Hello! I'm a fan of your meta and translation. I hope you're doing well. I have a question regarding a translation. I read somewhere that JC's "Protect You" (the dialogue when he visit Burial Mound and have a fight with WWX) in the EXR translation is a mistranslation or not a really good way to translate it. Is that true?. If that's true, can you suggest an alternative so it can be translate better? Thank you for answering my question.
Hello and thank you =) When you mentioned that line, I instantly thought of its rendition in the fansong "Our different paths". The original in the novel goes like this (ch. 73):
两人剑拔弩张对视一阵，谁也不肯退让一步。半晌，江澄道：“魏无羡，你还没看清现在的局势吗？你非要我说这么明白吗？你若执意要保他们，我就保不住你。”
魏无羡道：“不必保我，弃了吧。”
For some time, the two of them stared daggers at each other, neither was willing to concede an inch. After a while, Jiang Cheng said, "Wei Wuxian, do you still not realise how things stand now? Must I really spell it out to you? If you insist on protecting them then I won't be able to protect you."
Wei Wuxian answered, "You don't have to protect me. Give it up."
I checked ExR translation after writing my own, if I had to nitpick, it would be about their choice to render 剑拔弩张 as "swords unsheathed" while I used "stared daggers". It's an idiom that means literally "swords unsheathed and bows drawn" and figuratively "a state of mutual hostility". Jiang Cheng is indeed brandishing his sword at this moment but we know that Wei Wuxian is not (as he simply cannot). So we should understand the unsheathed swords as a metaphor.
Concerning your original question, I don't see anything wrong with translating 保 as "protect". That's indeed the primary meaning of the character. You could also choose the word "defend" but that's just a synonym.
I personally find debates about translation enlightening, each translator deals with the perpetual balancing act between faithfulness and expressiveness in their own way. However, I do find it a shame that some people on the internet are so quick to throw around accusations of mistranslations without even providing a shred of evidence...
