Scientific Development Research

To explore how the translation of presupposition triggers in sitcoms achieves acceptability in the target language, this study uses the American TV series Friends as its corpus. From a cultural adaptation perspective, it combines presupposition theory with translation strategy analysis to examine the treatment of culturally loaded presupposition triggers in the process of Chinese translation. Based on the form of cultural information conveyed, these triggers are categorized into three types: referential, conceptual, and linguistic. Three cultural adaptation strategies—foreignization retention, cultural compensation, and domestication substitution—are employed to address comprehension barriers such as cognitive gaps, conflicts, and misalignments among target-language audiences. The study reveals that referential types tend toward foreignization to broaden understanding, conceptual types favor cultural compensation to bridge gaps, and linguistic types primarily employ domestication to achieve humor equivalence. Their shared objective is to integrate the target text with the audience's expectations, enabling Chinese viewers to grasp the humor and cultural nuances in dialogue as effectively as the original audience, thereby ensuring the acceptability of the translation.

Presupposition triggers; Cultural adaptation; Translation acceptability; Translation strategies