How do you i18n?

[eluser]adamp1[/eluser]
At the moment language files are really pissing me off. For several main reasons which I know solutions to but don't know which one would be best. So at the moment I'm sitting on the fence doing neither.

First off I want my application to be easily upgradable so I want all language strings to be editable if needed, this means I need to use some kind of language system. Now my system comprises of many modules each with their own language file which has specific strings that module uses.

Now say I have the line $lang['member_delete'] = "Delete";, now yes it is used in the member module but its also used in other places, but I don't want to load all language files every time. So basically what I have to do is create more $lang['modulename_delete'] = "Delete"; for each module which uses the word 'Delete'. So as you can see this starts to mean editing the word 'delete' in multiple locations.

So I thought maybe use gettext, and then even though 'Delete' is used in multiple locations they would all use the same meaning. But then comes the problem of having one very large language file which gettext uses, this means it looses its individual relations with each module.

So what I'm asking is how do people cope with using basic strings like 'Edit', 'Add', 'Delete' etc. Do you use the CI language files or gettext?