How accurately can のこと be translated as 'with regards to' in the following sentence?


While stumbling over my serval-month-old translation notes out of boredom, I
found that I had made note of のこと to mean 'with regards to (noun)" for the
following Japanese sentence.

> それでも彼には、自分 **のこと** だけはわからない。

I think I understood that this instance of こと was being used to create a noun
phrase indicating something that the speaker does not feel close to, and was
attempting to show this 'distance' with "with regards to himself".

1) In light of this, is my understanding of こと accurate; or am I
misunderstanding its usage in the above sentence?

2) And in the case my understanding is accurate, do the following two
translations accurately showcase this 'こと-distancing' of the speaker and
subject?

> "Even so for him, with what regards to himself he doesn’t comprehend in the
> slightest."
>
> "Even so for him, when regarding himself he doesn’t comprehend in the
> slightest."

Edit: Still for him, he is unaware of himself in the slightest.




I think you are overthinking. First of all, you said you know ～のこと is a
**noun** phrase, but why are you trying to translate the noun using "with
regards to ～", which is an **adverbial** phrase? 自分のこと in this sentence is
simply "things about himself", or "things regarding himself" if you want to
use the word _regard_. I'm not sure why 'distance' is related, either. Please
see: [What is the こと in sentences such as
あなたのことが好きだ?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/2102/5010)

