The influence of Aramaic is seen as early as the time of Ezra and Nechemiah- there are several features of these sifrei tanach which show an Aramic influence (eg. the hellter Hei is used instead of Aleph to mark a word-final long a vowel, etc.). Of course, later came the Targumim, which were essentially Aramaic translations of the Torah, and of course, then in the time after the Churban Beis HaMikdash Sheini, in the era of Amoraim, Middle Babylonain Aramaic was used as the loshon hagemara and the language used by the geonim, in addition to Arabic, as noted above. This use of Aramaic arose in response to people no longer knowing loshon hakodesh, which is why I find it rather funny when people criticize translations. The Targumim were a translation of the sidrah being read; the Aramaic was the language used Jewish worship, scholarship, and everyday life for centuries in both the land of Israel and in the diaspora, especially in Babylon. Ironically, the Gemara itself is written in a language other than Hebrew, which people don’t seem to grasp when they go on rants against Artscroll, Steinsaltz, etc.
People are most comfortable learning and understanding things in language they are familiar with. People didn’t speak Hebrew regularly until Eliezer Ben Yehuda, and even this was Ivrit, not L”K. Torah was learned in Yiddish, German, and whatever languages Jews spoke. I wish that there were tape recorders back then- we would have heard shiurim in batei midrash in a polyglot of different languages and dialects. Even today, most Litvishe roshei yeshiva give shiur in either Yiddish or in English, with yeshivishe shprach thrown in, and in Eretz Yisroel, Loshon Hakodesh is used, as well, although this is not the way things always were, for obvious reasons.
I believe that we live in a time in which one of the only hopes for Jewish survival is education, from childhood to adulthood. Since a lot of people come back to torah as adults, the problem is that for these people, learning an entirely new linguistic system is almost impossible (we know from research that the criticial period for language acquisition ends in early adolescence). This leaves us with a predicament, and it would be cruel of us to say that those who struggle with language ought to sink or swim in the realm of torah. I believe that quality translations not only of pleasurable seforim to learn ought to be made available (i.e. Midrash, Drush, etc.), but also of rishonim and acharonim and poskim. Sure, you will not produce gedolim this way, but at least we will help people make a kinyan b’torah and understand the issues that come up through the seforim, how the rishonim understood issues in shas, etc. What should be produced, I’d say, are otzar/kovetz/likut-type publications tailored to the daf hayomi, in which the main ideas of Rashi/Tosafos/Rosh/Rashba/Ritva/Ran, Meiri, Talmidei Rabbeinu Yonah, Rif, Rambam, Raavad, Pnei Yehoshua, Rebbi Akiva Eiger, Reb Boruch Ber, Reb Chaim, Griz, Tzlach, Marcheses, Kehillos Yaakov, etc. should be made available in a format understandable to people with some familiarity with learning, in English (which is essentially what a rebbe does in a shiur anyway). Artscroll says they are not interested at this point, because they feel such an idea wouldn’t be lucrative. I think that the proper individuals, benefactors, etc. should get invovled and see what can be done. For starters, to make thigns easier, they can just translate what meofrshim there are in the Kovetz Mefarshim (which I know is considered a required sefer in a lot of Chabad yeshivos).