The paper reports on the findings of a PhD study exploring the implications of the separation between language and content in Modern Languages for students' development of intercultural competence and criticality across four universities -- two in the US and two in the UK. In particular, it exposes the diverse views students developed on the relationship between language and culture and the invaluable role of content courses in fostering students' development of critical cultural awareness and criticality. While there was evidence to suggest that all three strands of the curriculum (language, content and the year abroad) contributed to students' development of intercultural competence and criticality, content modules emerged as a key setting to foster critical discussions on interculturality.