The gift of tongues goes back to the first Pentecost over 2000 years ago. The Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples in the form of tongues of fire. When the disciples went out to preach the gospel, all those present heard the disciples speak in their own language.
And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them: And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak. Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. And when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded in mind, because that every man heard them speak in his own tongue. And they were all amazed, and wondered, saying: Behold, are not all these, that speak, Galileans? And how have we heard, every man our own tongue wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews also, and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians: we have heard them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all astonished, and wondered, saying one to another: What meaneth this? But others mocking, said: These men are full of new wine. But Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke to them: Ye men of Judea, and all you that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known to you, and with your ears receive my words. these are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day (Acts 2:1-15 DRA)
Today the gift of tongues is used mainly in prayer as an intercession to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit knows exactly what is we need even and perhaps especially when we are not sure ourselves. Therefore many people describe tongues as "The perfect prayer".
Not all Catholics pray in tongues, why is that? This is a case of mortals trying to understand the fine inner-workings of God. Understand that the following explanation is based solely on my personal logic and experiences. The ability to pray in tongues is a gift of the Holy Spirit, I do not know whether everyone is eligible for this gift. I received the gift of tongues when a guest speaker to the local Catholic prayer group I attend instructed me to open my mouth while she prayed over me in tongues. Once again, I do not know whether this would work for everyone. I do know, however, that some people have the ability to interpret tongues, this is also a gift of the Holy Spirit. Whichever of these two gifts you receive (if any) it will be whichever one will best help you achieve God's plan for you. Always remember that when we pray that we know only what we want whereas God knows what we need, needless to say, he grants only the latter.
Some people believe that when Christians speak in tongues they are doing nothing more than uttering gibberish. Well, that's partly true. Sometimes the sounds we make simply signify that we have yielded our mouths to the Holy Spirit. Other times, however tongues can be interpreted as an earthly language. If you are interested in some specific examples of such interpretations, I recommend that you read The Miracle of Tongues by Don Basham.
I would once again like to draw attention to the fact that I am not an expert on the subject of tongues. There is much more to this gift that I do not understand. if you are interested in this topic, I strongly encourage you to conduct further research via additional sources.
Matthew Bohrn Senior Web Disciple