How important is it to pray in the original language?

[crossfire]

no

Then it is not necessary for it to be in the "original" language.

 

[Spirit of Light]

Then it is not necessary for it to be in the "original" language.

Prayer is to ask for Gods help

 

[PruePhillip]

How important is it to pray/ask for Guidance to/of God in the original language of the religion someone follows?

Some people say you HAVE TO Pray in the original language others say, God knows every language so go ahead pray in the language you feel most comfortable with.

Any thoughts?

Jehovah Witnesses say you can only speak to God by calling him 'Jehova.'
As if God acknowledges no other name.
But Jehova is not the name the Hebrew scriptures would even recognize.
And JW's say we can pray to Jesus, but that wasn't His name, either.

You speak to God in words you yourself understand. Anything else is
just man-made rules.

 

[Kenny]

How important is it to pray/ask for Guidance to/of God in the original language of the religion someone follows?

Some people say you HAVE TO Pray in the original language others say, God knows every language so go ahead pray in the language you feel most comfortable with.

Any thoughts?

In as much as God has answered prayers from every tongue... I don't think it matters. Faith is the power activator and not language.

 

[Lain]

How important is it to pray/ask for Guidance to/of God in the original language of the religion someone follows?

Some people say you HAVE TO Pray in the original language others say, God knows every language so go ahead pray in the language you feel most comfortable with.

Any thoughts?

I personally think it's best to pray in the language/languages that are native to you so that you can best understand your own prayer and saw it in the most intimate way. It is not very important at all to use the original language. To use a liturgical language (like Latin at the Latin Mass) can be very cool though.

 

[Psalm23]

I like to pray in the language I am most fluent in most times. I am ok with praying in different languages as well though I may pronounce some words wrong . For instance, there are some Christian songs I like one sung in Russian and other in Hebrew. Sometimes I like to sing along.

 

[SalixIncendium]

How important is it to pray/ask for Guidance to/of God in the original language of the religion someone follows?

Some people say you HAVE TO Pray in the original language others say, God knows every language so go ahead pray in the language you feel most comfortable with.

Any thoughts?

I think it's more important to know what one is praying than it is what language one is praying in.

I start each day with the pavamana mantra in Sanskrit. I made it a point to have a clear understanding of the words before I started chanting this, because if I didn't have a clear understanding of the meaning, I would just be making noise.

 

[Sirona]

How important is it to pray/ask for Guidance to/of God in the original language of the religion someone follows?

Some people say you HAVE TO Pray in the original language others say, God knows every language so go ahead pray in the language you feel most comfortable with.

Any thoughts?

I guess this is probably related to the question whether prayers are "free-form" or standardized. Standardized prayers supposedly sound better in their original language and serve as an identifying factor. Catholics characterize themselves by using Latin and Muslims by the use of Arabic. If you use the original language, you lift yourself out of the sphere of the mundane. Original language may also be related to some "magic" function through the sound of words you don't understand. For example, "hocus pocus" is likely derived from Latin "hoc enim est corpus meum", meaning "this is my body", from Catholic Mass. I think that most people who attend Latin Mass, for example, recite the phrases from the heart without being able to formulate their own prayers in Latin. That's why reformers like Martin Luther argued in favor of the local language rather than Latin to be used during church services.

As for my practice, I understand a few phrases in Sanskrit, I like its sound. I mostly practice recitation of divine names. To my understanding of the Bhagavad Gita, praying to God for one's needs is sort of "selfish". If you have a friend, for example, always asking things from him is not a sign of a good friendship. But that's only my idea, others may see the issue differently.

 

[firedragon]

Forgetting the theology for a moment, I have heard it said that in order to understand the poetic majesty of the Quran, it is necessary to read it in Arabic.

We are fortunate to live in an era where so much of the world’s great literature is translated into many languages, but one suspects that something is always lost in translation. In order to fully understand Tolstoy, is it necessary to read him in Russian? Possibly. But I got enough from reading him in English translation, to be persuaded that he was the almost certainly the greatest prose writer who ever lived.

I have a lot of reverence for the written word, almost as much as the author of John’s Gospel (in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God: and the Word was God). But in the end, words on the page record other people’s journeys, spiritual or otherwise. They can serve to guide us, but we each have to walk our own path, and are free to form our own relationship with a God of our understanding. And that relationship can be conducted in any language, especially so if we learn the language of the heart.

The difference between reading Tolstoy in the English language is just a matter of translation. Though I dont know Russian, and though I believe still there nothing better than reading it in the Original language it was written in, reading novels is completely different to reading the Qur'an. It is only if you study it you will really know the difference. In this matter I dont think you could generalise this matter.

Nevertheless, for prayer (I dont know what he means by prayer in the OP) can be done in any language. Because prayer is not the Qur'an although in a kind of ritualistic prayer Quranic chapters are read out for which all you need is one chapter with seven lines and that's it.

Even the Quran can be read in another translation and it is better than not reading it. What people conflate is that to become a scholar in the Quran you have to learn the language. There is no other way. Not like those who cut and paste from a website and pretend to be scholars both in the language and the literature.

 

[Spirit of Light]

The difference between reading Tolstoy in the English language is just a matter of translation. Though I dont know Russian, and though I believe still there nothing better than reading it in the Original language it was written in, reading novels is completely different to reading the Qur'an. It is only if you study it you will really know the difference. In this matter I dont think you could generalise this matter.

Nevertheless, for prayer (I dont know what he means by prayer in the OP) can be done in any language. Because prayer is not the Qur'an although in a kind of ritualistic prayer Quranic chapters are read out for which all you need is one chapter with seven lines and that's it.

Even the Quran can be read in another translation and it is better than not reading it. What people conflate is that to become a scholar in the Quran you have to learn the language. There is no other way. Not like those who cut and paste from a website and pretend to be scholars both in the language and the literature.

In the mention of Islam an prayer i meant both salah and Dua. Or any other prayer form Muslims do in their practice

 

[firedragon]

In the mention of Islam an prayer i meant both salah and Dua. Or any other prayer form Muslims do in their practice

Dua, even in the most conservative teachings in very old Islamic discourse have been declared that there is no necessity to have any language preferences whatsoever. But the thing is, even in Dua people have developed there own Arabic ritualistic Dua's. So Dua will also have several strands. Some would be you just ask God to give you a blessing of some sort. Then you get Duas that people recite at various junctures which are ritualistic. Mostly they think this should be in Arabic. But there are just man made latter developed things. Most of the groups who have this kind of ritualistic Dua's require them to said in Arabic.

Salah, the only Fardh, only requires Surathussana. Al Hamdu Surah. Just 7 lines. And even that can be said or even skipped till you learn it. Thats according to the 7th or 8th century school of Medina tradition. The oldest existing.

Peace.

 

[Windwalker]

How important is it to pray/ask for Guidance to/of God in the original language of the religion someone follows?

Zero importance.

I like what Paul said in 1 Cor. 14:15

So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding.​

Praying is for your understanding, not God's.

Some people say you HAVE TO Pray in the original language others say, God knows every language so go ahead pray in the language you feel most comfortable with.

Any thoughts?

Some people need devices to believe in God, such as they are speaking in the "holy language". That's an immature understanding of things. There is no magic language. God listens to the intents of the heart, not the correct language and diction.

There is this story I once read about a renowned monk who lived out on an island, and this young student went to great lengths to secure a boat to get out to the island to get a lesson. When he arrived there he heard the great master praying a mantra he he had learned, and heard the master pronouncing the words incorrectly! He was dismayed and immediately corrected the master. The master was grateful for the correction, and sent the student home on his way.

As the student was heading back home rowing his boat, he was shocked to see the master walking on the water out to meet him. "How was I supposed to pronounce those words again," the master asks. And the student told him again, and heard the master saying it correctly this time as he chanted it on his way walking back across the lake to the island where he lived.

 

[Aupmanyav]

To my understanding of the Bhagavad Gita, praying to God for one's needs is sort of "selfish".

If I speak as a theist, one can pray and ask only for universal welfare. Selfish demands are deprecated. Accept whatever Gods send to you.

"gyeyah sa nityasanyāsi yo na dveṣti na kānkṣati;
nirdvando hi mahābāho sukham bandhāt pramucyate." (BhagawadGita 5.3)
Know him as factual sannyasi who neither hates nor desires; free from the pairs of opposites, O mighty-armed Arjuna, he is easily set free from bondage.

"yo na hrṣyati na dveṣti, na ṣocati na kankṣati;
ṣubhaṣubha-parityāgi, bhaktimān yah sa me priyah." (BhagawadGita 12.17)
One who neither grasps pleasure or grief, who neither laments nor desires, and who renounces both auspicious and inauspicious things, is very dear to Me.

 

[InvestigateTruth]

How important is it to pray/ask for Guidance to/of God in the original language of the religion someone follows?

Some people say you HAVE TO Pray in the original language others say, God knows every language so go ahead pray in the language you feel most comfortable with.

Any thoughts?

God listens to the hearts!

 

[Psalm23]

@Conscious thoughts , if you pray in the original language, do you know what the words are translated as? Just asking out of curiosity.

 

[Spirit of Light]

@Conscious thoughts , if you pray in the original language, do you know what the words are translated as? Just asking out of curiosity.

To be honest, I pray in English and not Arabic
I do not use Norwegian even it is my mother tongue

 

[Brinne]

I think in some cases somethings can get very lost in translation; as some words don't have an equivalent cognate, or the translator chose a word which isn't 100% accurate. I think this matter more in a structured prayer rule, but also I don't see why one couldn't substitute a word which doesn't translate well with a word from the original language. Say how in Orthodoxy, Theotokos is used even in a full English prayer.

I assume there's also some psychological aspect to it as well for those that don't use a specific language, or type of language, anywhere else but prayer. Perhaps it might create a link in your brain between the language itself and introspection. Such as your brain creates a link between your bed and being sleepy (or if you work / eat in your bed -- your brain reverses that connection making it harder to sleep)

In that same vein, it might be easier to 'focus' when you're comprehending a language or type of verbiage which is only used in prayer.

Those are just my thoughts though, I tend to pray entirely in English when by myself.

 

[pearl]

One would not wish to make too much of this (and I realise I have the advantage of having learned Latin at school), but the original language can add something, even if it is not for every occasion.

There is the beloved Gregorian Chant in Latin, not so sure I would appreciate it in English.

 

[exchemist]

There is the beloved Gregorian Chant in Latin, not so sure I would appreciate it in English.

Indeed. There is a huge corpus (haha) of church music in Latin, from Gregorian chant through Renaissance polyphony to Baroque, Classical and Romantic compositions. Mass texts (Proper and Ordinary), motets, anthems....

None of these would work in another language.

By the way I was delighted to see that Missa Cum Jubilo appeared last Sunday at our local parish church. That is my favourite of all the Gregorian mass settings. It is often used in connection with Mary...and we are in October.

Here, for those that do not know it, is the Gloria:

(I see this is sung by a Vienna schola cantorum, which explains a couple of oddities of pronunciation: "Kvi" for Qui and a hard "g" in unigenite)

 

[Clara Tea]

How important is it to pray/ask for Guidance to/of God in the original language of the religion someone follows?

Some people say you HAVE TO Pray in the original language others say, God knows every language so go ahead pray in the language you feel most comfortable with.

Any thoughts?

In the end times, it is important to read the bible for yourself, and not follow preachers. Preachers are telling us that if we pray, Jesus will help us win the war (kill more effectively).

Reverend Gene Scott's widow (Melissa Scott), looks up ancient texts in other languages and re-translates them. She found a lot of errors in translation, and subtle changes in meaning. These are important to understand God's laws (the bible).

This is why I advocate Christians and Muslims attending Jewish temples. They can find deeper meaning in the roots of their own religions.