This point of departure offers several provocations for languages education in the higher education sector. From our standpoint as world language educators working in Australia and New Zealand, we trace universalising claims about languages through coloniality and the attendant ideology of monolingualism. We then consider the emancipatory potential that "translanguaging," as theory and practice, may present to guide the reconceptualisation of language practices and hierarchies. We conclude, however, with a note of caution regarding the assertion of new universals.