turvy wrote:

but couldn't find any good links to compiled parallel texts in L1 and L2 with audio

Seems like "buonaparte's audio and text links" ... there are lots of information and material in that thread.

I find it useful to listen and expose myself to different literature or articles but it won't be sufficient as the "only" method or "best" medium to learning any languages. 

Japanese is "considered a high-context language", maybe along with French and the Arabic languages from what I read in a book from Edward T. Hall, and if I may borrow from Richard Bowring words...

[...that a spoken language maintains a specific rhythm that relies on the presence of another person. Spoken language can be ungrammatical, relies on "eye contact, shared experiences and particular relationships [to] provide a background which allows speech to be at times fragmentary and even allusive". ]

Some schools of thought suggest "shadowing" when reading along with the audio material, but in some Asian languages (such as the Japanese, Thai, etc.) and  there are gender differences in the usage of the language, not to mention the nuances and subtle meanings.  It can be counter-productive in some cases if one simply uses it without proper understanding.

In a nutshell, I find that learning a language is more than just words, grammar, vocabularies... it also involves understanding the culture, custom, history and body or silent language which really forms the bulk of what comprises in a "language".