The idea of “intercultural dialogue” which originated in the mid-20th century in the work of Russian philosophers M.M. Bakhtin and V.S. Bibler, is proposed by the authors of the article as a methodological basis for justifying the existence and development of international institutions for the promotion of multilingual education abroad. The authors consider this idea to be fruitful not only with regard to the dissemination of the Russian language and Russian culture, but also the Chinese language. It also works with regard to those languages which, in a situation of modern, so-called “linguistic imperialism” on the part of English, which has gained dominance in the modern global world, are less common or limited in their functionality, despite their international status. The authors consider the ideas of “intercultural dialogue” and “linguistic imperialism” as competing strategies of language education development in relation to the second and third languages in foreign countries. The authors conclude that it is on the basis of the idea of “dialogue of cultures” we can build a system of lingual “education for international understanding”, preserve linguistic diversity of cultures and form a new type of global citizenship.