Hi Dave
Off topic: What an honour to have a Creative Cow forum legend answer my question That makes my day.
On topic: I could do that. And I thought about doing that. Thing is, this single AI file has roughly 20 text layers that needs to be replaced with foreign text. In the AE file I've been given, there's roughly 50-60 AI files that needs same treatment. And there's 50 ish comps and precomps (just for the english) and I need to output all of this to 15+ languages. I predict that the AE file will be bowing out due to the sheer amount of comps and things to keep track of. And so will I.
Maybe I just need to copy the AE file, and give each country it's own project. But then I would also have to make a country-specific folder for each AI file I encounter, copy the AI in there keeping the document name intact, make my edits, and then replace it in the country-specific AE project where it belongs... I'm treading water here aren't I...