Stuck in main quest line due to lack of groups

I started playing a few weeks ago and really liked the game. I live in Australia so picked the closest server being Japan (ANIMA) to try out the game until Australia servers come out.

I have been progressing well and had no issue using duty finder to progress. I have now hit the wall my next main quest line is Good Intentions but in order to progress i need to complete a number of 8 man trails. After days of waiting in queues with duty finder and groups never coming I did some more reading and learnt these aren't part of the roulette and its better to use party finder. I have started trying to use this but as i don't speak Japanese it is hard to tell which the groups and for and when i check trial tab there is never any that i could join anyway. I have tried making groups but never had a single person join let alone close to a full group.

People have mentioned they can be soloed at 80. I am currently 113 ilevel and L57 on Paladin but can't really progress more since i can't progress the story.

Really not sure what to do, is there anyway to get past these solo (I read something about a NPC party) or a better way to find groups that i am missing.

Happy to find a free company if that ends up being the only answer but i wasn't going to since i don't speak Japanese and will be leaving the server anyway once Oceanic opens. So it would make me feel like a mouch trying to get a free company to help me get through this road block.

The trials that are usually done in party finder are optional (not required for the main story quests). They are required for sidequests which you can skip.

The trials that are not typically queued for in this way are (Extreme), (Savage), Minstrel's Ballad, Odin and coils. They are meant to be difficult versions for pre-formed parties, usually of things you have already fought. So if you do queue successfully, don't expect it to be cleared in one pull, if you even clear them at all.

Select all languages in your Party Finder settings.
All JEDF instead of just E.

Welcome to Eorzea! :D

In Duty Finder are you making sure not just English but Japanese for language is also set? This is because the DF specifically only matches you with parties that also have that language set, and on a JP server like Anima, there would be very few who would be English only - setting it for Japanese as well as English (you could try setting it for French and German as well but it's unlikely there would be anyone with those languages set on JP servers, but you never know!) would be more likely to fill your party.

Incidentally I'm an Australian player too (Perth, WA) and I was on a JP server (Ridill) for a few years before I moved to a NA server (Balmung) so I know all about issues getting parties. It is possible to play as an English/non-Japanese speaker in JP parties if you use the auto-translate function for standard phrases like Hello! or "Ready for Battle!", but some JP players can type and read English (my FC had a couple of JP players join when we were on Ridill and they could speak English reasonably well).

Either way, don't give up! If you were on Balmung (or the Crystal data centre) I would gladly run you through those Primal Fights as I could solo those easily at 80. :) Failing that, set DF for both English and Japanese and just have patience. I'm sure you'll eventually get past this roadblock fellow knight! :)

Yeah, both solutions have already been presented. These are among the first duties you would encounter where the language setting trick would make a big difference. None of the 3 fights in question will require any real coordination with the team, so potentially not being able to easily talk shouldnt be an issue. And while you cant solo these yourself yet, a single 70+ friend/contact could join you and the duo would have no issue getting through. If you were putting up a PF to find someone to help clear, id typically mention "first time/bonus" to attract attention(it works on NA servers anyway).