Although I’ve been studying Japanese for almost 8 years at this point, I still feel like I don’t know a lot of the “basic stuff.”
For example, it wasn’t until I came to Japan - about 10 months ago - that I finally properly learned that the verb you use when you pick up the phone is 出る.
That makes me wonder if languages are not about something being hard or easy, but more about how frequently and in what situations some words are used.
I still believe in the power of immersion/input-based learning, but after getting to Japan, I’ve really felt its limitations. You just can’t get a lot of the day-to-day stuff from watching anime or TV shows, which, when I think about it, is a gap even in my English.
So don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you’re stupid because you don’t know a word that’s in a “beginner” book.
Absorb it and move on—learning to appreciate this very, very long journey of learning a language is the only way.