A Visualized Analysis of Legal Translation in the West

For the sake of future legal translation research, it is crucial to understand the history of legal translation. However, most historical studies of legal translation have concentrated on legal translation in China. They disregarded the legal translation in the West. Based on 78 papers from the Web of Science core collection, the paper reviewed the history of legal translation in the West using Citespace and visualized analysis in the Web of Science. The following questions are the focus of this paper. 1) What are the general patterns in the West between 2008 and 2023? 2) Who has had the most influence on the development of legal translation in the West? What is the reputable article in the West regarding legal translation? 3) What are the research hotspots in the West? The result demonstrates that (1) research on legal translation in the West is still in its early stages of development, with significant fluctuations in terms of the general pattern of research on legal translation in the West. (2) Ramos, FP of the University of Geneva has had the most influence on the research on legal translation in the West. (3) Of the highly cited papers, the paper written by Vieira, L.N., O’Hagan, M., & O’Sullivan, C is the reputable paper in the West regarding legal translation. (4) In terms of research hotspots, corpus-based translation studies, legal translation training, and translator education are the main areas of concentration for legal translation in the West. We contend that by examining the history of legal translation from 2008 to 2023, the paper provides valuable insights for future legal translation research.