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The design and writing of public policies aimed at the use and/or promotion of foreign languages or public linguistic policies does not take into account a participatory effort from the different groups of society that will by benefitted or affected by their implementation; on the contrary, the responsibility of developing these policies (such as the Colombian National Bilinguism Plan) has been left in the hands of experts in the topic. The role of citizens as participants in the development and/or evaluation of public linguistic policies for the promotion and teaching of foreign languages is practically inexistent and the Colombian State has not established participation strategies. This paper proposes the use of democratic dialogue as a participatory tool for the design of more contextualized policies, that involve all the agents benefitted or affected by their implementation. The most appropriate way for the government and society to come together is through the exercise of those essential rights that allow and guarantee optimum conditions for dialogue, debate, criticism, dissent, and open discussion among parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]