This system is not really a replacement for Joomfish. It is very labourious and does not establish in natural relationship between the french and english versions of a page easily.
--The plugin 'System - Language Filter' has to be enabled.--
When switching languages and if the menu item displaying the page is not associated to another menu item, the module redirects to the Home page defined for the chosen language.
Otherwise, if the parameter is set for the Language filter plugin, it will redirect to the associated menu item in the language chosen. Thereafter, the navigation will be the one defined for that language.
If the plugin 'System - Language Filter' is disabled, this may have unwanted results.
Method:
1. Open Language Manager Content tab and make sure the Languages you want to use in contents are published and have a Language Code for the URL as well as prefix for the image used in the module display.
2. Create a Home page by assigning a language to a menu item and defining it as Default Home page for each published content language.
3. Thereafter, you can assign a language to any Article, Category, Module, Newsfeed, Weblinks in Joomla.
4. Make sure the module is published and the plugin is enabled.
5. When using associated menu items, make sure the module is displayed on the pages concerned.
6. The way the flags or names of the languages are displayed is defined by the ordering in the Language Manager - Content Languages.
If this module is published, it is suggested to publish the administrator multilanguage status module.
Also Reference http://www.gavick.com/documentation/questions/configuration-multilanguage-site-with-joomla-1-7/
This explains the process. http://help.joomla.org/files/EN-GB_multilang_tutorial.pdf