en_tn_condensed/1co/14/19.md

than ten thousand words in a tongue

Paul was not counting words, but used exaggeration to emphasize that a few understandable words are far more valuable than even a great number of words in a language that people cannot understand. Also, here "tongue" represents a language. Alternate translation: "10,000 words in a different language" or "a great many words in a different language" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/translate-numbers and rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-hyperbole and rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy)