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[/SUB]Years ago I hung around some Pentecostals long enough to hear a fair amount of 'speaking in tongues', but I've never had the experience myself. My impression from way back when was that it was an interesting psychological quirk; something that most people can probably do, with a bit of prompting, but that most people never have occasion to try. Something kind of in the same category as hypnotism or out-of-body experiences, though on a smaller scale. It may well be associated with certain mental or emotional states, and it could well be spiritually meaningful, but I couldn't see anything very miraculous about it.
Yes, it's an odd quirky thing that most people could probably do, I agree, if their minds are clear and open and they are praying. It takes a certain quietness of mind and meditative state and "reaching" for the higher power, but even then, it doesn't always happen. Many of those at the Pentecostal meets repeat the phrases they have said before, and that's not quite the same. I was a young girl when I first joined the Pentecostals and spoke in tongues. The first time came on suddenly and unexpectedly when another Pentecostal "laid hands" on me. There was a body-wide tingling sensation and I felt like something opened up inside me, starting with my heart, then spread out and upward. It was a bit like an OOB experience or high meditative state, serene, calm, feeling loved and loving, peaceful, whole and connected to God and others. Very pleasant, but also highly personal. Where I might have had that feeling for just seconds in Scientology, this was much deeper and longer lasting. You may have noticed that nearly all Pentecostals have their hands palm upward when they speak in tongues. That's the "reaching" for the connectiveness to God and others. It usually doesn't work at all without the hands up this way.
At one point in the New Testament, Paul discusses speaking in tongues. He says that he does it himself quite a lot, but that it's not important and nobody should make a big deal out of it. I think Pentecostals may sometimes violate that injunction. I think it's in the same passage that Paul insists that unintelligible utterances must be accompanied by inspired translations.
I remember that Bible quote where Paul said that and was glad to see it. I agree, the Pentecostals put far too much emphasis on it. The JWs think speaking in tongues is evil (my ex-mother-in-law was a practicing JW, which is how I know so much about it).
I only clearly remember this happening once, in a Pentecostal worship service I attended, and the supposed translation sounded to me like a brief platitude. Conceivably it was exactly the word that somebody present needed to hear at that moment. It seemed kind of boilerplate-ish, to me, though.
Nearly all the Pentecostal meets I went to were like this. Nothing miraculous, but the preacher and others trying to force it or exaggerate it to be something miraculous. And that is, again, vanity and ego. That really puts a damper on everything spiritual if it doesn't block it entirely.
I'd been to maybe 50 meets before I got tired of the forced sort of miracles. Out of all of those, there were maybe 2 or 3 that were special, and those were quite small. private and humble. I saw healings at those, and the healings weren't expected, either. I heard short, individual prophesies or special words to individuals there at those and saw the individuals greatly relieved. The thing is, there wasn't any particular individual who was a healer or a prophet. The Spirit would go round the room like a wind (it could be sensed) and it was almost random. One person might be the healer that day and never again afterward, because it was not their personal power. And those few times at those 2 or 3 meets, I smelled roses, like the freshest field of roses. So did everyone else in the room.
There is a quote somewhere in the Bible that man does not tell God where to appear, how and when, and what to do. There are examples of this in the Old Testament. It is not only blasphemous, but some sort of perversion to do so, and yet, the Catholic Church and so many others do exactly that. So any time anyone does this or claims powers or to be a healer, etc., they become, well - the OP's quote covers it.
SOT, I don't have explanations for these things. I do not have superpowerz or a special connection to God that others don't. I'm not a chosen person or any different from anyone else. I''m not claiming any of that, I'm just stating what I've personally experienced and seen.
Uttering lengthy intelligible speech in a language you don't know would of course be a major miracle. That was supposed to be the scenario at the first Christian Pentecost, but the letters of Paul make clear that even in New Testament times the standard phenomenon was just ecstatic gibberish. That's interesting, maybe, but nothing so amazing — and Paul at least seems to have been pretty level-headed about that.
I agree. But every now and then, as I said above, with the right group and full humility and sincerity in prayer, it's not ecstatic gibberish, it's a connection to a personal relationship with God that results in an exquisite and deep feeling of peace, love and wholeness of spirit. It's very personal. Paul must have been just as upset and dismayed at the awful sideshow the early Christians made of it that the Pentecostals make of it now.
to ESMB, oldClass8! 
