How to remember information in Japanese...

[Haruto Uzumaki]

I kinda have a lot of questions to ask now that I have reached a certain, somewhat self-sustaining point in Japanese learning, so I apologize in advance if I decide to drop many questions at once, but...
Has anyone else ever experienced the following? You either have a conversation in Japanese or just listen to someone saying something in Japanese, and regardless of the fact that you're not translating it in your head or anything, when you go to recall or "quote" back what they said, you can only remember what they said in English (or your native language)... I try hard to bypass the brain's desire to auto-translate in my head an english version of what someone said in Japanese, and for the most part I'm usually successful, by kind of letting the words just pass through my brain and try to halfway ignore it but halfway pay attention, if that makes sense. However, even when I successfully understand a sentence innately, if I try to recall that particular sentence of what someone said sometime later (particularly auditory speech), I can only seem to remember what the English translation (and inherent meaning) would be of what they said, and I wouldn't have a clue how they constructed their sentence, if they used keigo or not, and so on. If there's a word that's important to me in the sentence then I can usually remember that, but I still wouldn't have the slightest clue of how they composed their sentence and if someone wrote it down I wouldn't be able to confirm "yeah, that's exactly what they said" or "no, that isn't quite how they said it". Where as in English I can generally remember how someone said something, and can generally quote them with little to no problems... So why is this? Does it come naturally after some time? Do I have to practice something to be able to memorize what someone said in Japanese? Or is this just a side effect that might be unavoidable for certain people learning a new language... Let me know Thanks in advance!

 

[Haruto Uzumaki]

By the way, I feel that it's quite unfair that I'm the one asking so many questions and not answering any for others or doing something for you guys (mainly due to my lower level) so is there anything I can do to change that? I want to do an equal amount of favors for the amount of questions I ask, so it's fair when I ask them. Right now I can't help but feel like it's unfair for you guys

 

[mdchachi]

By the way, I feel that it's quite unfair that I'm the one asking so many questions and not answering any for others or doing something for you guys (mainly due to my lower level) so is there anything I can do to change that? I want to do an equal amount of favors for the amount of questions I ask, so it's fair when I ask them. Right now I can't help but feel like it's unfair for you guys

Don't worry about that. After you move to Japan and become an old hand, we expect you to not forget us and still hang out here on occasion and, perhaps, answer questions that come in from others about life in Japan. If your plan works out, you'll have some original firsthand experiences that nobody else will have.
Though I suspect you might end up getting pretty active in the real world and may leave us behind.

As for your original question, that's just how the brain works I guess.

 

[Haruto Uzumaki]

Don't worry about that. After you move to Japan and become an old hand, we expect you to not forget us and still hang out here on occasion and, perhaps, answer questions that come in from others about life in Japan. If your plan works out, you'll have some original firsthand experiences that nobody else will have.
Though I suspect you might end up getting pretty active in the real world and may leave us behind.

Of course, I won't forget about you guys! I wouldn't be able to make it there without everyone's support after all. Literally, if you guys didn't help me when I was a beginner at Japanese, and also set me straight when I had no solid plan, then I would've been nowhere by now. But thanks to everyone's support, I was able to make real progress with Japanese as well as brainstorm ways I can bypass the limitations that make it difficult for someone like me to start a life in Japan!

As for your original question, that's just how the brain works I guess.

I guess so...