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First of all, to get the easy point out of the way. An orange is not exactly the same thing as una naranja, or eine Apfelsine. Language is a complicated network, and concepts gain their meaning at least in part by reference to other concepts. But an orange is almost exactly the same thing as eine Apfelsine.
Second, either the first premise in both your arguments is flawed, or you're equivocating on the word 'certain'. The second argument is by far the worst. We make epistemological claims, even justified epistemological claims, all the time without being certain. Moreover, the fact that there is some possibility our perceptions are in error does not entail that we do not have knowledge. I could be deceived about the fact that there is a coffee mug to the left of my computer. Perhaps an evil demon keeps hiding it, and puts it back when I reach over to grab a drink. But I still know that there's a coffee cup next to me; that is to say that I have warranted true belief. Why is it warranted? Because my faculties are in good working order, and they tell me there's a coffee cup there. Because the likelihood that there's an evil demon involved is much less than that the coffee cup is in fact there.
Epistemology isn't really my subject; you may have noticed, but I tend to think that radical skepticism is more silly than anything else. You write that "if all we have is perception, how do we know that there is anything there to be perceived?" The answer is easy. We know that there is something to be perceived because we are perceiving it. The idea that we don't perceive the outside world, rather, we only perceive our perceptions is false. We don't see our sight; our sight is that faculty by which we see the outside world.
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"Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht."
"The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
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