In the Australian research landscape, where English predominates as the default language for research and scholarly communication, other languages are frequently overlooked or dismissed as inconsequential to research endeavours. Methodological considerations regarding multilingual research practices tend to be missing, or remain obscure, in research design and process. During the COVID-19 crisis, inadequate recognition of the multilingual research needs of Australian communities posed challenges to the rigour and reach of real-world research. This paper centres around the research question: How can we design and conduct authentic academic research by accounting for language diversity? Using Australia as a case study, I first provide an overview of its historical and geographical multilingualism and the implications for multilingual research design and practices. I then reflect on my previous research experience to highlight three critical junctures for enhancing authenticity of research studies that necessitate deliberation about using multiple languages. These include multilingual research contextualisation, intercultural translation, and multilingual conceptualisation. I use these three critical junctures to provide a methodological framing for researchers to strategically embed multilingualism in their research design and practice.