A simple rails utility which cahces data from config/locales/*.yml files as a hash and returns a hash for each specified language file. It also parses and reloads the YAML files everytime they are changed.

message_handler.rb

module Util
  class MessageHandler

    @@data = {}

    class << self

      def data_in(language)
        load! if !@@data[language] or (files_changed? and Rails.env.development?)
        @@data[language][language.to_s]
      end

    private
    
      def load!
        parse_file = -> (language, file_path) {
          @@data[language] ||= YAML.load(File.read(file_path))
        }
        possible_languages.map do |language|
          parse_file.call( language, locale_file_path(language))
        end
      end

      def files_changed?
        @@file_update_checker ||= ActiveSupport::FileUpdateChecker.new(language_file_paths)
        @@file_update_checker.updated?
      end

      def possible_languages
        [ :en, :es, :pt]
      end

      def language_file_paths
        possible_languages.map{ |l| locale_file_path(l) }
      end

      def locale_file_path(language)
        File.join(Rails.root, locale_relative_file_path(language))
      end

      def locale_relative_file_path(language)
        File.join('config', 'locales', "#{language.to_s}.yml")
      end
      
    end

  end
end