That makes sense. I probably overlooked the difference between grammatically correct and sounding natural. Chinese (and Japanese) have such a different cultural background that I also find the "natural way" to speak is quite different than English for example. The natural way to speak takes many many years. I've only ever seriously studied East Asian languages so have been able to build on top of each other to some degree. I just assumed this would be an issue in all languages, though now I could see how learning Spanish for example, is likely far less "eccentric" for a native English speaker than something like Chinese/Japanese.

Thanks for your response!