So here's my code, using the qTranslate plugin:

        $i = 0; while(have_posts()): the_post($post);?>
        <div class="third-column"<?php if ($i == 1) echo ' style="margin-right:0;"';?>>
            <h2><a href="<?php get_permalink($post->ID);?>"><?php the_title();?></a></h2>
            <div class="inner">
                <?php $length = strlen(get_the_content());
                echo nl2br(substr(strip_tags(get_the_content()), 0, 500));
                if ($length > 500){
                    echo '...<br /><a href="' . get_permalink($post->ID) . '">Read more</a>';
                }
                ?>
            </div>
        </div>
        <?php $i++; endwhile;?>

The post titles (using the_title();) are actually appearing in all languages at the same time, ie: English titleFrench titleSpanish title.

Viewing the HTML source shows that the qTranslate tags that define which bit of a string is for which language are being directly outputted.  IE the HTML source is 

`<!--:en-->English title<!--:--><!--:fr-->French title<!--:-->`

Any ideas why this might be?

Thanks for reading!