Seriously need help my brain is frustrating me. PLEASE tell me i’m not the only one.

Has anyone else had to deal with the problem of knowing words and their meaning but when you hear them in a sentence you can’t think of the definition and your mind just sorta goes blank? Like i’ve studied and seen the word 元気 a thousand times, but when i’m listening to this podcast and hearing the sentence 「元気が一番ですね、元気が一番大事ですね。」 my mind just completely goes blank. It goes “genki, okay genki means well or healthy/lively”and by then the speaker is already onto the next sentence. Or i’ll think of the definition and it’ll take like 6 seconds to think of it, it’s like a brain fart. I’m pretty sure this has to do with me translating the word into my native language, but how exactly am i even supposed to not translate a word into my native language, especially verbs? This is easily the hardest thing about studying a language in my opinion. It’s so frustrating.

Someone please help, my brain is hurting trying to keep up with my ears.

Also is there a problem with using japanese subtitles on a podcast? Am i only supposed to listen? I usually watch the subtitles go across the screen as i’m listening to the speaker.

by Ukiyotori