Babbling tongues

Mumbling · **on:** May 22, 2013, 10:21:41 AM

Hi all

I am working on a translation from English to Dutch and while I know not many of you speak Dutch, I know many of you are native English speakers.

I am looking for an explanation of the word combination 'babbling tongues'. In my case it is used as a header of a paragraph. The text itself is about language diversity. I have googled babbling tongues and discovered that it is a movie, but also that it sometimes gets related to the bible story of Babel. Does anyone know where the combination of these two words comes from and can they possibly explain what they mean? That way I can make a nice Dutch translation.

Thank you

Ghostfishe · **Reply #1 on:** May 22, 2013, 11:19:09 AM

"Tongues" I think can be interpeted either as languages, or as people (individuals who have tongues and are speaking)... I couldn't tell you the exact etymology, but effectively it means confused languages, or people who are speaking nonsense/can't be mutually understood.

A Google search for me also brings up a lot of Bible-related results, but I'm not aware of any translation that contains that exact phrase; I think it's mostly used for its poetic value, and the fact that it calls the story of Babel to mind.

Mumbling · **Reply #2 on:** May 22, 2013, 12:43:42 PM

Confused languages actually is really helpful! I'll wait for some more input but can already think of a more useful title now

bushwacked · **Reply #3 on:** May 22, 2013, 08:16:23 PM

What Ghostfishe said sounds about right. Tongues does refer to language and Babbling means unintelligible, so I guess you could also say 'Unintelligible', 'Unrecognised' or 'Incomprehensible Languages'?

I looked about for where the phrase could come from, and apparently 'Paul 1 Corinthians chapter 12, 13 and 14' have something, but since I know next to nothing about the bible I'm not too sure if it's any good. Hope I helped a little too.