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In my textbook, there is a sentence:

中国語の発音は難しかったが、漢字はあまり難しくなかった。

And there is also a sentence:

「日本史」は難しくなかったですが、「翻訳」は大変でした。

I'm confusing that is it still a correct expression with removing of the "です" in "ですが" in the second sentence?

If it is still a native expression, what's the differences between it and the original one?

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難しい = (it) is difficult -- informal
難しいです = (it) is difficult -- polite
難しかった = (it) was difficult -- informal
難しかったです = (it) was difficult -- polite
難しくない = (it) is not difficult -- informal
難しくないです = (it) is not difficult -- polite
etc.
You get the idea.
For i-adjective conjugations putting です at the end changes from informal to polite style.

I think 「日本史」は難しくなかったが、「翻訳」は大変でした without the です would be awkward because the parts either side of が are independent statements, and the latter ends in でした which is in polite style. But note that this doesn't apply to all conjunctions.

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