Quote:
Originally Posted by Freeshadow
Yes, humor and swearing is the hardest.
For the latter you have to know both languages very well or, you WILL get it wrong. If it's archaic swearing then you definitely have to do a lot of etymology digging to get it right
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Swearing isn't hard to learn, but it's hard to learn per local. Many times the words are double-use. So in a given area, it is a bad word, but in other, only vaguely understood as a swear word. Sort of like saying "Bloody hell." That doesn't sound like much of a swear word in the US, but from what I understand it is in Australia.
I grew up in a Spanish/English speaking community and the slang and curse words there have changed over the years. To an outside being called some of the words wouldn't really be recognized as a curse word. But they're common swear words locally and carry a lot of not-complimentary meaning. Shrug. Languages are what we make of them and it's a living art. It changes.
I agree with the headache of all the written characters in Japanese. It is probably the only thing that makes the language difficult. Must of the rest of it (structure-wise) is nice and orderly. Forms of address can be a bit tricky, but if you're an obvious foreigner, people don't get too uptight if you don't get the honorific right. Well most of the time.