This study attempts to bring some clarification into the concept of translation, especially into the theoretical problems presented by the difficulties of translation. The following aspects of the question are treated: (1) translation in the past and present, including the controversy over translation as an art or a science, the relevance of linguistics to translation, and translation studied from a linguistic point of view; (2) theoretical problems, with special attention to the impossibilities of translation, various structuralist approaches to meaning, as well as two versions of the hypothesis that different languages embody different world-views, which provide strong arguments against the possibility of translation; and (3) theories of the importance of the cultural and situational context in translation, as well as proposals of language universals, which supply arguments for translatability. It is seen that translatability finds its limits under certain specifiable conditions. The study concludes with a discussion of some possible consequences of the findings for the use of translation in the foreign language classroom. (Author/AMH)