Question

In a view file:

t("example") 

or

t(:example)

Answer 1

Passing a string can be more succinct. Given a translation file such as:

en:
  settings:
    title: 'Settings'
    flash_messages:
      not_saved: 'Setting not saved successfully'

You could access the flash messages using a string or symbols:

# String
t('settings.flash_messages.not_saved')
# Symbol
t(:not_saved, :scope => [:settings, :flash_messages])

Where the :scope value is an array containing symbols ordered from top to bottom of the ‘namespace tree’, if you will.

Both methods lead to the same result, but one, using a string, is arguably easier to use and more readable.

Intuitively I would say the symbol method might be faster (as there might be some regex parsing with the string, which is generally expensive), but I couldn’t tell you for certain.