In English, German (and Swedish, I believe) there is a curious construction: awfully + nice = really nice; furchtbar + nett = wirklich nett; (ruskigt + trevligt?) etc. How does it work in other languages?
I cannot come up with Japanese phrases that have the same construction as “awfully nice.”
These days some people may say “やばい（ya-ba-i）”, which is an adjective and means outrageous or dangerous, if they happen to find an awfully nice thing. But I do not think that is respectable wording.
In Russian we have such phrases, i.e “horribly/awfully beautiful” (ужасно красивый).
Also teens quite often says “What a monster you are!” (Ну ты и монстр!!) It means that this person are really good at some sphere.
Cakypa and YutakaM: Ну ты и монстр!!!
Yes, I can confirm that we have this kind of phrasing in Swedish, where fruktansvärt/hemskt/ruskigt/ruggigt(etc) has a negative meaning but inforces the following adjective. There are also a couple prefixes that work in the same way.
How about the Chinese word 厉害 (lihai)? I think I’ve seen it in positive contexts, similar to Rasana’s “monster” example:
你真是太厉害了！
你真的很厉害的呢！
Can Chinese speakers confirm?