Language that works overtime

[branchandroot]

I’m really starting to think that Echizen’s catch phrase, mada mada da ne, is being done a disservice by always being translated “You’ve still got a lot more to work on”. To be sure, that’s the English translation Konomi used on the one occasion it was translated to English in the text. But Japanese, being the highly context-dependent language it is, that’s no guarantee that the same translation will be appropriate to the next use.

Consider, for example, the word amai. The concept behind the word is more or less “interdependence”, but it takes on very different senses depending on how and where it’s used. When used in a discussion of what makes a good doubles pair, it means teamwork, trust, relying on your partner. When yelled at the opponent across the net, it means something approximating “too naive” or “too easy”. In the second context, it becomes a sort of chastisement for ‘depending’ on the enemy.

Similarly, mada mada means, more or less, “mediocre” or “not sufficient/complete”. When used to an opponent you have just put something by, it would indeed mean something like “you are mediocre/not there yet”. When used to an opponent who has just kicked your ass all over the court, on the other hand…

My own feeling is that when, for example, Yukimura wants to know if that's all Echizen has got and Echizen responds with mada mada da ne, he is saying "I'm not done yet" or "that isn't all I've got".