Back at Spanish for the last year or so.
My current program is covered pretty well in https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=16903 the post asking how many learning tracks are too many.
Don Quijote de la Mancha
Just finished my first run through RTVE Don Quixote for the XXI century. Fantastic!
I split the RTVE mp3's into smaller chunks that match the chapters of the book, so rather than 30 or 60 minute episodes, most are less than 15 minutes and they're more organized in my mind.
I started highlighting the original text with the RTVE audio. RTVE is more dramatic and sometimes uses less archaic language. The acting and sound effects are great.
The idea of highlighting the text came a couple hours into the first pass through.
First pass had several goals. Complete the story, organize the audio, and then the highlighting process.
Can see using the RTVE audio and following with various texts for a few more runs. The RTVE audio is about 10 hours. The original text is about 40. They cut the text pretty judiciously. Francisco Rico helped with the text. He has an annotated Don Quixote that's about 1600 pages.
I've started the second run. Re-listened to the first episode (prologue and chapters 1-5), and started highlighting the original text from the beginning.
Anaya's El Quijote https://www.languages-direct.com/dollar/el-quijote-miguel-de-cervantes-anaye-ele-audios-clasicos.html is also good. 2 books with 2 CDs, so not all of the text is recorded, but it's well done. Still on the first run here. This series uses 1600-2000 words, but they aren't necessarily the 2000 most frequent words. Using this to get more comfortable reading and begin to internalize the story another way. If I knew how good RTVE was, I might not have done this, but the book works well in situations where there's only a few minutes to read. Most chapters are only about 4 pages and the text isn't very dense.
Have been doing a lot of self-immersion lately. Think my listening and reading are better than ever. Haven't done much speaking, but planning to start sometime. (I mean talking to real people and not myself
