SELECT with LIMIT in Codeigniter

Try this...

function nationList($limit=null, $start=null) {
    if ($this->session->userdata('language') == "it") {
        $this->db->select('nation.id, nation.name_it as name');
    }

    if ($this->session->userdata('language') == "en") {
        $this->db->select('nation.id, nation.name_en as name');
    }

    $this->db->from('nation');
    $this->db->order_by("name", "asc");

    if ($limit != '' && $start != '') {
       $this->db->limit($limit, $start);
    }
    $query  = $this->db->get();

    $nation = array();
    foreach ($query->result() as $row) {
        array_push($nation, $row);
    }

    return $nation;     
}

For further visitors:

// Executes: SELECT * FROM mytable LIMIT 10 OFFSET 20
// get([$table = ''[, $limit = NULL[, $offset = NULL]]])
$query = $this->db->get('mytable', 10, 20);

// get_where sample, 
$query = $this->db->get_where('mytable', array('id' => $id), 10, 20);

// Produces: LIMIT 10
$this->db->limit(10);  

// Produces: LIMIT 10 OFFSET 20
// limit($value[, $offset = 0])
$this->db->limit(10, 20);