Why did the apostles need to speak other languages at Pentecost?
The crowd at Pentecost included Jews from many lands—Babylon, Spain, and elsewhere—who spoke different languages after generations of displacement. God gave the apostles a supernatural gift to speak those known languages, so every hearer could understand the message in his own language rather than an unknown noise.
Les explains that Gentiles had nothing to do with Pentecost; it was Jewish. Because Jews from all over the then-known world had been displaced from Israel for generations, many came from Babylon and Spain and spoke various languages. The miracle was that God enabled the apostles—at least the Twelve and perhaps the whole hundred and twenty—to speak all the languages of the massive crowd. When the people heard, they were confounded because each heard them speak not an unknown guttural noise but a language they could understand. This was the first time in Scripture the Holy Spirit manifested this gift of speaking known languages not intrinsic to the speakers' own education. Peter and most disciples were uneducated Galilean fishermen, yet suddenly spoke the languages evident at Pentecost.
And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
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Why were the Jews at Pentecost speaking the languages of other nations?
The Jews at Pentecost had been living in various Gentile nations and had picked up the languages of those nations, so they came to Jerusalem speaking those other languages.
Who was in the crowd at Pentecost and why did they speak different languages?
The Jews present at Pentecost came from many parts of the world, including Babylon and Spain, had been displaced from Israel for generations, and spoke different languages.