The article deals with the directions and objectives of professionally oriented language training at a modern technical higher education institution. It summarizes the challenges of outer and inner environment of the institution that influence the formation of the professional portrait of a specialist in science, technology, and engineering. The article also analyzes the role of foreign languages as an instrument of professional activity, which allows a modern specialist to conduct research and be involved in the educational process on a new, higher level – the level of international cooperation. The article examines a new function of language training at a technical higher education institution – the formation of language environment of a higher education institution on the basis of the principles of a professionally oriented approach to language education and interdisciplinarity.