i18n Approach

[eluser]Unknown[/eluser]
I'm trying to figure out the i18n system in CI. I've used a CMS based on a previous version of CI and their i18n approach is to wrap the text like:

Code:

echo __('Some text here');

The language file is then set up similar to:

Code:

return array(
    'Some text here' => 'Ein Text hier');

What is the advantage to CI's current method of using a method call instead of the usage above? I'm asking because I'm not entirely sure how the method I showed up top works, exactly, but it seems less ... "clumsy" to me. I've noticed that Symfony framework seems to have gotten away from the __() method, as well.

Thanks!