How to build a great multi-lingual navigation with channels, structure, and manageable in the CP
Not sure I'm the best person to answer this having only built one Craft site but here goes.

I've created a Structure called Main Menu which has three Entry Types. (Entry types were the key for me when doing this)

A Structure allows drag and drop ordering and hierarchal navigation ordering for parent > child relationships.


Entry Link 
Asset Link
External Link


Entry Link



Asset Link



External Link



Big, big (two bigs!) NavEE fan here, CraftNav has huge potential to replicate it but it's still a tad early when I tried it.

In short Entry Types were the key for me.

Note: For my own sanity at a later date it would be good to read this post on how to tell if your Structure Navigation has child elements.

Not sure if this helps but hope it does.