STRATEGIES FOR TRANSLATING UZBEK GASTRONOMIC REALIA INTO ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN: CRITERIA FOR EQUIVALENCE

The article examines strategies for rendering Uzbek gastronomic realia in English and Russian and proposes criteria for assessing equivalence. The study draws on the dissertation’s lexicographic material, including Uzbek explanatory sources, English dictionaries and Russian-language culinary references, as well as examples of Uzbek dish names identified in literary works. Comparative-contrastive, lexicographic, componential-semantic and linguocultural analyses are applied. The findings distinguish four representation strategies: the use of established lexical equivalents; retention of the Uzbek name through transliteration or transcription, often accompanied by an explanation; the use of functional-semantic analogues; and descriptive or componential rendering. Five interrelated criteria are proposed for evaluating equivalence: denotative-semantic, nominative, componential, linguocultural and functional-pragmatic correspondence. The article further differentiates high, partial and descriptive-compensatory equivalence and shows how cultural content may be preserved, neutralized or compensated for in translation.