BuddyPress.org

Wordpress v3.8
Buddypress v.1.9.1
Testinstallation.
Theme: Expound!

Hi I am a newbie, trying out WordPress and Buddypress since December last year and I have setup a test website (NOT online).
I was looking at WP/Buddypress to achieve the following:
Make a DIY site (non-english) where people can register so they can post their own DIY articles. So it would be a user generated content website.

So far:
I was able to redirect the logged in users to their \members\%username%\ directory.
But then it stops for me….

Can somebody point me in the right direction to take care of the following:
-I want to customize the \members\%username% page that every member sees when they logon.
Here’s how I imagine it:
On the members (?)profile(?) page I want a form with the ability to quickly create a new post with images.
-I want to make it available in another language (not English).
-I want to precisely control what will be visible on this page and what not. F.i. I would like to place widgets there/other components if necessary, a list of all the posts that the logged in user generated.
At the moment the page looks terrible and has a lot of content that I do not want.

I am not a coder, but I can copy-paste and read:-) so perhaps an expert can point me in the right direction. Thanks, your help is appreciated!