TRANSLATION PROBLEMS OF CULTURAL UNITS IN UZBEK AND ENGLISH

Translation is not only a linguistic process but also a transfer of cultural meanings, values and social experience. Cultural units are difficult to translate because they are connected with traditions, customs, religion, everyday lifestyle and national worldview. This article analyzes the main problems of translating cultural units between Uzbek and English. The study focuses on culture-specific vocabulary, idioms, proverbs, etiquette formulas, kinship terms, food names and ritual expressions. The article discusses the reasons for non-equivalence and suggests practical translation strategies such as transliteration, descriptive translation, functional equivalence, contextual adaptation and footnotes. The analysis shows that literal translation often causes semantic loss or cultural misunderstanding. Therefore, the translator should consider lexical meaning, cultural background and pragmatic function together.