Can anyone explain to us the phenomena of 'Speaking in Tongues' ? (translation, America)

[ocpaul20]

As a complete outsider of this, (since my childhood church did not have this phenomena) my understanding of it is that, it is the Holy Spirit filling the person and causing them to express themselves in sounds without any limitation.

Someone looking at this phenomena for the first time might think it is just a babble of sound, but is there any meaning in it for others?
What is the point of it?
What can be gained from a Speaking in Tongues event?
What can the person doing the Speaking expect from the other members of the church?
Is it a special even which is talked about in the church for weeks afterwards? Does it make a kind-of celebrity?

[Derek41]

The last point- it is an event that happens at virtually every worship service, so hardly noteworthy.
You might get more constructive answers to this question on the Christianity forum, as it’s something practiced by Pentecostal or charismatic Christians.

[Miss Hepburn]

I went to a Charismatic Church service, maybe 7 total in my life, btw.
Short version: 5 days after I was Baptized inthe Holy Spirit....I actually spoke or prayed in Tongues.
And even I can not tell you 'what it s'!!!
Later, if anyone cares I could tell you extraordinary things about it, tho....cuz wow.
Like the orig questioner, I found this thing amazing and wanted to know more...cuz, I mean - C'mon...later.

[hljc]

Believer need to be born again in the spirit of Christ and even baptized in the Holy Spirit would be a bonus, other conditions could be a humble spirit giving God the Glory instead of ``I, me, mine``........... There are a lot of speaking tongues gifts came through people who lay on hands of prayer for tongues. The gift came on here some twenty years ago and still is here today where the gift is used in prayer and worship to God

[mordant]

The technical term for this is "glossalalia".

The seminal study on it was done in the early 70's. Speakers in various countries were recorded over 5 years.

One key feature of glossalalia is that the speaker always uses phonemes / sounds known to the speaker in whatever their native language is. The sounds are used haphazardly but with cadence and accents and pauses that sound language-like.

"Samples of glossolalia shows a lack of consistency needed for meaningful comparison or translation. It also is not used to communicate between fellow glossolalia speakers."

[BaptistFundie]

Originally Posted by ocpaul20

As a complete outsider of this, (since my childhood church did not have this phenomena) my understanding of it is that, it is the Holy Spirit filling the person and causing them to express themselves in sounds without any limitation.

Someone looking at this phenomena for the first time might think it is just a babble of sound, but is there any meaning in it for others?
What is the point of it?
What can be gained from a Speaking in Tongues event?
What can the person doing the Speaking expect from the other members of the church?
Is it a special even which is talked about in the church for weeks afterwards? Does it make a kind-of celebrity?

They claim that it is the miracle as seen in the book of Acts on Pentecost. The Spirit was poured out on people and they spoke in languages they did not know, or rather people heard them in their own language.

The modern day show of it tends to be just babble, as you pointed out. It's well-meaning people that want to see God move, but they are trying too hard, and they start babbling, attributing to God what he didn't do.

[siameseifyoupls]

Originally Posted by hljc

Believer need to be born again in the spirit of Christ and even baptized in the Holy Spirit would be a bonus, other conditions could be a humble spirit giving God the Glory instead of ``I, me, mine``........... There are a lot of speaking tongues gifts came through people who lay on hands of prayer for tongues. The gift came on here some twenty years ago and still is here today where the gift is used in prayer and worship to God

What does this mean?

[Hayle White]

Originally Posted by siameseifyoupls

What does this mean?

It is considered a gift because it is supposedly a spontaneous ability to speak a foreign language. However, many of the practitioners leave out this part:
If anyone speaks in a tongue, two--or at the most three--should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. No more than two or three should speak in tongues. They must speak one at a time, and someone must interpret what they say. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret.
https://www.biblehub.com/1_corinthians/14-27.htm

[mojo101]

as in speaking in forked tongue?
White men often speak in forked tongue when they deal with native Americans

[mordant]

Originally Posted by siameseifyoupls

What does this mean?

If you're asking about the "twenty years ago" part I have no idea. The modern pentecostal movement traces back to the Azusa Street revival of 1906-1915. The charismatic movement is more a 1970s thing where people practiced similar things inside of non-pentecostal denominations. Such denominations (sometimes barely) tolerated this kind of thing because it brought in a different demographic of new converts. It also sometimes went hand-in-hand with other trends; for example Catholic charismatics tended to be associated with the informal mass involving guitars and folk-music which was intensely relatable to young people of the day.