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I Cut Down My Screentime By Learning A New Language

Lately, I've noticed how much I'm picking up my phone with zero purpose. Out of curiosity, I looked into my average screen time for the week and my jaw dropped. It was embarrassing.

Thankfully it wasn't just me, a few of my friends were saying that they find themselves on their phones a lot more these days too. That still didn't make my 5hrs 25 mins spent with my head hunched over my phone okay in any way!

The mindless scrolling on useless apps needed to be cut down. No phone until after breakfast and at least two hours before bedtime.

Another more fun idea (which I'm stealing off my friend Sam) is signing up for Rosetta Stone, a language learning app. I can't help picking up my phone throughout the day (out of sheer boredom) so this way I can make my screen time beneficial and learn a few new Italian phrases.

Sam is loving Rosetta Stone, I on the other hand had zero expectations. It could be a fun new hobby to learn French without having to take actual classes or deal with the pressure of vocab quizzes. Plus I won't feel guilty being on my phone when I'm on Rosetta Stone.

Signing up was easy and the classes are only 15-30 minutes per day and you can download them to do anytime, wherever you are. After a few days I really got into it. The lessons are actually fun and they build upon each other, making them interesting and keeps you coming back. I really wasn't expecting advanced features like TruAccent® and Phrasebook but they're extremely helpful for grasping a new language.

A month after downloading Rosetta Stone, not only have I managed to spend less time scrolling on my phone but I can now hold a basic conversation in Italian. I can't believe how many phrases, sentences, and Italian words I now know. Rosetta Stone made it so easy to learn a new language while showing me how to use my screen time in a constructive and beneficial way.

If this is how much I can learn in only 4 weeks, I'm excited to see where my Italian skills will be in another month.

Here are a few more reasons why I'll be keeping the Rosetta Stone app;

It's convenient, you can use it any time, anywhere, whenever it suits you

Lessons are only bite size 5-10 mins, which makes it easier for your brain to absorb the material

The TruAccent® feature helps you perfect your pronunciation- it shows you exactly how accurate you are and how to improve

The Phrasebook is super helpful by telling you out loud how to say short, useful expressions

The Seek & Speak feature makes it fun with scavenger hunt-like activities

When you sign up for Rosetta Stone's annual plan, you get access to all 25 of their languages

It's Affordable, an annual subscription is only $7.99 a month

UPDATE: The folks at Rosetta Stone are extending a special offer to our readers only: Up To 45% Off Rosetta Stone + Unlimited Languages!

Claim Your Exclusive Offer From Rosetta Stone!

I Cut Down My Screentime By Learning A New Language

Lately, I've noticed how much I'm picking up my phone with zero purpose. Out of curiosity, I looked into my average screen time for the week and my jaw dropped. It was embarrassing.

Thankfully it wasn't just me, a few of my friends were saying that they find themselves on their phones a lot more these days too. That still didn't make my 5hrs 25 mins spent with my head hunched over my phone okay in any way!

The mindless scrolling on useless apps needed to be cut down. No phone until after breakfast and at least two hours before bedtime.

Another more fun idea (which I'm stealing off my friend Sam) is signing up for Rosetta Stone, a language learning app. I can't help picking up my phone throughout the day (out of sheer boredom) so this way I can make my screen time beneficial and learn a few new Italian phrases.

Sam is loving Rosetta Stone, I on the other hand had zero expectations. It could be a fun new hobby to learn French without having to take actual classes or deal with the pressure of vocab quizzes. Plus I won't feel guilty being on my phone when I'm on Rosetta Stone.

Signing up was easy and the classes are only 15-30 minutes per day and you can download them to do anytime, wherever you are. After a few days I really got into it. The lessons are actually fun and they build upon each other, making them interesting and keeps you coming back. I really wasn't expecting advanced features like TruAccent® and Phrasebook but they're extremely helpful for grasping a new language.

A month after downloading Rosetta Stone, not only have I managed to spend less time scrolling on my phone but I can now hold a basic conversation in Italian. I can't believe how many phrases, sentences, and Italian words I now know. Rosetta Stone made it so easy to learn a new language while showing me how to use my screen time in a constructive and beneficial way.

If this is how much I can learn in only 4 weeks, I'm excited to see where my Italian skills will be in another month.

Here are a few more reasons why I'll be keeping the Rosetta Stone app;

It's convenient, you can use it any time, anywhere, whenever it suits you

Lessons are only bite size 5-10 mins, which makes it easier for your brain to absorb the material

The TruAccent® feature helps you perfect your pronunciation- it shows you exactly how accurate you are and how to improve

The Phrasebook is super helpful by telling you out loud how to say short, useful expressions

The Seek & Speak feature makes it fun with scavenger hunt-like activities

When you sign up for Rosetta Stone's annual plan, you get access to all 25 of their languages

It's Affordable, an annual subscription is only $7.99 a month

UPDATE: The folks at Rosetta Stone are extending a special offer to our readers only: Up To 45% Off Rosetta Stone + Unlimited Languages!

Claim Your Exclusive Offer From Rosetta Stone!

I Cut Down My Screentime By Learning A New Language

Lately, I've noticed how much I'm picking up my phone with zero purpose. Out of curiosity, I looked into my average screen time for the week and my jaw dropped. It was embarrassing.

Thankfully it wasn't just me, a few of my friends were saying that they find themselves on their phones a lot more these days too. That still didn't make my 5hrs 25 mins spent with my head hunched over my phone okay in any way!

The mindless scrolling on useless apps needed to be cut down. No phone until after breakfast and at least two hours before bedtime.

Another more fun idea (which I'm stealing off my friend Sam) is signing up for Rosetta Stone, a language learning app. I can't help picking up my phone throughout the day (out of sheer boredom) so this way I can make my screen time beneficial and learn a few new Italian phrases.

Sam is loving Rosetta Stone, I on the other hand had zero expectations. It could be a fun new hobby to learn French without having to take actual classes or deal with the pressure of vocab quizzes. Plus I won't feel guilty being on my phone when I'm on Rosetta Stone.

Signing up was easy and the classes are only 15-30 minutes per day and you can download them to do anytime, wherever you are. After a few days I really got into it. The lessons are actually fun and they build upon each other, making them interesting and keeps you coming back. I really wasn't expecting advanced features like TruAccent® and Phrasebook but they're extremely helpful for grasping a new language.

A month after downloading Rosetta Stone, not only have I managed to spend less time scrolling on my phone but I can now hold a basic conversation in Italian. I can't believe how many phrases, sentences, and Italian words I now know. Rosetta Stone made it so easy to learn a new language while showing me how to use my screen time in a constructive and beneficial way.

If this is how much I can learn in only 4 weeks, I'm excited to see where my Italian skills will be in another month.

Here are a few more reasons why I'll be keeping the Rosetta Stone app;

It's convenient, you can use it any time, anywhere, whenever it suits you

Lessons are only bite size 5-10 mins, which makes it easier for your brain to absorb the material

The TruAccent® feature helps you perfect your pronunciation- it shows you exactly how accurate you are and how to improve

The Phrasebook is super helpful by telling you out loud how to say short, useful expressions

The Seek & Speak feature makes it fun with scavenger hunt-like activities

When you sign up for Rosetta Stone's annual plan, you get access to all 25 of their languages

It's Affordable, an annual subscription is only $7.99 a month

UPDATE: The folks at Rosetta Stone are extending a special offer to our readers only: Up To 45% Off Rosetta Stone + Unlimited Languages!

Claim Your Exclusive Offer From Rosetta Stone!

3 Positive Habits You Should Form While Working From Home

When quarantine started, nobody knew what to do or how long it was going to last. Between Zoom fatigue and the absence of in-person social interaction, it can be easy to get into a routine of junk food, oversleeping, and mind-numbing hours of television.

If this all sounds a bit too familiar, then it could be a good time to take a look at those daily routines and make some changes for the better. Maybe now is a good time to start a new hobby? Here are three "hobby-hacks" to inspire you:

Learn A New Language

So you like the idea of a new hobby, but you're struggling to decide what to do? Learn to code, pick up a musical instrument, get more adventurous with your cooking? The choices are overwhelming.

Our top hobby-hack is to choose learning a foreign language. Why? Because foreign language skills do so much more than just teach you words. Learning a new language is great for improving your cognitive skills, it helps you to stay calm and disciplined, it inspires you about a place and culture and - perhaps most important of all in these home-bound times - it gets you communicating with people!

Best of all, you don't have to leave the comfort and safety of your home to get inspired with a new language or to interact with others. Rosetta Stone has put a new spin on language learning with its innovative, bite-sized lessons and online coaching sessions. Instead of trekking to class to learn a bunch of words and phrases you'll never use, Rosetta Stone focuses on teaching you conversational snippets relevant to the kind of interactions you want to have, and provides you with a safe space (online) to practice with native speakers and other learners.

Designed to fit into your busy life, lessons can be done when you're having coffee or going for a walk - all it takes is 15 minutes a day. You can even download them in advance, if you are going somewhere without the internet.

The key to Rosetta Stone's success is its huge range of features that allow you to totally immerse yourself in the languages. Take TruAccent®, for example. It shows you exactly how accurate your pronunciation is with a little icon that goes green, yellow, or red when you speak.

The Phrasebook and Seek & Speak® features will also come in handy if you ever find yourself in a conversion with a native speaker. Phrasebook tells you out loud how to say short, useful expressions and Seek & Speak lets you partake in a fun scavenger hunt-like activity for everyday items, like fruit and veg.

Rosetta Stone has lots of languages to choose from- French, Spanish, German, Italian, Arabic, Mandarin, Dutch, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Filipino, Irish, Japanese Korean, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Sweedish, Turkish and Vietnamese

Rosetta Stone costs just $7.99 a month for a 24-month subscription, which gives you access to all of their 24 languages! They also offer the best lifetime value of any online language learning program. For just $199, you get all 24 languages for the rest of your life. Whichever you choose, it's the best value out there!

As the Spanish say, if you're going to do something properly "Tirar la casa por la ventana" (pull out all the stops). And then you'll have the right to "Creerse la última coca-cola en el desierto," (you can translate that one).

At-Home Fitness

It can be hard to stay in shape when gyms are closed. Luckily, YouTube is packed with lots of informative videos that show you how to build your own home gym with limited resources.

You might figure this would be an expensive escapade but, you can achieve a challenging workout at home with little to no equipment.

Finally, Learn to Cook

If you're tired of heating up frozen pizzas, why not take some time to learn how to cook properly. It's a sure way to improve your quality of life. Meal kits are a great way for those with little experience to whip up delicious meals that require minimal effort.

You'll be astounded by how convenient they are and how simple cooking can be. They deliver all of the pre-portioned ingredients and detailed recipe cards that make the whole process foolproof.

With just a few minor changes to your daily routine, you'll be amazed by how much more productive you'll feel.

Plus, Rosetta Stone is extending a limited time discount to our readers! Get Up To 45% Off Rosetta Stone Today!

Claim Your Exclusive Offer From Rosetta Stone!

My Secret For Making Lasting Friendships And Memories While Traveling The World

When I travel, the experience is about so much more than just seeing historical sights or eating international cuisine. Don't get me wrong, I certainly try to see as many tourist destinations as I can, but I'm more interested in soaking up the culture in a holistic way. I want to broaden my horizons by getting a taste of how other cultures see the world, how they interact with each other, what makes them tick. That's why I always try to make new friends when I travel, whether it's keeping in touch over social media or just finding a friendly face for the night to show me the off-the-beaten-path places where the locals really go to drink and dance. So having conversational command of the local language is important to me. I don't have to be fluent, but the more I'm able to speak and understand the language, the more I can have the kinds of adventures that really make travel worthwhile: finding hidden gem restaurants, or late-night talks about philosophy and love with fellow travelers under the Argentinian summer sky.

I've tried a lot of different language learning programs over the years to get ready for trips. The one I come back to over and over again is Rosetta Stone, because all of their features are easy to use, polished and modernized. At the end of the day, it's the only program that helps me actually speak confidently when I'm abroad. Their immersive technique lets you absorb a new language in brief lessons that I can fit in with my morning coffee or on my evening commute. Their lessons are never overwhelming, they're rewarding because you see clear, noticeable progress in your speech and pronunciation after each exercise. Plus, their exercises are never boring (looking at you college classes!) because they're always teaching you in a new and clever way. The app lets you learn on-the-go from your phone (no wifi needed!), which is the only way I can fit language learning into my busy schedule.

When I used other apps, I found that even if I technically knew the vocab, I would still shy away from the conversation if I didn't have confidence in how I was saying sentences. Once, I went fifty miles (which I learned is 80 km!) in the wrong direction on a bus in Italy because I was too nervous to ask for directions. I used to feel overwhelmed a lot when I traveled: too scared to speak to locals, too lost to know up from down, and no internet to save me. Rosetta Stone has changed my confidence problem for good. Phrasebook, a feature I wish I had on my Italy trip, tells you how to pronounce the most useful phrases such as "I'm lost" or "Excuse me, how do I get to the beach?". Their speech recognition technology hears how I'm pronouncing words and helps me fine tune my accent, which makes all the difference when I travel. Plus, they have a really cool Seek & Speak tool that leverages augmented reality. It challenges you to take pictures of objects like fruits or vegetables and the app teaches you how to say the word in the language you are learning. I tried it out a couple of months ago when I was at a farmer's market in Paris. I was able to collect photos of the most perfectly ripe strawberries and cherries I wanted to buy. All I had to do was point my iPhone camera at the fruit and the app taught me "des fraises" and "cerises", and then I had the best dessert ever.

Before I used Rosetta Stone, I imagined it was an old-school program that took up a lot of time. But once I put it to the test, I discovered their new app is truly amazing. Subscriptions start for as little as $6.99 a month, so I can afford to use Rosetta Stone every time I travel without dipping into my wanderlust savings. For travelers looking to make the most out of their trip, I can't recommend Rosetta Stoneenough. Their engaging app with short lessons is the reason I've learned to explore the world confidently. My improved language confidence has led to close friendships, discovering hidden sunset perches, eating one-of-a-kind delicacies, and memories that will last a lifetime.

Ready to start speaking a new language?Try a FREE Demo of Rosetta Stone Today!

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