PROBLEM PHP - button text translate to 3 languages

[bonyway]

I added in my component “next-page”:
<?php
global $language;
if ($language = 'en') {
echo 'Next';
}else if ($language = 'de') {
echo 'Naechste';
}else if ($language = 'fr') {
echo 'Suivant ';
}
?>
but it still doesn’t work :-(

well, I'll try to describe the details…
1.) I have a special page “News” with different functions and variables and one of them is:
<?php
if (function_exists('get_i18n_navigation')) {
get_i18n_component('pagenav');
} else {
get_component('pagenav');
}
?>
2.) The “pagenav” is component, which in turn calls the two components like "next-page" and "prev-page"… so where do I need to add the "global $language;" or "getGobal()"?

@shawn_a
and what you mean with “to 3.4”?

Please guys, I’m not programmer, just a little bit clear, where it should to shove in…. :-)

A lot of thanks in advance!