Every year on Tisha B’Av I ponder, for whom were kinos written? How many people actually understand what they are saying were it not for the amazing translations available?
Actually, I was pondering the same thing. My suspicion is that the kinnos/selichos were written in a similar style as li’havdil Shakespeare, with much flowery prose and avant-garde vocabulary. The upside of this writing style is simple; it can convey an idea far better. But for those who are not quite so proficient in the language these texts were written in, this strategy can backfire and make it very difficult to understand the message.