A few thoughts on the NASB 2020

I have heard some people deride the NASB 2020, but I think the NASB 2020 is very good:

1. It seems to me the NASB 2020 unfairly received a bad reputation among conservative evangelicals before the completed translation had a chance to hit the market. That's primarily due to rumors about how it would translate adelphoi (as brothers and sisters, not brothers or brethren) and anthropoi (as persons or people, not man). I suppose conservative evangelicals feared it had gone progressive on gender. However, I find the translation of these terms in the NASB 2020 is relatively restrained. More so than the NIV 2011 and much more so than the NRSV let alone the NRSVue. It seems more or less on par with the CSB, which many if not most conservative evangelicals seem to have no problem with and in fact many have embraced it as their primary Bible translation, at least in the SBC (which of course is where the CSB's roots are). The NASB 2020 is still very much the work of conservative evangelicals.
2. In addition, the NASB95 could fairly be said to read woodenly or stilted, but I don't think it would be fair to characterize the NASB 2020 as wooden or stilted anymore. I find the NASB 2020 very readable - clear and natural. Not as readable as the NLT, the NIV, or the CSB, but the NASB 2020 is significantly more readable than previous NASB incarnations as well as more readable than the LSB to my ears. It is also more readable than the ESV, I think, or at worst it's roughly equal to the ESV, inasmuch as it uses more modern and less archaic language than the ESV (e.g. "storm" instead of "tempest"; "plagues" instead of "pestilences"; "warrior" instead of "man of war") and it uses more modern English syntax and less backwards Yoda-speak than the ESV, though there is still some. In general, the NASB 2020 flows quite smoothly for a "literal" (formally equivalent) translation, and it is often a delight to read as well, whereas the NASB95 was a fine literal translation but it did read somewhat more clunky to me. Although in fairness I never thought the NASB95 readability was as bad as many critics have said it was.
3. Others have pointed out that the NASB 2020 is overall more "literal" (formally equivalent) than even the NASB95. Apparently the NASB 2020 is not as literal as the NASB77, or the LSB, but it moves much closer in that direction than the NASB95. Personally, I haven't done an assessment about which NASB/LSB is the most "literal" so I can't say with any degree of confidence (though my guess would be the LSB), but I generally trust competent reviewers and scholars when they evaluate Bible translations.
4. The main thing I don't like about the NASB 2020 is its variety in translating the Hebrew word hesed. The NASB95 and the LSB primarily translate hesed as lovingkindness, the ESV as steadfast love, the CSB as faithful love, the NIV as unfailing love or simply flattened it as love, the NLT as unfailing love, and so on. However, the NASB 2020 translates hesed with a lot more variety - lovingkindness, love, mercy, compassion, faithfulness, etc. Personally I wish the NASB 2020 had primarily stuck with lovingkindness or another term like loyal love. It's not a dealbreaker, I still really like the NASB 2020, but I do wish it had been a bit more consistent in how it translated hesed. Of course, I realize a term like hesed has a wide semantic range, and hence why it shouldn't necessarily always have the same English term. But still my impression is the NASB 2020 errs a little too much on the side of variety than consistency with regard to hesed.
5. I think it would be in Lockman's interests to change the name of the NASB to something else because I think many non-American English speakers kind of balk at the name (e.g. Brits, Aussies, Kiwis). It'd be like if we had a Bible translation called the New Australian Standard Bible or the British Commonwealth Bible. This would make it seem like it's not a Bible translation primarily meant for Americans or only secondarily at best. So even though they might say the NASB is a very good translation, just the name alone might be a bit off-putting to them. Again, I suspect it'd be better if Lockman changed the name to something else like the LSB has done. I think that might help them better appeal to a wider audience.
6. Overall I probably prefer the LSB over the NASB 2020 if push came to shove - and this is considering that I tend to lean toward thinking the translation philosophy of lexical and syntactical correspondence or concordance is a bit misguided in the LSB - but nevertheless they're both very good translations. Indeed we have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to Bible translations in English.