How to make a parrot talk: Even if it can only say one word, a talking bird is hilarious! Alex, an African parrot, could pronounce a hundred words and sometimes understand their meaning. He even invented a word to name almonds: cork nuts ). However, you should never buy a bird for the purpose of getting it to talk. Birds are living beings that require a lot of love and attention. They can live for decades and in some cases longer than their master!
Preparing to train a bird
Get to know your bird. Not all birds can speak. The first thing to do is to learn a little more about your companion. There is no point in trying to teach your bird to speak when it can only whistle. Among the species that can pronounce words, you can find the following :
Build a strong relationship. Talking birds are usually very sociable. You need to build a relationship based on trust by regularly speaking to them in a calm voice so that they trust you and are used to the sound of your voice. During the first few months, spend as much time as you can with your companion and always talk to him gently.
- Play with your friend very often, and every day. In nature, these birds have a lot of interactions on a daily basis and they are thus stimulated. Very social, this type of bird likes to live in groups. To create a strong and good relationship between you, you need to spend a lot of time with your friend.
Pippa Elliott, the veterinarian, explains the benefits of training. “Talk to your bird regularly to allow it to learn. If, however, he decides not to speak, he will enjoy your company and will be happy with the attention you give him. »
Organize. Teaching to talk to a bird is like training a dog or any other animal. You should do this as often as possible, but the sessions should be very short. In order for your efforts to be well rewarded, organize yourself in order to offer the animal all the attention it needs.
- Plan your workouts.
- To start, 2 to 5 times a day, dedicate 5 minutes to lessons each day.
- You need to devote your attention to your comrade several times a day.
How to make a parrot talk
Training a bird
Proceed in stages. Repeat often a common word or phrase that your bird will probably hear often (from your mouth or spoken by other people). At first, use very simple words. For example, you can start with one of the following words.
- Hello!
- Hello!
- All right?
- Your friend’s name (if not complicated).
Involve another person. Some experiments with talking birds, including the famous African gray parrot Alex, have shown that the bird is more attentive when 2 people interact with it. This method is called model-rival. When a second interlocutor pronounces the word you want to teach your friend, the latter will better try to repeat and articulate it.
- Talking birds have been found to have escaped seeking to teach wild birds to pronounce words. This demonstrates how adorable and intelligent these beings want to evolve and communicate.
Communicate in a good mood. Birds, just like children, prefer to learn in joy and cheerfulness. By rewarding your buddy with certain treats and communicating with him in a playful way, the bird will be more interested and motivated to learn.
- You should offer the treat to your companion immediately after he has tried to reproduce the word you are asking him to pronounce. This will encourage him to continue.
- If your bird doesn’t speak, avoid rewarding it so that it tries to repeat what you say.
- Feel free to experiment. Your companion may pay more attention to some stimuli than others. If he learns quickly what you teach him, try other words.
- If you find that your bird is interested and learning quickly, continue to stimulate it and keep its attention by submitting new sounds and words. It has been scientifically found that birds learn to sing in the same way that children begin to speak. They stammer and experiment with their vocal possibilities.
Talking Parrot
SOURCE:VOA News
Advice
- Be careful, because your friend may hear words you don’t want them to say. If he says something you don’t like, ignore it altogether.
- Some species of birds cannot pronounce words and sometimes, even if they can, they never will. If this happens to you, don’t get angry.
- Even if you’re not training him, give your friend a reward when he utters a word or tries to do so.
- Some specialists claim that it is better to teach birds to speak before they even teach them how to whistle because whistling can interfere with the process.
- African gray parrots have a reputation for being excellent talking birds.
