll check out the other two later today. Thanks!
Are you sure Live Mocha is free online? I did the first lesson with my dd today. It was really good and wanted to go on to the second lesson, but then it said we needed to buy "more tokens" to continue. Am I doing something wrong that it's not free?
On the topic of Rosetta Stone (even though I know you have it already), it is way over-priced and not that good an approach to language. There are plenty of other programs around - e.g., Rocket languages (which offers initial lessons for free) - and a wealth of great language resources on YouTube and in the form of iPad apps.
Thank you for this information. Unfortunately, I have a Mac and so I don't think the instructions are exactly the same. Do you know anything about Macs being able to run older programs? When I put the "Application" disc into the computer, a window pops up that has an icon for Rosetta Stone Installer, but there is a circle with a slash through it to indicate that it is no longer available on this new computer. I could close that window, but I guess I don't understand the next thing I'm supposed to do. You say to "click start, computer..." but I don't understand what I'm supposed to click. Do you mean to re-start the computer?
I am looking for free resources for teaching Spanish. This would be my daughter's second high school year of Spanish, so I don't want to be going through a bunch of introductory stuff. You suggest YouTube resources, but I guess I'm not a very good surfer because I get so many suggestions that I get overwhelmed. Do you have specific suggestions for YouTube? Or other free resource suggestions?
Here's a link to Rocket Spanish. Ignore all the marketing stuff and simply find the link that gives you free access to the first set of lessons (for me, a popup window made that offer). That's enough to keep your child going for several weeks to determine whether they like the program and if it's sufficiently advanced to be of use. Pay nothing for now and ignore all their 'limited time' offers.
We are using DuoLingo for now. It's free. It's good review for her and also introducing different vocabulary. It's different than Rosetta Stone, but has some similarity. It has built in immediate rewards. I don't know if it will take her where she needs to go, but right now it's working for us.
