Also, we need some feedback from the British members on the site. You'll notice that in the country list, we have United Kingdom, England, Scotland, Ireland, Channel Island?
Would the folks from these countries prefer to have them broken out this way? Or would you guys prefer to all be listed under United Kingdom? We noticed they all seem to have the same flag and country code (in our database). Is this correct?
The language question is an interesting one. I think that the best way to do it would be to integrate the different languages somehow.
There are a couple of other decent chess sites (ChessVibes to name one) where on the top right of the page they will have small clickable links or icons to switch the page from one language to the next. Very easy and user friendly!
However, the down side to doing it this way is that it will probably be very difficult work for Erik, Jay, Piotr, and others. But with the great team that Chess.com has I am sure they can get through any difficult task. 
England, Ireland and Scotland have their own flags (In fact, the UK "Union Jack" flag is simply a combination of all three of these flags put together). I imagine they would like to have their own flags displayed. (If you want to do this, Erik, I can make the flag icons :)
Regarding your initial question, I have no idea what the best way to convert this site to a "multi-language" site would be... some sites have textual links(with flag icons) at the top of the page that allow you to pick a language..
To the outsider I guess the U.K. it's flags and institutions are are bewildering but tamper with them at your peril! These symbols are jealously guarded by the nations that make up Great Britain or the United Kingdom. A potted guide is:
The first Union Jack was put forward by King James 1st of England (James V1 of Scotland) in 1606 and was to be flown at the main-top of all vessels with either St.Andrew's cross or St. George's flown at the fore-top mast depending from which country the vessel was from. During the English civil war two other union flags were used by the parliamentarians. The union flag that we know today came into existence when St. Patrick's cross was included into it following the incorporation of the kingdom of Ireland into the union in 1801.
2. The flag of Wales ( the welsh dragon) has not been in existence for that long designed I believe the 19th century it only became officially recognised in the 1950s. However, the symbolic design of the flag is ancient and interesting. the red dragon has been a national symbol of Wales for over a thousand years and certainly predates all others national symbols in the British Isles. It is believed to have reached these shores with the roman legions and is associated with both King Arthur and Merlin. The green and white background are the colours of the House of Tudor, and If I'm not mistaken are one of the first examples of a national military uniform, having been worn by welsh archers in the battle of Crecy and Bosworth. Wales' St. David's Cross is not present on the union jack as Wales' separate political status disappeared following the act of union with in England in 1535. Maybe its time that it did. Especially as there is no kingdom of Ireland!
I think, if you will support some popular chess languages (Russian, Spanish etc.) for article and blog writting the site will get thousands new users.
Just like to say that England is the greatest country on earth!!
Conkered Wales, Scotland and Ireland, invented australia, new zealand, canada, united states.
The English language is usually either people's mother tongue, or their second language.
Our sports are the most popular in a global context, and american sports are just amateurish adaptions of old english games, eg.baseball (rounders), american football(rugby but with girly padding), we probably invented basketball as well.
PS.good shout on the flags.
Canada was created by the french, the english merely disfigured it.
First part is true, the second part is just french canadian humor 
Canada is part of the commonwealth!!
Normans may have conquered Ireland, but we had to reconquer it many times. Norman invasion was in 1066, english invaded or colonised the countries i mentioned on numerous occasions since then.
As i understand it, Quebec is an isolated section of canada that seeks independance, is there a quebec flag?
As a full-time professional freelance translator, I'd be happy to offer any advice you need. To be honest though I'd say there's really no need to localize the site in general. Having worked on website localizations in the past, I've seen how confusing and messy websites can become if it's not done properly. Apart from anything else, you'd need good, professional translations by qualified translators who also happen to know a thing or two about chess. That's not easy, and it's certainly not cheap!
In my opinion, if you want to offer a multilingual element to the site (which is an excellent idea), I think you should just expand the forums to include foreign language options, i.e. just have folders called Deutsch, Espanol, Italiano, Francais, Hindi, etc. (excuse the lack of accents). I wouldn't see any need to have sub-folders within these groups. Posts could be about chess or off-topic. I think that would be a great start, and probably all you need. I guess if you wanted to include country flags on the homepage, these could link to a simple greeting page in that language explaining how the site works, and linking to the respective forum.
As for the Google issue, the reason you don't come up in foreign language searches is that Chess = Schach in German, Echecs in French, El Jaque in Spanish, etc... You need to get some Google marketing going on to link the searches...
Canada is part of the commonwealth!!
Normans may have conquered Ireland, but we had to reconquer it many times. Norman invasion was in 1066, english invaded or colonised the countries i mentioned on numerous occasions since then.
As i understand it, Quebec is an isolated section of canada that seeks independance, is there a quebec flag?
Maybe you should stop being so childish and stop prattling on about how we "conkered" [sic] everyone. We, like any other imperial power, committed atrocities, especially in Ireland, and I'd recommend you go and visit Co. Mayo and walk the famine trail to give you a sense of perspective.
Canada is part of the commonwealth!!
Normans may have conquered Ireland, but we had to reconquer it many times. Norman invasion was in 1066, english invaded or colonised the countries i mentioned on numerous occasions since then.
As i understand it, Quebec is an isolated section of canada that seeks independance, is there a quebec flag?
Maybe you should stop being so childish and stop prattling on about how we "conkered" [sic] everyone. We, like any other imperial power, committed atrocities, especially in Ireland, and I'd recommend you go and visit Co. Mayo and walk the famine trail to give you a sense of perspective.
I happen to find amusement in childish arguments!
This amusement manifests itself in the self-righteous responses of those who take the bait.
Anyone have any thoughts on the new Country & Member Map?
Another question is, if chess is so much bigger OUTSIDE the USA than inside, why are we 50% US? Is it because of languages? Or the fact that we are #1 on Google USA only?
One more question we struggle with is how would we re-create this site in different languages? Would they just be seperate sites in Spanish, German, French, etc, or would we integrate them somehow?