I wish this were true for my case.

Indeed i will try to apply your lessons, and i am fairly sure i know most of the pieces you are going to write about.

My problem is that i know 0 languages.
Or, often i will tell people that my native language is C.

I often can't remember words.
I don't remember my boss' name (when i had a boss)
Literally, i would look at the name plate, and walk in the door and say, Good morning Mr. X. If anything messed up that flow, than i couldn't remember the name... well, maybe 50%.

However, i know more languages than just about everyone i know.
I am very good with language structure. noun-verb endings are easy peasy.
The chinese alphabet is not very difficult when you know the root of the pictographs in the words. (yes, i studied ancient chinese to learn Japanese. And damn the Chinese govern-cement for adopting the easy symbol set... they lost so much meaning in doing so.)

So far, the best way for me to be able to use a language is to learn phrases. But, it only works as phrases and if the triggering situation or the syntax slightly changes, then it becomes as if i know nothing.