Language learning technique: take things a bit beyond your comfort level, then dial them back

One technique I have found useful in language learning is to find some content, whether it be reading or listening, which is a bit beyond my comfort level in terms of difficulty, and practice with it for a period of time. For this to be effective I would say it should be for at least days, ideally weeks. Then I switch my schedule to something a bit easier and there the magic begins.

I’ve used this technique before, but I just remembered it recently because I had listened to a very difficult Japanese podcast  for some time for a period of weeks, and when I had listened to all of the available episodes I switched to a different podcast which was a bit easier. The second podcast was in a field where I knew more vocabulary (science) and also was more conversational, whereas the first podcast was dry economics news packed with difficult terms.

In…