Linguistically challenged

I started learning Japanese about a month before I left. I did all the introduction phrases, and the basic sentence pattern. Somehow none of it is useful. Maybe learning to read some real world words written both in kanji (Chinese picture words) and hiragana (Japanese syllables system) would be more useful? In my flat all the appliances are in Japanese. All I can work is a TV control as it has big red button on it. I checked - it worked. I also figured out how to use a microwave, as it has pictures that appeal to my imagination and how I imagine cooking and defrosting. Washing machine, grill, dishwasher, air-conditioning and some sort of cookers - they are completely useless until I find out how to use them.

In the spoken language, I cannot say anything, even though I learned some phrases before coming here. I get a complete language block – I am searching through the "language centre" in my brain for the right words in vain. Somehow all the other languages I learned (or tried learning) in the past are lurking there and throwing to me all the wrong words (German, Swedish, Italian), but not Japanese. In the shop I barely managed to say "Thank you" even though the cashier was saying very clearly the prices for each item. This would be a useful reminder of the numbers, if I knew them already…

As far as some of my younger Japanese colleagues go, I am not sure who is more linguistically challenged, me or them. The one that was teaching me how to use the bus is particularly prone to panic. When he does not know what to say he freezes and thinks for several (sometimes very long) moments. He understands only some words that I say and when he lacks an English word he says it in Japanese, maybe just checking how much of it I get, or that I maybe remember the meaning of this word from some of my previous incarnations.

We found Yahoo online translator extremely useful with communication, for example with challenging phrases like "either would be good" or words like "electricity".