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This paper explores the ways in which politically engaged internet users utilize translation to participate in resistant and interventionist forms of mediation in the cyberspace. By drawing on the concepts of “translation activism” and “narrative location” (Baker 2006), the present study analyzes how South Korean bloggers and internet community members engage in political participation by producing, sharing, and discussing Korean translations of a source text that resonates strongly with their own narrative location. The paper focuses on Korean translations of The Economist’s report on “Naneun Ggomsuda”, an immensely popular, but politically explosive, podcast in South Korea.
Based on an analysis of 19 blogs and 9 internet cafes with posts containing translation of the original article, the paper argues that translations are produced and commented on by politically participative netizens whose personal narratives fail to align with public narratives. Engaging in translation activism in order to bring their personal narratives to bear on the public ones, the netizens translate the source text by explicitly framing and commenting on the content and positioning of the target text in terms of their own narrative location. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that the extensive use of diverse translation methods, ranging from full translation to gist or partial translation, most of which are positively received by other netizens, reveals shifting criteria regarding what constitutes quality in netizen translation. Lastly, translation occurs in connectivity and interaction in that the actual initiation, completion, reception, and sharing of translation are requested, acknowledged or supported by other netizens in posts and threads. The findings suggest that activist translation on the internet occurs in a participative format based on dynamic narrative positioning of netizen translators and shows changing expectations concerning translation quality and practice.