Updated Discussion Text Documents - Department Of Philosophy: Fill & Download for Free

Well, I’ve survived, so far. I am currently in the middle of my third year of studying languages (MML, we call it - Modern & Medieval Languages) - Spanish and Portuguese - at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. As such I cannot talk about AMES (Asian & Middle Eastern Studies), where you can also study Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Chinese and Japanese. I can also talk about my experience so far - 2.5 of 4 years.Note: I have left a skeletal course description and overview at the bottom, with jargon and information that I am using in the rest of my answer. This is to avoid clogging up the answer and getting you all bored.Note: Nothing I have written here is ‘inside information’. It is all available on the various official websites and so I am not revealing any ‘classified information’ - not that there is any, of course.Note: OK wow this is a long answer. I apologise profusely. I have tried to make section headings to make it easier.BackgroundLearning a language came relatively easy for me in school. The GCSE and, to a much lesser extent, the A-Level standards seemed very low to me. I also benefitted from being able to go on exchanges and to language schools in the country for a couple of weeks. Literature, however, I loathed. It was really badly taught at my school and I couldn’t analyse for shit. I loved reading, but reading to relax, to escape, not to break down every word and decide that the author is suffering from an Oedipal complex. This was my view of what analysing was:but I digress…How to get inTo start to address the OP’s questions, yes, everybody there is a gifted linguist. Everybody has had to get at least A*AA, passed an interview in which they will definitely have had to converse in the language, and sit a 3hr test on the day of the interview, writing half the answers in the language. You get two interviews - one for each language. 15 minutes before, you get given a short text in the foreign language which you will talk about in the interview. You are not told the title or author. The Cambridge application process is designed to make sure that the people who get in are the best students in that subject. It is rigorous and tough, and tests your abilities across all components of the course.Language componentThe language is taught at an extremely high level. There is 1 ‘use of’ (grammar) class per language per week. 2 for 1st year ab initios. There is 1 fortnightly translation class per language and 1 weekly oral class per language. To try and explain how enlightening they are, I will share this anecdote:In Chemistry, when we were learning about the electron shells, our teacher told us that what we were learning was actually false and that if we did A Level we’d learn stuff that would contradict what we learned that day, and the same for university vs. A Level. Well in university, I had my ‘electron shell’ moment. You think you know the difference between the imperfect and the preterite? Description vs. Action, right? Think again. It would be too long to go into detail on it, but go to Cambridge and you’ll find out!The language classes (except the oral) are done in classes of 8–12, students coming from all different colleges. The oral is generally done in groups of 2/3 with students from the same college. Literature supervisions are the same as oral supervision (obviously with different material).By the end of 1st year, my Spanish (and, of course, my Portuguese) had improved a heck of a lot. As with anywhere, I have heard of some language teachers in Cambridge not being great. This might be as much personal learning style preference as teacher capabilities. In any case, the majority of mine, with 1 exception, have been unbelievable language teachers. They explain things clearly, succinctly, and logically, making sure you understand before moving on. Oh, and the language classes are all in the language (including any explanation and clarification).The 2nd year language papers are more hit and miss. Most people abhor the AV paper, but the Faculty are in the process of improving and changing it. The other paper, translation into the target language, is possibly the most amazing thing that happened to my language learning ability. It challenges you and stretches your linguistic skills like never before. You are asked to replicate style and sense - often highly figurative/literal - in a foreign language. They know you’re never going to know every word (my exam contained such anglophone gems as ‘Elvis Presley-puffed’ and ‘having diddled them out of a lifetime of bus rides’), and so the challenge is getting around them and making yourself clear, in the same register, in the foreign language.I don’t know what 4th year language papers will be like. Anecdote time:French translation teacher in 2nd year - “it’s ok that you don’t know the exact term for wall lamp in French. This year you can get away with it and get creative in trying to get around it. Not in fourth year. You’ll have to know it then.Also the day of the exam a friend of mine was frantically revising the names of some pretty obscure plants in Spanish just in case they came up.Literary componentThe literature is another question, especially as it’s often treated separately to the language element, even within the University.For any scheduled paper, you will be having fortnightly supervisions, which means writing 1,500 words every two weeks, for each supervisor. This requires a certain amount of ‘secondary reading’ (reading books and articles by critics discussing the work and or other aspects you wish to explore). Generally, supervisors will provide a list of secondary literature, often quite general, relating specifically to the text(s) and/or the period(s).The first year paper, is pretty much an introduction into the literatures and cultures of the language. For example, in Spanish we did Lazarillo de Tormes, some Lorca, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Vargas Llosa. In Portuguese we looked at Brazil’s ‘Birth Certificate’ and ‘foundational text’, some of Paula Rego’s art, O Crime do Padre Amaro, Cidade de Deus, an Angolan novel and Mozambican short stories. As you can see, pretty important, foundational cultural expressions of the Hispanic and Lusophone world. In second year, you have a choice. The papers are generally split either by period or by region. I took the Latin American Spanish paper, studying Fuentes, Juan Rulfo, Borges, García Márquez and many others. Topics ranged from the independence movement and the question of civilisation vs. barbarity to the Mexican Revolution, South America’s rapid 20th-century urbanisation, the many dictatorships, and the ‘racial other’.I don’t truly know how my literary analysis skills went from zero to hero in that first year. Part of me thinks it was a miraculous estalo de vieira, but another part of me credits the quality of the secondary literature. It’s very in-depth, eloquent and complex. But also very accessible in the way it explains facets of texts and comes to conclusions about a work. A fair amount of credit also has to go to the supervisors. They go through your essay in detail, writing detailed comments in the margins (sometimes illegibly, but it’s still something!) and giving you honest evaluation. Then you sit in a room with just them and another student. These guys are the experts in their fields. They know pretty much everything there is to know about what I’ve written about. I have witnessed them recall an episode in the text and subsequently turn to the exact page with 0 hesitation (à la Snape: “turn to page 394”). Also I have frequently cited my supervisors in essays I later hand in to them. For an understanding of the supervision, something which cannot really be explained, read Lazarillo de Tormes and then come talk to me about it…Lectures are frequent and cover every text (and sometimes more). As with anywhere, some can be poor in quality. Most, however, are extremely helpful.Part of the greatness of the learning environment for literature is that it is an open-minded open table. You are treated as an equal by the supervisor; your ideas are given credit insofar as they are well elaborated and justified. A couple of times a comment in the margin has readI completely disagree, but you make your point well.The discussions are intense, but amazingly productive. Over the course of the years, you begin to read or touch upon pretty foundational analytical and philosophical premises - Freud, Lacan, Bataille, Aristotle, (neo)Plato(nism), the list goes on.To understand the text you are required to understand or at least grasp the context, politically, socially and philosophically. This allows the students to really come to grips with a whole movement of thought and philosophy, and how literature, culture and society reacted to each movement.Some students I talk to feel that the literature makes up too much of the course and the workload is too demanding. I disagree with them. There is a lot to read, but if you are organised and read at least a little in the summer holidays, it’s much more manageable. It also helps if you’re passionate about it, of course.The Year AbroadStudents have to organise this in their second year. I have detailed what it consists of below. I get the year abroad structure is pretty identical across UK universities. Language skills reach native or near-native levels, and we become intimately acquainted with the culture of the country. I feel, however, that Cambridge is pretty unique with regard to the YAP (also detailed below). The topic and research is entirely up to you. For example, I’m looking at the writings of a 16th-century Spanish friar and a 17th-century Portuguese Jesuits on the American Indians. Another person is writing on the portrayal of women and ethnic minorities in the Surrealist movement. Another did a project on a 13th-century French hagiography. It’s completely and utterly up to you. And I’m really enjoying my research, and mind-bending as it is.The Year Abroad Office keeps detailed documentation of where students went, what they did, and how they liked it, along with contact details, so you’re never completely on your own. They contact us regularly and are always helpfulImprovementsThe Faculty are amazing at getting our feedback. At the end of every term questionnaires are sent round where we can evaluate teachers and course content and structure. The literature covered is regularly revised and updated. This year the department got in a specialist on American Indian poetry in the years after discovery, which is pretty damn cool.Work-Life BalanceI am of the opinion that most students in Cambridge face the same pressures, varying slightly by subject. Yes, it’s an intense 8 week term, with sleepless nights and lots of work, whilst also trying to get in some extracurricular and socialising. Yes the level of work is always challenging. Students in Cambridge suffer from mental illnesses much more than the average UK student. Cambridge does provide excellent support and counselling networks to attempt to combat this. Expectations are simply that you fulfil, or better, exceed, your potential. If you are a middle-of-the-road student, fine. If you’re in the bottom 10, just as fine as if you’re in the top 10. As long as you achieve what you are capable of, and are engaged, the staff are happy. That is my experience.I have found that as an ab initio student, my workload has been a little less than that of students studying exclusively post-A Level languages. This may well be peculiar to me. In any case, in 3rd year and 4th year everyone is on equal footing, workload-wise.The Easter Term (3rd term, exam term) is interesting. Teaching only lasts for 4 weeks, and then it is straight into exams. Last year I had 16 hours of exams in 8 days. Other subjects seem to have it worse, others better. Writing 3 1000-word essays in three hours absolutely kills your hand.What I found odd in first year was the relative paucity of teaching time. For example, I only had 10 hours worth of translation classes for a 2-hour exam. 20 hours of grammar for a 3-hour exam. In hindsight, you get so much out of the classes, that you’ll wonder how on earth they fit all that information into 60 minutes.ConclusionWhat’s it like to study languages at Cambridge? Pretty amazing. My understanding of absolutely everything has increased exponentially. It has given me access - on an equal footing - to experts on literature. It has reopened my love for literature in ways I never thought possible. It has improved my language by far.Term is intense. Stressful, tearful, all of it. But I would say it’s worth it. I went back to Cambridge a couple of days ago to use the University Library for my research. I got out of my taxi and thought, to paraphrase The Wizard of Oz, “Toto, I’ve a feeling I’m back in Kansas”. Cambridge is truly a second home to me.For an MML degree at Cambridge, you are required to study two languages from the following list:FrenchGermanItalianSpanishPortugueseRussianYou can study both languages from a post-A Level standard, or you can choose to take up one (but not two) from scratch, ab initio. I studied Portuguese ab initio. The only language you cannot start from scratch is French.The course structure is as follows:Year 1 (Part IA):Both languages, regardless of level, offer the following papers:Grammar (3hr exam)Translation into English (2hrs)Oral (30 mins)An Introduction to the Language, Literatures and Culture paper (3hrs)For post-A Level, this is 3x literature essays. For ab initio, it is 2 literature essays and 1 translation into English‘Texts’ include novels, short stories, essays, films, letters, poetry, art, architecture, and even music.Year 2 (Part IB):For 2 post-A Level languages:2 language papers per language“Audiovisual” (AV) - a sort of listening examTranslation into the foreign languageA choice of 3 ‘scheduled papers’ (literature/culture papers). In Y2 and Y4, scheduled papers are comparative, meaning in term-time essays and in the exam, you have to answer questions with reference to 2+ texts, rather than just 1 in Y1.For ab initio students, their ab initio language’s year 2 course structure is the same as year 1 (though this time expected to be at the same level as their other language was last year). From that they get to choose 2 more ‘scheduled papers’. Most choose 1 as the language component of the other language, otherwise there is no language practice for that language. That leaves the choice of 1 other scheduled paper.1 literature paper can be taken as ‘Long Essay’ coursework rather than an end-of-year exam. This consists of writing 2 4,000 -word essays, 1 over Christmas and the other over Easter.Year 3 (Part II) (Year Abroad):A minimum of 8 months (October-May) spent abroad. The time can be split between jobs, cities, countries, languages, etc, or can be all in the same place. Year Abroad activity has to consist of one of the following:Studying (at a foreign university)Teaching (British Council or other placement)Working (read: internship)During this time, students are expected to write a ‘Year Abroad Project’. This is an 8,000-word dissertation which counts towards the degree and can be of one of the following subject matters:Literature/Film/Culture/History/Politics/etcTranslation. 4,000 words of introduction and explanationsLinguistics.Year 4 (Part II):Oral exam in chosen language taken in September (before term starts) (30 mins)Translation (1 text into English, 1 text from English) (2hrs)‘Text and Culture’ (from what I understand, a commentary on a foreign-language text, using contextual knowledge of the culture) (2hrs)The latter two can be taken in the same language or in different languages. If in the same language, the Oral also has to be in that language.3 scheduled papers (3hrs each)One scheduled paper can be turned into a 10,000-word dissertation.One scheduled paper can be ‘borrowed’ from another department (ASNAC (Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic), Classics, English, History, Linguistics, Politics, etc.)Scheduled paper essentially means that you can choose from a selection. The choice is pretty much various different literature papers, a new language, or a borrowed paper.Extra note: The Faculty also offers scheduled papers which involve taking up a new (third) language, including Catalan, Dutch, Modern Greek, Neo Latin, Polish, Portuguese, Ukrainian. The course differs for each language, but is generally the same as learning an ab initio language, but only taking the ‘Introduction to…’ paper as the exam - meaning 1 translation and 2 literature questions. You can only take up one new language in 2nd year, and one in 4th year.

Working online can mean distractions and loss of productivity, not least when multiple applications and software platforms need to be used and switched between. Luckily, a number of companies have come up with solutions to ensure that individuals and teams can work more productively and efficiently, by keeping communications on a single development platform, so that users don't have to keep changing logins to use other ones.The main features of productivity apps will focus on communications and project management, so that no matter where any individual is, they can remain in contact with the rest of their team and provide the latest updates and information that everyone needs. This can be done on a per project or by department basis, so that managers can ensure that the right people are in the right place to get the job done.Each of the following eight productivity apps will make you more efficient in some way. Before we start, we should note that, while our list is numbered, the placement of apps doesn't represent their level of importance. Meaning the first app isn't better than the last1. ToDoistToDoist is the ultimate todo list app, having helped over 10 million people get more control over their lives. To start using the tool, first jot down everything you need to get done. The intelligent software will then interpret and categorize the tasks for you based on your entries. For example, if you create a task to "Have lunch with Bob at 12pm tomorrow #meetings", ToDoist will automatically schedule a reminder for you tomorrow at 12pm, and file the task into your "meetings" section.But ToDoist is more than just a personal productivity tool. It can also be used to keep your entire team on track. Plan projects and assign responsibility, discuss project details, and monitor deadlines all inside the app.ToDoist is free for basic functionality, $36 a year for premium features, and $60 a year (per user) for full featured access for your entire team.‍2. CalendarLooking to save more time, be more productive, and focus better? Look no further than Calendar.Calendar is the smart app that you need to add to your stack. This artificial intelligence led productivity app is always learning for you and will save you time and effort along the way. The more you use it the more valuable it becomes.With Calendar, you’ll have the ability to allow anyone to choose and book a meeting time directly to your Calendar. Your Calendar will protect you from any pre-existing or conflicting meetings being scheduled at the same time.Calendar, featured in CNN, Inc, Forbes, and Entrepreneur, gives you the ability to dive deep into the analytics of your calendar to help you find ways to maximize your productivity and save more time.3. CloudAppCloudApp, a visual communication tool that can save your team up to 56 hours a week! It's been scientifically proven that humans process images 60,000x faster than plain text. Why not use this to your advantage?Whether you happen to be communicating with a colleague, a customer, or a client; CloudApp's screenshot, video recording, GIF creation, and image annotation features will help you get your point across faster. Don't bother writing lengthy, complex emails, simply show people what you mean.3 million users, including industry titans like Uber, Facebook, and Adobe can't be wrong. CloudApp is an incredible productivity app and you need it in your business software suite. Fortunately, it's incredibly affordable.4. TrelloTrello is a project management app that makes managing projects less stressful; enjoyable, even. How is that possible? It all starts with the platform's Kanban philosophy. Trello is highly visual, which makes it very intuitive.Users can break big projects down into smaller chunks by creating "cards" for every task. Cards can be arranged into different columns, which can represent different phases of a project. As tasks get completed, cards can easily be dragged from one column to the next. Here's how this process might look in a real-life scenario:Jen is tasked with managing her company's blog.To keep track of all the articles written and submitted by different writers, she creates a Trello board with four columns: "Blog Ideas", "Writing", "Editing", and "Published".As each blog idea is worked on, it makes its way from the "Blog Ideas" column, all the way to the "Published" column when the article has been finished and posted.5. SlackYou've heard of Slack. The unicorn company, currently valued at over seven billion dollars, is one of the fastest growing of all time. Major corporations like Target, Capital One, and Oracle use the app on a regular basis because it's an incredible productivity booster.If you've never used the tool before, it's a communication app that makes collaboration a breeze. Email is great for many things, but it can be cumbersome when conversing with colleagues. It's too easy for messages get lost and buried beneath a mountain of other emails.With Slack, all of your office communications are neatly organized and searchable. Different channels can be created for different projects, departments, and clients; and team members can jump in and out of conversations as needed. Meaning they won't get notifications about conversations they're no longer involved in.But Slack is more than just an email alternative. You can also share documents, video chat, and send GIFs inside the application. To really boost productivity, integrate your other tools like Google Drive, Dropbox, and SalesForce. Plans range from $0 to $12.50 a month, per user.6. HootsuiteSocial media is a business game changer. Never before has a company had such easy access to its customers. It's an amazing opportunity, but it comes at a cost: crafting social posts and responding to comments takes a lot of time. Fortunately, there are apps out there that make posting to social media much less time-intensive.Hootsuite is a social media management app that allows you to update your company's Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn pages from the same screen — without the need to log into each individual platform. You can also reply to comments inside this tool, too.But the real reason why Hootsuite makes our best productivity apps for 2019 list is because of its scheduling feature. Log in once, schedule every post you plan to make for the next week, month, three months (Hootsuite allows you to schedule hundreds of messages at a time), and then just monitor your accounts as the software automatically posts content at the time you specified. How cool is that?7. TogglToggl is the simple, intuitive time tracker app that you'll actually use. It isn't limited by device and works on your computer, tablet and phone, so no matter where or what you're working on, your hours are being tracked. Oh, and you'll never forget to turn this productivity app on because it sends you friendly reminders to do so.When you've completed a task, take a look at the detailed report. Toggl crunches the numbers and shows you how your time was spent. You just have to analyze its findings and adjust the way you work in the future to be more productive.If you're a freelancer, a tool like this is mandatory. How else will you accurately bill clients? But even those who work a salaried position will find Toggl useful. After all, to become more productive, it helps to first know how you're really spending your time.‍8. HelloSignBefore electronic signature software, signing documents was a pain. First, you'd have to scan your specific contract into the computer and email it to your recipient. Once received, the signee would need to print the document out, sign it, scan it back into their computer, and email it back to you. That's just too many steps!HelloSign takes the hassle out of signing contracts by enabling you to sign them electronically. And don't worry, every document signed through HelloSign is legally binding.As an added bonus, your signed contracts are organized inside the secure HelloSign system, meaning you don't need to waste time or space storing physical documents. Simply create the agreement, send it out for the necessary signatures, and file it away for future reference.HelloSign is free for limited use and upgraded plans start at $13 a month.It should be noted that only the user creating and sending documents is charged this monthly fee. Those receiving contracts are not required to pay anything in order to sign them. In fact, they don't even need to create their own account.9. ZapierZapier allows its users to create integrations and automations between apps that normally wouldn't communicate with each other. For example, a new email received in Gmail can be set to automatically save any attachments to a Dropbox folder and alert you via Slack.With multiple, simultaneous conversations happening inside a single Slack channel, we began losing track of things. Ideas were proposed, discussed for a bit, and lost. As a result, the same questions and issues were often brought up multiple times.However, After quieting slack we used some alternative tools for team communication and from there we found BRIEF. This is an alternative of slack and it has a combination of all top features for team communication.Brief is a productivity app that helps you focus your day to achieve more professionally and personally. Its clean, minimalist dashboard combines team chat, video, hubs, to do lists, file sharing and storage helping you action priorities that drive the most impact.Brief’s powerful productivity app gives users simple tools that bring personal and team focus. By combining chat, task dashboards, team hubs, file sharing and storage, teams have a simple menu of productivity tools that help execute around priorities, to make every action count.Diversity, geographic distribution, time zones, cultural differences and varied reporting lines mean that teams are needing to embrace new ways of collaborating in order to drive productivity in today’s era of work. The connected, mobile and social workforce is all about real-time sharing of work, ideas and opinions. Brief’s entrepreneurial collaboration dashboard combines video, organization and communications tools into an elegant user dashboard that allows you to easily connect to anyone in the world, in real time either face-to-face or through chat/team hubs. When used effectively, Brief can eradicate the need to use email, making communication quicker and more focused. Research shows that 73 percent of all emails received by employees are no even relevant to their roles. More focused personal decision making and execution means a more focused you, and a more focused team that achieves more together.Earning and keeping our members’ trust is paramount and that is why they always deliver on their promise to keep their data secure. Brief will never sell any member’s personal information. They hold our members’ security and privacy sacred, safeguarding their information using state-of-the-art technology that has been independently rated by a leading security agency to be more secure than most US bank websites. The Brief team were the first members on the platform, it’s our own, and we take security personally.Best Of Luck!

Hey! From my experience there are a few tools that I have absolutely loved for varying reasons for myself and for the team I manage.1. ToDoistToDoist is the ultimate todo list app. Source: ToDoist‍ToDoist is the ultimate todo list app, having helped over 10 million people get more control over their lives. To start using the tool, first jot down everything you need to get done. The intelligent software will then interpret and categorize the tasks for you based on your entries. For example, if you create a task to "Have lunch with Bob at 12pm tomorrow #meetings", ToDoist will automatically schedule a reminder for you tomorrow at 12pm, and file the task into your "meetings" section.But ToDoist is more than just a personal productivity tool. It can also be used to keep your entire team on track. Plan projects and assign responsibility, discuss project details, and monitor deadlines all inside the app.ToDoist is free for basic functionality, $36 a year for premium features, and $60 a year (per user) for full featured access for your entire team.‍2. CalendarYour Calendar deserves a productivity upgrade‍Looking to save more time, be more productive, and focus better? Look no further than Calendar.Calendar is the smart app that you need to add to your stack. This artificial intelligence led productivity app is always learning for you and will save you time and effort along the way. The more you use it the more valuable it becomes.With Calendar, you’ll have the ability to allow anyone to choose and book a meeting time directly to your Calendar. Your Calendar will protect you from any pre-existing or conflicting meetings being scheduled at the same time.Calendar, featured in CNN, Inc, Forbes, and Entrepreneur, gives you the ability to dive deep into the analytics of your calendar to help you find ways to maximize your productivity and save more time.Its easy to get started, just go straight to Calendar.com and follow the sign up prompts. You can get started for FREE or add more features with a monthly subscription plan.‍3. CloudAppCloudApp's screen recording software is the ultimate productivity app.‍CloudApp, a visual communication tool that can save your team up to 56 hours a week! It's been scientifically proven that humans process images 60,000x faster than plain text. Why not use this to your advantage?Whether you happen to be communicating with a colleague, a customer, or a client; CloudApp's screenshot, video recording, GIF creation, and image annotation features will help you get your point across faster. Don't bother writing lengthy, complex emails, simply show people what you mean.3 million users, including industry titans like Uber, Facebook, and Adobe can't be wrong. CloudApp is an incredible productivity app and you need it in your business software suite. Fortunately, it's incredibly affordable.The free forever plan will get you started. For additional features, subscribe to an upgraded plan for just $9+ a month.‍4. TrelloTrello makes project management quick and easy. Source: TrelloTrello is a project management app that makes managing projects less stressful; enjoyable, even. How is that possible? It all starts with the platform's Kanban philosophy. Trello is highly visual, which makes it very intuitive.Users can break big projects down into smaller chunks by creating "cards" for every task. Cards can be arranged into different columns, which can represent different phases of a project. As tasks get completed, cards can easily be dragged from one column to the next. Here's how this process might look in a real-life scenario:Jen is tasked with managing her company's blog.To keep track of all the articles written and submitted by different writers, she creates a Trello board with four columns: "Blog Ideas", "Writing", "Editing", and "Published".As each blog idea is worked on, it makes its way from the "Blog Ideas" column, all the way to the "Published" column when the article has been finished and posted.Trello is free to use, though they do offer premium plans with additional features starting at $9.99 a month.5. SlackCommunicate with your coworkers with Slack. Source: Slack‍You've heard of Slack. The unicorn company, currently valued at over seven billion dollars, is one of the fastest growing of all time. Major corporations like Target, Capital One, and Oracle use the app on a regular basis because it's an incredible productivity booster.If you've never used the tool before, it's a communication app that makes collaboration a breeze. Email is great for many things, but it can be cumbersome when conversing with colleagues. It's too easy for messages get lost and buried beneath a mountain of other emails.With Slack, all of your office communications are neatly organized and searchable. Different channels can be created for different projects, departments, and clients; and team members can jump in and out of conversations as needed. Meaning they won't get notifications about conversations they're no longer involved in.But Slack is more than just an email alternative. You can also share documents, video chat, and send GIFs inside the application. To really boost productivity, integrate your other tools like Google Drive, Dropbox, and SalesForce. Plans range from $0 to $12.50 a month, per user.6. HootsuiteCut down on social media posting time with Hootsuite. Source:Hootsuite‍Social media is a business game changer. Never before has a company had such easy access to its customers. It's an amazing opportunity, but it comes at a cost: crafting social posts and responding to comments takes a lot of time. Fortunately, there are apps out there that make posting to social media much less time-intensive.Hootsuite is a social media management app that allows you to update your company's Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn pages from the same screen — without the need to log into each individual platform. You can also reply to comments inside this tool, too.But the real reason why Hootsuite makes our best productivity apps for 2019 list is because of its scheduling feature. Log in once, schedule every post you plan to make for the next week, month, three months (Hootsuite allows you to schedule hundreds of messages at a time), and then just monitor your accounts as the software automatically posts content at the time you specified. How cool is that?Plans start at $29 a month after a free 30 day trial.7. TogglTrack your time and be more productive with Toggl. Source: Toggl‍Toggl is the simple, intuitive time tracker app that you'll actually use. It isn't limited by device and works on your computer, tablet and phone, so no matter where or what you're working on, your hours are being tracked. Oh, and you'll never forget to turn this productivity app on because it sends you friendly reminders to do so.When you've completed a task, take a look at the detailed report. Toggl crunches the numbers and shows you how your time was spent. You just have to analyze its findings and adjust the way you work in the future to be more productive.If you're a freelancer, a tool like this is mandatory. How else will you accurately bill clients? But even those who work a salaried position will find Toggl useful. After all, to become more productive, it helps to first know how you're really spending your time.Toggl is free to use, though premium features start at $9 a month per user.‍8. HelloSignSign documents quicker and more securely with HelloSign. Source: HelloSign‍Before electronic signature software, signing documents was a pain. First, you'd have to scan your specific contract into the computer and email it to your recipient. Once received, the signee would need to print the document out, sign it, scan it back into their computer, and email it back to you. That's just too many steps!HelloSign takes the hassle out of signing contracts by enabling you to sign them electronically. And don't worry, every document signed through HelloSign is legally binding.As an added bonus, your signed contracts are organized inside the secure HelloSign system, meaning you don't need to waste time or space storing physical documents. Simply create the agreement, send it out for the necessary signatures, and file it away for future reference.HelloSign is free for limited use and upgraded plans start at $13 a month.It should be noted that only the user creating and sending documents is charged this monthly fee. Those receiving contracts are not required to pay anything in order to sign them. In fact, they don't even need to create their own account.‍9. ZapierConnect all of your favorite business apps with Zapier. Source:Zapier‍Zapier allows its users to create integrations and automations between apps that normally wouldn't communicate with each other. For example, a new email received in Gmail can be set to automatically save any attachments to a Dropbox folder and alert you via Slack.The best part is, all these integrations and automations can be built with just a few clicks of your mouse; no coding required. Just select your business software of choice (this productivity appworks with over 1,000 other tools, so your favorites are bound to be included) and start building customized workflows.You'll save hours every week and become much more productive when you let Zapier handle monotonous tasks like data entry for you. After a 14 day free trial, plans cost $20 a month and beyond depending on the features you want.‍‍‍Discover the Best Productivity Apps for YouIf you want to become more productive in 2019 (and who doesn't) the eight apps listed in this blog post will help. We encourage you to investigate each of them yourself, sign up for the free trials, and see if they can help you get more done in less time.For your convenience, the productivity apps mentioned in this article are listed below. Here's to your most productive year yet!ToDoistTrelloSlackHootsuiteTogglHelloSignZapierCloudAppSource: The 9 Best Productivity Apps for 2019 | CloudApp Blog