European versions of Facebook launched first in Spanish on Feb. 11, then in German in early March; now, the French version of the hugely popular networking web site is finally at hand.

This brand-new edition, whose creation is due in part to French users, allows the California-based company to complete the first major phase in its plans to go global, as announced last December.

“We have over 4000 contributors working on the French version, and the translation here has been even faster than in Germany,” says Javier Olivan, Director of International Development for Facebook, quoted in the French daily newspaper Les Echos.

This is a critical step for Facebook, which already counts 60% of its users outside the US, including one third in Europe.

“We have 8.3 million active users in the United Kingdom and over 1.5 million French users,” said Olivan.

Multilingualism is an important step for Facebook’s international expansion. Established in 2004, the community site now boasts some 67 million active users. Thanks to free software, millions of European users can now use Facebook in their native tongues.

“Account” will become “compte” in French, “cuenta” in Spanish, and “Konto” in German.

Some translations worked reasonably well in French. The “Poke” feature has been dubbed “Quelqu’un veut attirer votre attention” (someone is trying to get your attention).

Some expressions were simply untranslatable. “Tagging”, which allows users to identify their Facebook friends who appear in their personal photos, has not been translated as “etiqueter” (labeling), as one might expect. The French version simply adopted a new verb, “tager”. In the same fashion, Facebook chose not to call their French site “Trombinoscope,” which would have been the literal translation of “facebook”.

Facebook applications created by independent developers since May 2007 remain largely in English, such as the popular “Where have you been?” application, which allows users to list all the cities they’ve visited on their Facebook pages.

Even if still a work in progress, the French version offers an easy alternative to those who are more at ease in the language of Moliere than in the language of Shakespeare.

Some such parties expressed their frustration by creating the dozens of Facebook groups with names like “For Facebook in French” and “I’m useless in English and I’m sweating through Facebook” and “Facebook in English is classy but I don’t understand a thing.”

Now that their wish has been granted, they’ll have to deal with other members who don’t share their view, creating groups like “Help! Facebook is going to be in French!”