For anyone who noticed Flickr’s help wanted post on its company blog seeking translators, here’s why: Yahoo will start a Chinese language version of its photo-sharing site Flickr this year as the company looks to expand other user-generated content sites, such as Del.icio.us, Reuters reports. Yahoo is also coming out with Chinese versions of its email and Yahoo Groups services.
The Chinese Flickr will target Hong Kong users and will offer all the features that its original version does. Once it’s ready in Hong Kong, the new site will then focus on the Taiwan market. Plans for a full-scale launch in mainland China were not discussed. Yahoo’s mainland business was absorbed by e-commerce company, Alibaba, in 2005; Yahoo has a 40 percent stake in Alibaba.  Although government officials typically censor a great deal of online content, Flickr—which has reportedly been blocked in the United Arab Emirates, for example – is apparently totally accessible in China.  The Flickr post did not specify that it was looking for Chinese translators, only that it was looking to roll out in multiple languages this year. Yahoo bought Flickr in March 2005.