Is it less hard than the ‘k’ sound?

Yes, more back of the throat. One particularly nasty form is as in 'Scheveningen'. The Scottish version comes close in for instance 'Loch'.

I personally am more fond of provoking an "angstschreeuw" in English speakers by asking them to pronounce "slechtstschrijvend" or "zachtstschrijdend" and watching them recoil in horror at the consonant clusters[0][1].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consonant_cluster

[1] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medeklinkerstapeling (Dutch wiki page for consonant clusters with more examples)

> [1]

It's funny I just started reading and understanding the first paragraph, before recognizing that this is a foreign language, I don't know at all.

Those are funny!