Whilst integration is central to the success of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), less overt attention has been paid to its linguistic dimensions. By drawing on an inductive, large-scale research project totalling 166 interviews, where eight acquisitions conducted by globally-operating acquiring firms were under study, our findings confirm that language matters in acquisitions. Our main contribution is an appreciation of the linguistic dynamics at play in acquisitions undertaken by global acquiring firms. Further, our findings extend the appreciation of multinationals as multilingual spaces and attest to a tension between an ability to linguistically adapt, whilst retaining a degree of linguistic ethnocentrism.