Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Kono Dio Da! このディオだッ! - Meaning in Japanese

Kono Dio da! このディオだ! is a phrase used by Dio in the manga and anime JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken ジョジョの奇妙な冒険, and I'm making a post about it because the translation of kono Dio da eludes many Japanese learners.

このディオだッ!ーーーーッ

(the small tsu and the prolonged sound mark ー are other symbols in the panel above.)

The problem with this phrase is that kono この, the Japanese word for the "this" adjective, is coming before Dio, which is the name of the character. There's a da too, but I don't think anybody has trouble with that, it simply means "is."

Anyway, the best translation you could get would be "[it] is this Dio!" which doesn't make much sense. After all, "it's this Dio"? What's that supposed to mean? What do you mean "this Dio"? There's only one Dio. Why say "this" there?

Indeed it sounds weird. But... that's really all there's to it. The direct, literal translation to English sounds weird, but the idea is exactly that: he's saying it's "this" Dio to emphasize it's really him, and not anyone else. Just like how in English you'd say "THIS much" or "THIS hard" or whatever.

It just happens that, in English, you would never say "this (insert your name here)" to emphasize you yourself. Just like you wouldn't say "this me" either, but in Japanese kono ore da この俺だ is also a thing.
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