I need some help with Language Barrier

So I talk to quite a few people in japan and their english is not as well as mine, since it's my native language. But the real problem I have is with the whole translation isssue of some of the words I can use in english mean a whole different thing in Japanese. So the help I need is should I try to make my japanese sound correct to my english knowledge? Or completely think in a japanese mind set?

When I speak in English, I do not try to translate from Japanese. It seems like I have two different drawers in my mind and use them according to the situation.

somethings in Japanese you can compare with English and vice versa... but there's definately phrases and words that simply don't exist in each's own vocabulary and needs a brand new approach. Eventually, you'll come across what the Japanese call "kimarimonku" (決まり文句) which is a set phrase that you simply cannot easily translate into English or vice versa. For example, we can't translate "Have a nice day!" into Japanese. Also the best we can do for "itadakimasu" is "thank you for this meal".
Kimarimonku can complicate language translation, but aside from these, I can try to compare English to Japanese and vice versa and get results that are at the very least comprehendible.