What are some issues growing up in a bilingual household?

Hello!

I grew up in a German-Japanese household. Naturally I speak both languages quite fluently now, but due to my surroundings I clearly prefer German. In school I also learned English and I’d say my English skills have surpassed my Japanese skills years ago. Not because my Japanese got worse, but because I had no opportunities to improve over the years. My parents talk both languages but they cannot talk about complex topics in their partners language either.

Here are some of my issues, and I’m curious what other problems some bilingual children might have.

1. As a child I often translated between my parents or said the same sentence twice in each language. Because of that I now have the habit to say things twice in the same language sometimes.

2. Nowadays I struggle with talking to my mother without a translator. It’s somewhat ridiculous that I need Google Translate to understand my mother when talking about “complex“ topics.

3. I forget words constantly. In all three languages. The words are just gone and I’m left describing simple things while my friends are confused.

4. Depending on my feelings I think in a different language. This caused me to struggle with expressing my emotions in my primary language.

To conclude, those are some of my everyday struggles and I’d love to hear more from other bilingual people because I don’t know what to do against those problems. And to clarify things from the very beginning - I’m very grateful to my parents who taught me both their native languages. Because they most definitely shaped my personality and etc. I just wish the problems I now have could have been avoided and I could receive some tips to not make the same mistakes if I ever should get a child.

Thx again! :)