How does ordinary life proceed when you’re living it through a new language? How do you manage the simultaneous challenges of learning a new language and achieving communicative goals through that language – everyday goals such as finding a place to live, finding a job, accessing healthcare, talking to your kids and supporting them through school? This presentation addresses these questions based on a re-analysis of ethnographic data collected over a 20-year period with 130 migrants to Australia from 35 different countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. We examine how migrants' language learning trajectories intersect with their settlement experiences, with a specific focus on education, employment, family life, identity and belonging. The presentation, which is based on a book due from Oxford University Press in 2024 titled Life in a New Language, will also discuss the ways this project represents innovation in qualitative inquiry through re-analysis and data sharing as a framework for multisite linguistic ethnography. The presenters are part of a six-person collaborative research team that co-authored the book.