The changing socio-political and linguistic environment within the European Union following Brexit challenges those in language departments in countries like Ireland to consider how Study Abroad (SA) research might continue to inform their own teaching and support of language students whose programmes involve compulsory or optional Erasmus+ placements. I hypothesize that deepening our understanding of the broader SA experience can help both language lecturers and students develop more refined expectations of what might – both linguistically and interculturally – constitute a successful sojourn in the host country.
Data collection took place within the framework of a “Study Abroad Research in European Perspective” (SAREP) research network (Cost Action 15130) which ran 2016–2020. Drawing on a subset of data from SA students based in Ireland and Italy, I discuss the role of three key contexts (family, formal education and social interaction) in the development of individual linguistic repertoires. Against this background, I examine to what extent intercultural motivations play a role in language choice at both macro- and micro-level and whether students’ SA experience today might be better understood through the prism of plurilingualism. Finally, I consider the potential implications of such findings for the development of language studies into the future, with a particular eye to German Studies in Ireland.