How to set translated variables' values from settings.php (or similar)
In settings.php

$conf['MODULE_i18n_variables'] = array('my_variable');
$conf['my_variable'] = 'default value';
$conf['my_variable__fr'] = 'french value';


And in a custom module

/**
 * Implements hook_init().
 */
function MODULE_init() {
  global $conf, $language;
  if (is_array($conf['MODULE_i18n_variables'])) {
    foreach ($conf['MODULE_i18n_variables'] as $variable) {
      if (isset($conf["{$variable}__{$language-&gt;language}"])) {
        $conf[$variable] = $conf["{$variable}__{$language-&gt;language}"];
      }
    }
  }
}


This work as long as other languages values are not used. For instance, a multi-language aware edit form for the variable will not reflect the enforced per language values.