How do you create a multilingual program?

Question

I want to write a program with more than one possible output language (so that the user can choose the preferred language).

Do you have a big look-up table and code like this:
print (Table.getText(GREETINGS, ENGLISH));
or how is it done?

Answer 1

The better method I think is to store text on a file, and create one file per language. You also can some kind of data structure as you suggest.
Which programming language are you using?

Answer 2

That is a nice idea, thank you. :))
I am using Java, but this problem is a general one, I think.