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Abstract: The article is devoted to the issue of studying the possibility of using toponymic space units (i.e. urbanonyms) for the development of linguistic and cultural studies competency of students having translation as their major. It is proved that the necessity of training a new type of experts — those that are capable of solving certain practical tasks in their professional activity — exists, and so is the orientation of the educational paradigm towards the competence-based approach thereto. Justification is made of the need to take into account both competence-based approach, and communicative and intercultural approaches while training experts in the area of interaction of different cultures. Having analyzed the views of different researchers on the professional translator’s competence, the authors attempt to summarize its structure and to update it. The article describes the essence of the linguistic and cultural studies competency and defines its place and role within the professional translator’s competence. Then the article goes on to characterize urbanonyms as a component of a linguistic and cultural studies competency and proves the necessity of rendering such lexis into a foreign language with the aim to adapt the urban environment of Russian cities and towns for the bearers of foreign culture to be within, the nuances mentioned thereafter taken into account. Description is made of the history of the given issue and of the generalized algorithms of rendering urbanonyms from Russian into English, formulated on the basis of the recommendations offered by Saint Petersburg and Sverdlovsk regional branches of the Union of Translators of Russia. Finally, the article describes the methodology developed by the authors, which is devoted to developing linguistic and cultural studies competency of students having translation as their major, through teaching them how to render toponymic space units (urbanonyms), outlines its conceptual basis, the hypothesis of experimental pilot work, and its results.