Lol @ the Katakana part. During my study abroad there was this ramen place called "ラーメン". The sign looked like "5 - メン" so a friend of mine kept exclaiming how good the "5 men" was (a she too).
Katakana often gets annoying since you try to puzzle out the sound of it but lots of times you dont remember some characters cuz they are rarely used...
Anyway as long as you have the drive you should be fine. My goal was and still is to watch anime without subtitles. Lame yes. But hey it keeps me going
