Is Translation an Art, Science or Both?

Translation, throughout human history, has always been an important means of communication among and between nations. It had existed since the time of the Egyptian Old Kingdom and continued to develop until it has acquired particular forms of translation theory. The present paper presents three different views of scholars and translators on the concept of translation. There are scholars and translators who hold the view that translation is a pure art as it is mainly based on the skill. Conversely, there are those who believe that translation is a pure science as it requires knowledge of the source and target language in addition to familiarity with translation theories. The last type of scholars and translators take the view that translation is a mixture of both art and science as it requires a skill, knowledge of the source and target language in addition to acquaintance with translation theories. The paper will argue that it is the last view which seems valid as evidently supported by the majority of current professional translators who have been questioned on the aforementioned concept.