I'm a Christian who is going to a little charismatic church right now. I absolutely love this church and the people in it. They've done so much to help me heal from legalistic, religious abuse I received as a child. The only problem I have with this congregation is that when they "speak in tongues", it doesn't seem legitimate. Like others have pointed out, it's just repetitive, vowel-laden babbling, and the translations never match up. (The apostle Paul wrote that all tongues must have a translation, otherwise they are not legitimate.) So why does this happen? I think it's mainly an outpouring of emotion without much critical thought of what's going on. I don't peg it on pride and charlatanism; these are wonderful, kind, humble people. Thankfully, this only happens once every few weeks. I don't resent them for it, but I wish they could see why what they're doing is wrong. I also don't think it's true that you haven't received the Spirit if you haven't spoken in tongues.

I do believe in real speaking in tongues, but I believe the Holy Spirit only makes it happen rarely, and when He does, it will always sound like an actual language, and He will use it to serve an actual purpose. My dad once told me a story of when he visited a small church where a female member stood up and spoke in German, despite not knowing the language. After the service, an old woman who was visiting with her immigrant daughter approached the church member and tried to dialogue with her in German, but to no avail. The church member lady didn't actually speak it. This event left quite an impression on the old fraulein. If you don't believe my story, that's okay. Just take it as my personal example of the proper use of tongues. They should be real languages and they should serve real purposes for good, not for showing off or proving that you're a "real Christian".