XIHA Life, the world’s first truly multilingual social network, publicly launched in the U.S., allowing millions of exchange students, expatriates, and multilingual and multicultural users living outside their home countries to build global neighborhoods that let them communicate in nearly 50 languages – all from within a single account. XIHA Life also announced today XIHA Music, its global distribution channel that provides independent musicians with an instant global audience.

Unlike other social networks that make users choose one language for all communications, XIHA Life users can easily read and write in multiple languages, allowing them to connect with family, friends, and colleagues anywhere in the world in the most appropriate language.

This multilingual approach has created the first truly global audience for the world’s diverse musicians. Existing music-focused social networks force musicians to communicate with fans in just one language. With XIHA Life, they can connect in the language their fans understand, increasing promotional opportunities and fan loyalty.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2006 American Community Survey, more than 37 million immigrants now live in the U.S., and one in five people over age five speaks a language other than English.

“The global phenomenon of social networking has actually been hampered by the monolingual vision of other social networking sites,” says Jani Penttinen, co-founder and CTO at XIHA Life.

XIHA Life is developed and operated by XIHA Ltd, a Helsinki, Finland-based company founded in 2007. At the current 20% growth rate, monthly XIHA user traffic is expected to reach 1 million by the end of 2008.