Agreed. I do like the language options in a number of programs. From the content pages of a merchant however, wouldn't we still have to type the 5 different language pages though? If I have content on the site written in English and wanted to change the content (even just a few sentenses) wouldn't the same amount of work to change the data contained in the database take the same amount of time if I was running separate sites?

And yes, as you said, if done incorrectly, multiple sites can cause problems. Personally I prefer the multiple sites and hosted within the various countries for the target market. Dropdown's do make it nice and easy for people. Look at cPanel for that matter. Everything in there is contained in language files too, but if you change it for English, you still have to change it for the other languages.

From a programmer's end of things, and actual software products (stores, billing systems, control panels etc), making a language system is ideal. From a consumer end displaying their site or their products (not just navigation) there's different results.

Am I still following right? Don't want to step on any toes, just making sure I'm getting the right ideas (and learning your programming processes along the way too!)