speaking with tongues

The Greek that is often translated as “speaking with tongues” in English is translated these ways:

  • Uma: “speak with languages from the Holy Spirit” (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “speak languages that are not understood by the people” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “speak in languages which [the speakers] do not know” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “speak different languages that [the speakers] haven’t studied” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “speaking other different languages”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “speaking in other people’s Chinantec”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “speaking strange languages” (source for his and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Indonesian Alkitab Terjemahan Lama version (publ. 1958): “speak the language of the spirit” (bahasa roh) — “which leaves a strong impression that this is a mystical experience.” (Source: Ekaputra Tupamahu in: Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2018, 41/2, p. 223ff.)

In most Protestant Mandarin Chinese translations, the term fāngyán (方言) or “dialect / regional language” is used. The widely-used Catholic Sigao translation uses yǔyán 语言 (語言) or “language” instead. (See also W. Chong in Religions 2024, 15, p. 288ff. )

In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is translated as in den Sprachen der Engel reden or “speaking in the language of angels.” The translatos explain (p. 104): “According to Jewish understanding, angels primarily spoke Hebrew. The ‘languages’ of angels are specific texts (such as songs). This is not related to a formal knowledge of language.” Note that in the latter part of 1 Corinthians 14 (from verse 26 on), Berger / Nord use “foreign language” instead.

pray / prayer

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “pray” (or “prayer”) in English is often translated as “talking with God” (Central Pame, Tzeltal, Chol, Chimborazo Highland Quichua, Shipibo-Conibo, Kaqchikel, Tepeuxila Cuicatec, Copainalá Zoque, Central Tarahumara).

Other solutions include:

  • “to beg” or “to ask,” (full expression: “to ask with one’s heart coming out,” which leaves out selfish praying, for asking with the heart out leaves no place for self to hide) (Tzotzil)
  • “to cause God to know” (Huichol)
  • “to raise up one’s words to God” (implying an element of worship, as well as communication) (Miskito, Lacandon) (source of this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Shilluk: “speak to God” (source: Nida 1964, p. 237)
  • Mairasi: “talk together with Great Above One (=God)” (source: Enggavoter, 2004)
  • San Blas Kuna: “call to one’s Father” (source: Claudio and Marvel Iglesias in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 85ff. )
  • Ik: waan: “beg.” Terrill Schrock (in Wycliffe Bible Translators 2016, p. 93) explains (click or tap here to read more):

    What do begging and praying have to do with each other? Do you beg when you pray? Do I?

    “The Ik word for ‘visitor’ is waanam, which means ‘begging person.’ Do you beg when you go visiting? The Ik do. Maybe you don’t beg, but maybe when you visit someone, you are looking for something. Maybe it’s just a listening ear.

    When the Ik hear that [my wife] Amber and I are planning trip to this or that place for a certain amount of time, the letters and lists start coming. As the days dwindle before our departure, the little stack of guests grows. ‘Please, sir, remember me for the allowing: shoes, jacket (rainproof), watch, box, trousers, pens, and money for the children. Thank you, sir, for your assistance.’

    “A few people come by just to greet us or spend bit of time with us. Another precious few will occasionally confide in us about their problems without asking for anything more than a listening ear. I love that.

    “The other day I was in our spare bedroom praying my list of requests to God — a nice list covering most areas of my life, certainly all the points of anxiety. Then it hit me: Does God want my list, or does he want my relationship?

    “I decided to try something. Instead of reading off my list of requests to God, I just talk to him about my issues without any expectation of how he should respond. I make it more about our relationship than my list, because if our personhood is like God’s personhood, then maybe God prefers our confidence and time to our lists, letters, and enumerations.”

In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning (click or tap here to read more):

  • For Acts 1:14, 20:36, 21:5: kola ttieru-yawur nehla — “hold the waist and hug the neck.” (“This is the more general term for prayer and often refers to worship in prayer as opposed to petition. The Luang people spend the majority of their prayers worshiping rather than petitioning, which explains why this term often is used generically for prayer.”)
  • For Acts 28:9: sumbiani — “pray.” (“This term is also used generically for ‘prayer’. When praying is referred to several times in close proximity, it serves as a variation for kola ttieru-yawur nehla, in keeping with Luang discourse style. It is also used when a prayer is made up of many requests.”)
  • For Acts 8:15, 12:5: polu-waka — “call-ask.” (“This is a term for petition that is used especially when the need is very intense.”)

Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.

complete verse (1 Corinthians 14:13)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 14:13:

  • Uma: “That’s why I say to you: whoever speaks with languages from the Holy Spirit, he should request to the Lord to get the ability to translate [move] that language so that all his companions can understand the meaning of his words.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Therefore a person who can speak in language that is not understood by the people he should also ask that God gives him the expertise to explain what he has said.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And because of this, the person who speaks in a language that he does not understand, he must pray that God will give him the skill to interpret what he is saying.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Therefore the one who speaks a different language which he hasn’t learned should pray that he be given the ability to interpret it.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Therefore this is what is good, the one who has been given this ability that he knows how to speak different languages that he hasn’t studied, he should pray that he also be given the ability to explain what he is saying in this language.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The person who wants to speak a word which the people do not hear should ask God that he might be enabled to tell his fellow men the meaning of the word he speaks.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 1 Corinthians 14:13

Therefore indicates that this verse is linked with the previous sentence. From one point of view, it gives an example of what verse 12 states generally. However, it is an example of particular importance to Paul in this chapter. Within the general contrast between ecstatic sounds and intelligible language, the theme of prayer is central to verses 13-17. For this reason Revised Standard Version, Good News Bible, and other translations begin a new paragraph here.

Tongue may be rendered as “strange sounds,” “unintelligible sounds,” or “ecstatic speech.”

Good News Bible explains simply the meaning of power to interpret. One may say “the ability to explain what these strange sounds mean.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .