A good point! Much easier to develop receptive skills than productive ones, especially reading. It also seems like people retain those skills for much longer - I know a lot of people who studied French in school years ago and couldn't get beyond "je m'appelle" but can still understand some written bits.Fluent speaking is by far the hardest part of learning a language, and that's not something I'm trying to do. Being able to recognize, say, a verb form is much easier than having to remember it on your own and then use it properly.
Exactly. Right now direct communication isn't my goal, so I can take the easier route. This has an added benefit of allowing me to learn on my own schedule, and not be subject to when a class (or even just another person) may be able to meet.