AGOODjokecanbethehardestthingtounderstandwhenstudyingaforeignlanguage．There'smoretolearnunderstandingajokeinaforeignlanguagethanunderstandingvocabularyandgrammar．Beingabletounderstandlocaljokesisoftenseenasa

　　A GOOD joke can be the hardest thing to understand when studying a foreign language．

　　There's more to learn understanding a joke in a foreign language than understanding vocabulary and grammar．

　　Being able to understand local jokes is often seen as an ice-breaker for a language learner who wants to build friendships with native speakers．

　　"I always felt that humor was a ceiling （上限） that I could never break through，"said Hannah Ashley，who once studied Spanish in Madrid．"I could never speak to people on the same level as I would speak to a native English speaker．I almost came across as quite a boring person because all I could talk about was facts．"

　　In fact，most of the time，jokes are only funny for people who share a cultural background or understand humor in the same way．

　　Chinese-American comedian （喜剧演员） Joe Wong （Huang Xi） found this out first-hand （亲身经历）．He had achieved great success doing stand-up comedy （美式单口相声） in the US，but when he returned to China in 2008for his first live show in Beijing，he discovered that his humor didn't translate．People didn't think his Chinese jokes were as funny as his English ones．

　　In Australia，many foreigners find understanding jokes about sports to be the biggest headache．"The hardest jokes are related to rugby （橄榄球） because I know nothing about rugby，"said Melody Cao，who was once a student in Australia．"When I heard jokes I didn't get，I just laughed along．"

　　In the other two major English-speaking countries，the sense of humor is also different．British comedian Simon Pegg believes that while Britons use irony （讽刺）-basically，saying something they don't mean to make a joke-every day，people in the US don't see the point of using it so often．"British jokes tend to （倾向于） be more subtle （不易察觉） and dark，while American jokes are direct with their meanings，a bit like Americans themselves，"he wrote in a newspaper．

　　81．By u