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Languages are both a tool for learning and collaboration, as well as a source of barriers and division. Framed by language socialisation theory, this article explores how adolescents and stakeholders in vocational education and training (VET) perceive language resources, practices, norms and expectations. A case study, conducted at a VET college at the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, involved survey responses from 674 learners and 86 stakeholders, and 11 follow-up interviews, across 11 technical programmes, including engineers, bricklayers and hairdressers. Descriptive and inferential statistics complemented with thematic analysis establish (1) the learners as highly multilingual, (2) the roles of languages in the workplace as complex, (3) perceived language norms as varied across vocational pathways and language backgrounds, and (4) opinions regarding language curricula as fragmented. Arguing that overcoming language barriers in the workplace requires more than individual language competences, this article proposes new directions for language education in VET that include fostering language awareness and mediation skills as part of a wider soft-skills repertoire; opportunities to develop and apply these in work situations; and flexible language learning through multilanguage coaching. Together, these steps position multilingualism as an asset, preparing future skilled workers in a more equitable way for increasingly diverse and unpredictable workplaces.
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