Yeah, French is pretty close to English, too - I can't speak French...or write it because I don't remember any conjugations for any type of verb ^^;;; - but I can read it okay, because the grammar and much of the vocab is so close. Still, am way impressed by all of those people like you who can write English as well as any native!

Japanese is difficult to get one's head around, if you're an Indoeuropean-language-speaker - I'm getting better at it, even if I need way more vocab & kanji to actually be able to read it without a dictionary or watch without subs. If there's anything in the translation that confuses you, just ask - I might've just been guessing but I might be able to explain it, depending ^^;