Well let me try to explain some things. First off the names are probably different only because of translation differences that you have seen in the version you have read.
Secondly this is based off the anime and manga. Though I can't tell you where since I am just starting to read it myself and have been slowly getting into it. But I have friends that were excited about this game. Japanese friends
. Damn them. LOL
Thirdly, you don't know japanese because, well because you don't. Probably because you were born in either the US or UK depending and our countries are imperialist and suck. Which brings me to my last point.
Fourthly, the reason lots of Japanese games have english in them is because they learn english very young there. Where in our country we don't think it is important to learn other languages until highschool and then even then its not enough to be useful or functional and you are most likely too old to remember it. On top of that the point that was made is right. Usually these words are in Japanese and are simply written in what they call Romaji which uses our letters and some of our sounds. It is mostly written for tourist type things and such. Also words like "start", "select", etc... are probably common words in that they are the terms used for those actions and are well known and therefore not translated. Think of all of the french words that we use in our language without bothering to translate it. Take the president's example from an October 2002 speech:
The problem with the French is that they have no word for entrepreneur.