How to train your parrots to talk beginners guide If you’re thinking about adding a parrot to your family, you might be wondering if it’s possible to train it to talk. In many cases, the answer is yes! Although some are much better at it than others, most parrots can learn to imitate some words (or at least simple tunes). It’s just a matter of knowing how to teach a parrot to talk.
Teaching a Parrot to Talk
How to train your parrots to talk beginners guide Teaching a Parrot to Talk In spite of their popular image as masters of wit, repartee and pieces-of-eight, not all parrots learn to talk. They are always vocal, but you need to put in time and effort to transform some of that chatter into recognisable human ‘speech’. Catching them young is the trick, but even then they need to be bombarded with human sounds on a daily basis. Even that isn’t a guarantee – a noisy household will sometimes inspire a parrot to make his own version of busy background noise, which isn’t always pleasing on the ear! If your household noise is less about screaming kids and more about single voices talking calmly, you’re in with a very good chance of a talking bird.
First Lessons for Talking Parrots
How to train your parrots to talk beginners guide In the early stages of teaching you’ll be repeating chosen phrases such as Nero is a good boy. Words spoken with feeling and dramatic expression make the biggest impression. Imagine you’re speaking encouragingly to a baby – that’s the sort of tone that gets results. Repeating the phrases ‘parrot fashion’ will deliver results eventually. Once the bird gets the hang of human words he’ll be listening to everything you say. This is where some owners get into trouble, as their favourite curses and expletives can be adopted by the parrot, who will then employ them with an uncanny skill for perfect timing.
Parrots make a wide variety of sounds to accompany their busy lives. These are largely social – greetings, disagreements, calls for attention, shouts of anger, etc – and when teaching a bird to talk, it helps if the sound is accompanied by interaction.
Tips for Teaching Parrots to Talk
How to train your parrots to talk beginners guide You should be able to loosen the bird’s tongue if you try some of the following:
- A good starting point is to talk as you put food or water into a cage. Start with a ‘Hello’-type greeting as you approach the cage or enclosure. Always say goodbye (or similar) when you walk away from the bird or leave the room.
- Repeat these stock phrases whenever you’re near the parrot. Parrots are very interest in sounds, and will listen and watch you as you speak.
- Try to catch the parrot when he’s at his most receptive – first thing in the morning or just before feeding time, for example – rather than when he’s distracted (i.e. tired, angry, busy with other birds or in any way fluster.
- Choose some simple words or phrases, and repeat them for at least two minutes, and no longer than five. Do this as many times as possible during the day.
- Try to fit in several short teaching sessions over the course of each day.
- If you say things like “I love food!” as you fill the trays, your parrot will link the sound to the action. If you’re lucky, he will start to say “I love food!” when you begin the bowl-replenishing process. Make the chosen sounds every time you carry out a certain action. It will take time – months – but, at the very least, it will build your bond with the parrot.
Tips for Reluctant Talkers
There are alternatives to the ‘association’ type of learning. Choose a quiet moment with your bird – settling him on a standalone perch is ideal – and repeat your chosen phrase. Reward the parrot when he makes a noise in response.
Parrots seem to pay intention to higher-pitched words and phrases. Female voices are therefore ideal vehicles for teaching speech to a bird.
If your parrot still struggles to make sense of the noise, pick a single syllable word (such as “hi”), or the first syllable of a longer word. For example, if your parrot is called Nero, start with “Neer and only add the when he’s mastered the first bit.
If the parrot is hand-train hold him to your face as you speak, and let him see and hear the words close up
Talking Parrots – What You Need to Know to Get Started
Talking Parrots – Everything You Need to Know to Get Start
Many people are first attract to parrots because of their ability to ‘talk’. And you can understand why. Often, talking parrots are hilarious and a large section of YouTube is given over to entertaining videos of parrots cracking jokes and generally saying funny things.
But how is it a species of bird can do this, and can they really understand language? And which species of parrot make the best talkers?
Birds Love to Vocalise
Anyone who knows anything about birds will know that most of them love to vocalise. If you’ve ever experienced the dawn chorus, you’ll have heard countless garden birds chirping, chattering, squealing, squawking and calling as they eagerly greet a new day.
Birds vocalise like this for a number of reasons – to mark their territory, attract mates, defend against intruders, warn off predators, communicate with their young, and for a host of other reasons. This is the same the world over for almost every species of bird, wild parrots included.
But why is it some birds talk, and others don’t?
Most birds that have the ability to talk live in flocks, and that is no coincidence. Social birds have to be able to tell which birds belong to their flock and which ones do not, as those that do not might be trying to steal resources such as food or mates.
To do this, many of the more intelligent species, and parrots are very intelligent, have evolved to copy each other’s ‘catchphrases’ – short vocalisations that other birds in the flock make. This enables them to identify themselves as members of that flock and not be driven away as a rival.
Over millions of years, this has given parrots an amazing ability to mimic each other and other sounds they hear. When it comes to kept parrots, which are only a few generations removed from parrots in the wild, the sounds they most often hear are people speaking. Hence, they copy this as they would other parrots in their flock.
Which Parrots are the Best Talkers?
Far and away the best talking parrot is the African grey. African Greys have a unique ability to mimic the sound of the human voice to such an extent, it is easy to believe they do understand our language!
Training your Parrot to Talk
Training your parrot to talk isn’t necessarily a difficult task, but it should be done sensitively so as not to stress the bird and to get the best results.
The first and most important thing to do is to put time into bonding with your pet, to ensure a level of trust builds up between the two of you. Many birds bond with just one person, so ensuring that is you is the first step to success.
Another thing to consider is that as intelligent birds, parrots naturally have different personalities. Some might be outgoing and quick to speak. Other birds will be shyer. Just because your bird is shy and slower to speak doesn’t mean they won’t do with time and patience. So even if your parrot doesn’t seem like a natural talker to begin with, persist sensitively with the approach below, and the chances are that once they’ve gain confidence, they will soon start talk.
How do parrots talk?
Parrots talk by modifying the air that flows over the syrinx to make sounds. The syrinx is located where the trachea splits into the lungs.
Parrots, particularly African Greys and members of the Amazon family are particularly good at imitating human words and sounds.
When I consider that a parrot has no lips or teeth the fact that both my Greys can imitate the timbre of my husbands voice never fails to amaze me.
Thinking of buying a parrot? Check this out…How much does it cost to own a parrot?
Why do parrots talk?
Parrot family) and Passerines (the song bird families) use their voices to warn, to court, to communicate with their nestlings and to fight to defend a territory.
The majority of domesticated parrots are only a few generations removed from their wild cousins.
The sounds they make have a huge variation. Some are so pleasant to our ears that Mozart transcribed his pet starling’s voice into music.
Some like the shrieks of the Macaw or the Cockatoo family or some Conures can be extremely unpleasant. In fact I’ve known Cockatoo owners wear ear muffs!
Wild parrots use sound, whistles, chirps and squawks to communicate. How can the descendants of these same birds modify the sounds into recognizable human sounds? Ongoing research into birds’ vocal abilities and also their sense of rhythm is discovering more and more on this fascinating topic.
What is the best talking parrot?
- African Greys
- Timneh Greys
- Yellow Naped Amazons
African Greys are particularly good for talking.
Find out how much it costs to buy an African Grey parrot.
African Greys and Amazons utilise the largest vocabulary of human words and Amazons are the best singers of our music. Although African Greys are fluent speakers, not many of them will speak on cue.
Magnificent macaws and beautiful cockatoos are not the best at talking. At most they’ll say a few words. But they are outstandingly clever.
Unless you have got a lot of spare time and a great deal of space, they’re not the most suitable pet parrots for the home environment.
My article Caring for a parrot – an owners guide offers guidance on what you need to know.
Best small to medium sized talking parrot
- The African Grey is the best medium sized parrot for talking.
- Some of the small parrots talk well. One champion budgie Puck (died 1974) was said to have had a vocabulary of 1700 words. But the budgerigar’s voice is high and piping and not easy to understand.
- Tame Cockatiels will also talk. But again they will have a limited vocabulary.
- Alexandrines
- Quakers
- Eclectus and
- Jardines will all pick up some phrases.
Not sure what kind of parrot to buy? Check out 5 Things you need to know about purchasing a bird
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How to train a parrot to speak
Parrots, like humans, are vocal learners, meaning they grasp sounds by hearing and then imitating them.
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- Therefore you should teach your parrot like you would teach a baby.
- Repeat sounds, and praise them when they get something right. Your parrot will recognise when she’s pleased you, and want to repeat it.
- Steve Hartman, parrot expert, says “You should talk to your parrot regularly. Constant consistent verbal communication will help your bird develop into an intelligent, independent, self confident individual.
