This article examines higher education students’ beliefs and attitudes regarding language learning and use in the context of learning mobility, when lingua francas – covering English – are employed. Data were gathered via a questionnaire administered to 141 Erasmus students at an Italian University. The open‐ended questions were assayed employing a constructivist grounded theory approach, and findings checked against the quantitative data. The assay differentiates between respondents’ beliefs, that is, overt convictions impacting learning behaviour, and attitudes acting below the level of awareness. Findings handle three major matters: (1) the apparent discrepancy between the respondents’ attitudes and beliefs concerning the opinion that lingua francas propose valuable language‐learning opportunities; (2) their implicit questioning of the language‐culture nexus; and (3) the inquiry elucidates code choice and negotiation.