Abstract This research considers issues of interaction between language and culture; it studies the phenomenon of lacunarity in general, as well as identifying lexical gaps in olonkho texts and ways of eliminating them in translation. Here, we investigate the need for more in-depth study of the translation of works of art in which a culture-specific component has a high degree of presence; the importance of studying the lacuna phenomenon as one of the main factors influencing translation, and, in turn, the need to study to the misunderstanding of a text by a foreign reader. The problem of translating culturally related phenomena necessitates a description of their origins and development, and attention to notions of linguistic worldview and linguistic universals regarding culture-specific vocabulary, including lexical gaps.