EQUIVALENCE CHALLENGES OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS IN INTERLINGUAL TRANSLATION

this study examines how equivalence can be achieved when translating phraseological units (PUs): idioms, proverbs, binomials, and other fixed expressions across languages, with a focus on English–Uzbek pairs. We argue that absolute equivalence is exceptional; instead, functional adequacy is the practical target. Using small, purpose-built corpora and expert judgments, we evaluate idiomatic substitution, partial substitution, explicitation, modulation, literal translation with compensation, and omission. Results show that function-first strategies (idiomatic substitution; explicitation plus compensation) outperform literal renderings in preserving pragmatic force and register. We provide an operational taxonomy of equivalence levels and a concise decision tree to guide strategy selection by genre, readership, and communicative intent.