"to another the interpretation of tongues" (1 Cor 12:10) We serve a living God - all-knowing, all-powerful, all-present. The One who sees the end from the beginning. The One who holds the meaning to all mysteries; and who reveals those secrets to His beloved. "It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him" (Dan 2:22). It is in line with this attribute of God that we have the gift of interpretation of tongues. The ability to interpret the unknown tongue being spoken by oneself or someone else. I must admit I have never operated in this gift before, but I have seen it in operation a few times. It might interest you to know that as important as this gift is, it is the least operational gift in the church. It is as if nobody is interested in seeking it. We are all so interested in healing, miracles, prophecy, etc that we don't see the power of this gift. Imagine for once that the Holy Spirit gives you the ability to understand tongues. Imagine for once that whenever you hear somewhere speak in tongue, the Holy Spirit will tell you the meaning of that tongue. Imagine how empowering and edifying that will be! .
Interpretation of tongues is the supernatural Holy-Ghost-bestowed ability to tell forth the meaning of an utterance in an unknown tongue. Again just like speaking in tongue, interpretation of tongues is not a function of the mind of the interpreter, but the mind of the Spirit of God.
Do you know that of all the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit we have discussed throughout - all of them were in operation in the Old Testament except two which are speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues. In other words, these two gifts are what marks the difference between the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testatment and His manifestation in the new testament.
It must be noted that the person possessing the gift of interpretation of tongues does not pay attention to whatever terms that is being spoken in the unknown tongue he is to interpret; he or she just looks to God dependently for the revelation of the meaning of the tongues. The gift is not learnt or practised. It is not like saying robo means bring; or shakata means come back. It is nothing of that sort. It is not the terms that are interpreted, but the meaning is given forth. it is not translation of tongues, but transposition!
When this gift operates, people are carried along in worship. I have seen preachers speak in tongue while preaching; or people burst into tongues while leading in songs or prayer. Imagine for once that someone could interprete those tonugues, wouldn't we have a more fulfilled service. Unfortunately, there is no vivid example of the operation of this gift in the Bible; but this is not to say that it was never in operation. Because the admonitions of paul in 1 Cor 14:27 shows that it was in operation in the Corinthian church.
May God help us in Jesus name.