The metaphor of education as a conversation that is currently popular is attractive in many respects and it continues to be explored and applied in philosophy of education. This article seeks to consider that aspect of education that involves the literal conversation required to learn other languages. The burden of the argument is that language learning can have genuinely educational purposes. Learning a language is never merely a matter of acquiring verbal skills in order to conduct business; it can also involve a reaching out to other people that requires a form of cultural decentring that can often have moral and civic dimensions. The essay examines the role of language learning in promoting conceptual enhancement and explores in detail its role in moral and civic education. Yet language education can also have a political dimension and this is also addressed.