Globalization is commonly deemed to have triggered an unprecedented demographic change and, accordingly, a transformation of traditional forms of community identification. Translation features in dominant narratives of globalization as a largely extrinsic, professional, and reciprocal activity. In this article the author discusses translation as domestic, individual, and unidirectional instead. Drawing from the concepts of ‘post-Babelianism’ (Eoyang, 1993), ‘neo-Babelianism by default’ (Cronin, 2003), and ‘multilingualism in translation’, he argues that the perception of translation and multilingualism displayed in dominant narratives of globalization remains anchored in idealized notions of language and monolingualism that ultimately perpetuate asymmetries of power and prestige. The author discusses the influence that such notions have exerted on the understanding of translation, and points to the interplay of sociolinguistics and translation studies to question dominant language ideologies. The author concludes by reflecting on the role of Universe-Cities in the redefinition of translation in the face of globalization.