My husband and I both did this with our Switches. We went to the effort to learn the katakana alphabet and look up and learn some Japanese translations for the more common MH terms. We figured that, along with our existing knowledge of the game (recognizing monster and item icons, for example) would at least let us experience some of the content. And while we were able to muddle our way through (with the help of the Google translate app where you can point your phone camera at the text to be translated), it still wasn’t the most satisfying of experiences. Once we got into hunts, it was find, but trying to manage the stuff in town between hunts was difficult.
Now, if you happen to speak Japanese fluently, I’d say go for it. :)