English proficiency is viewed across societal levels as a necessary commodity for accessing the best educational and professional prospects. The high value associated with English as symbolic capital may be seen to impact negatively upon the promotion of individual and societal multilingualism beyond an emergent dominant pattern of L1+English. To date, few empirical studies have been conducted into the ecology and ideologies that prevail within European English-medium degree programmes regarding English and the concomitant acquisition of additional languages. On the basis of empirical data generated from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, this paper explores the experiences of students and lecturers within English-medium degree programmes in Germany as they negotiate their English-speaking environments and explores their practices of multilingualism beyond their L1 and English.