Few days ago, speaking at an internet forum in Taipei, Steve Chen said that half of the YouTube users are from outside United States, so versions in other languages are needed.

As you can see, Chen’s comments may be interpreted as an early announcement. Starting today the users from Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK will be able to access YouTube’s localized sites that are fully translated with local homepages and search functions.

YouTube also said that over time each local site will benefit from an entirely "local" experience that will allow for country-specific video rankings and comments, as well as Video, Channel, Categories and Community sections.

The new sites have launched on the following local domains: www.youtube.com.br, www.youtube.fr, www.youtube.ie, www.youtube.it, www.youtube.jp, www.youtube.nl, www.youtube.pl, www.youtube.es, and www.youtube.co.uk

"Video is universal and allows people around the world to communicate and exchange ideas. With our announcement today we are expanding upon our already global platform to make it even more relevant for our local communities," said Chad Hurley, YouTube's co-founder and CEO. "YouTube will now be more accessible and interesting to a worldwide audience, and we look forward to rolling out in other countries in the months to come."

In a similar expansion, Flickr, Yahoo-owned photo-sharing site announced few days ago the addition of seven languages in order to facilitate the user’s interaction.