A simple trick to get the localized version of a model field is to add this little method to your models.

[...]
public function getNameLocalized()
{
    return Yii::t(strtolower(__CLASS__), $this->name);
}

What this snipped does is, that it looks for a translation with your model name (in lowercase) as category and the database entry as the translation key.

Just one simple example: ¶

Imagine you have a country table (and a model called Country)

  ID  |  NAME
------|--------
   1  |  sweden
   2  |  italy
   3  |  norway
------|--------

Use any of the offered translation methods. I simply use php-files in the `protectec/messages` folder.

Let's assume the language is set to `'de'`. The translation file would look like that:

protected/messages/de.php:

<?php
return array(
    'sweden' => 'Schweden',
    'italy'  => 'Italien',
    'norway' => 'Norwegen',
);

Now this is the fun part where PHP5 unfolds its magic (functions): To easily create a localized drop down list where your visitor can select a country you only need this simple line of php code in your view:

<?php
echo CHtml::activeDropDownList($model, 'country_id', 
     CHtml::listData(Country::model()->findAll(), 'id', 'nameLocalized'))
?>

This creates this kind of HTML-Code:

``

<option value="1">Schweden</option>
<option value="2">Italien</option>
<option value="3">Norwegen</option>

I hope this helps you saving time. If you have any suggestions just drop a comment.