Beginning this week, Facebook users who sign on to the
Web from Spanish-speaking countries will automatically be directed to
Facebook
en espanol. Users can choose to view the site in Spanish by changing their account settings. By April, Facebook plans to to add French and German versions.
The Dallas Morning News reports that this is an important move for Facebook because "about 60 percent of [Facebook's] 64 million active users are from outside the United States, including about 2.8 million in Latin America and Spain."
MySpace, which is larger than
Facebook, is already available in 13 languages,
including Spanish, German, French, Italian and Japanese.
I am wondering how long it will take for news sites to start inviting comments in multiple languages on their discussion boards.
