I never bothered to memorize all of the Japanese names for this generation, and the English ones sound more natural to me than the Japanese ones I did learn, so I'm not having a problem learning the English names.
I never really make a conscious effort to learn the English names. It just sort of happens. I'd say I could identify the majority of the names by now with their respective Pokemon, and if I actually try to learn the rest (rather than the just picking them up as I stumble across them on forums in the last few days before the games are released), I figure I I'll be able to identify the names with the Pokemon, their types, their evolutionary chains, their general locations (maybe not precisely, but approximately when in the game I can first get them), and their strong/weak stats and moves within a good half-hour of studying or so. I'll probably just pick them up more gradually, though, as I don't have an urge to sit down and "study" the Pokemon list, especially when I should be learning things for my classes instead.