[dothereading]

In general I agree with this, and there is definitely something a bit insidious about optimizing the entire process so that you are on a perfectly calibrated i+1 treadmill.

But, for some languages with different alphabets and roots, it really is practically impossible to get any meaning from a magazine article in your target language at a beginner level. So getting out of this beginner phase as quickly as possible is really appealing. And if you can find text at this level that is interesting then that really helps.

I really like your comment about i-1 learning, I'd never thought of it like that.