THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF TRANSLATING CULTURE-SPECIFIC REALIA

The translation of culture-specific realia represents one of the most challenging areas of translation studies because such lexical units encode historical, social, geographical, religious, and cultural information that may not have direct equivalents in the target language. Their translation requires more than linguistic substitution; it involves the interpretation and transmission of culturally embedded meanings within a new communicative environment. This article examines the theoretical and methodological foundations of translating culture-specific realia, drawing on major approaches to translation, including equivalence theory, cultural translation, domestication and foreignization, and functionalist approaches. It also discusses practical translation strategies such as borrowing, calque, descriptive translation, functional equivalence, and cultural adaptation. Particular attention is paid to English–Uzbek translation, where differences in cultural experience, social institutions, and linguistic conceptualization create specific translation challenges. The article proposes an integrated methodological framework combining linguistic, comparative, contextual, and linguocultural analysis to support the accurate and culturally appropriate translation of realia.