This is what I currently have at the very beginning of my header page. Works for my index page, being called with index.php?lang=english. But it seems that I am not setting the session properly as the errors below display when I choose something else from my menu.

<?php
	session_start();
	
	function check_lang() { 
	//make sure that we have a language selected by using session .. 
	  if (!isset($_SESSION['lang'])) { 
	  /* you can either show error message and terminate script 
	    die('No language was selected! please go back and choose a langauge!');*/ 
	  //or set a default language 
	    $_SESSION['lang'] = $_GET['lang']; 
	  } 
//always do this
$lang = $_SESSION['lang']; 
	//directory name 
	  $dir = 'languages'; 

	//no we return the langauge wanted ! 
	//Returned String Format: dirname/filename.ext 
	  return "$dir/$lang.inc"; 
	} 
?>
<?php
		//this function will check user language and return the file name to be included .. 
		$lang = check_lang();
		include_once($lang);
?>

Warning: include_once(languages/.inc) [function.include-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/boateco/public_html/includes/header.php on line 26

Warning: include_once() [function.include]: Failed opening 'languages/.inc' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/boateco/public_html/includes/header.php on line 26

I seem to be missing that point on something.