So the ribosomes can use those amino acids to synthesize the polypeptide chain. Now, before we actually examine the process of translation let's discuss what ribosomes actually are and what they consist of. So translation or the process of protein synthesis basically involves these special cell machineries known as ribosomes. And any given ribosome itself consists of a small unit and a large unit. So we have the small subunit and a large subunit. So together a ribosome consists of two subunits.