This article introduces this special collection, which focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on language education in the UK and asks what kinds of long-term effects there might be across sectors from primary schools to higher education. Each article in this collection comprises a “dialogue” which took place in the form of an online asynchronous writing “sprint” in one of six areas: primary schools, secondary schools, language teaching in higher education, early career higher education, year abroad and cultural institutions. This introduction analyses the trends, challenges and opportunities drawn from the experiences across the different areas: pedagogical transformation for an effective (digitally mediated) language education; challenges and opportunities for student engagement; and the role of communities of practice in supporting language educators. This article argues that there are valuable lessons which can be extrapolated for wider discussion on the future of Modern Languages education in the UK.