How to Teach Your Parrot to Talk

By
Lori Thomas Dickert
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6
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One of the most popular reasons people choose parrots as pets is their ability to talk and learn to do a variety of tricks.  Other reasons include their beautiful coloring, they take up less space as opposed to cats and dogs, and don’t require the same amount of time in terms of training.  Teaching your bird to talk will bring you years of entertainment, as well as some loud evenings!

Before you can take the appropriate steps to train your parrot to talk, you must first be able to establish how much he’ll be able to learn.  One of the ways of doing this is to form a bond, getting to know your bird and letting them get to know you.  You’ll want to start forming this bond when the bird is very young, as the older it gets, the harder it will be.  One of the most important things to keep in mind when training your parrot to talk is that only happy, healthy, and well adjusted birds will learn to talk at all.  Another thing to keep in mind is not to try to teach too much at once, as even birds can get overwhelmed.

Choose Your Words Carefully
Parrots will respond more quickly to short words like, nite-nite, bye-bye, hello, or even its own name if it’s short enough.  The way to say these words to your parrot will also play a part in how well it learns to speak them.  Always talk in a positive, up-beat tone, with enthusiasm and praise.  There will be words that he responds to better than others, so watch closely and use that word as his “training” word.

Repeat the Training Word Often
The more you say the words to your parrot, the better and faster he’ll learn to say them himself.  Repeat his “training” word to him as often as possible, as parrots learn to talk through mimicking.  Keep in mind to be patient during the process, and always say the word with enthusiasm.

Maintain a Routine
One of the fastest and easiest ways to teach your parrot to talk is to maintain a certain routine, keeping your bird on a schedule of “training time”.  Keep in mind during your training that even though parrots are capable of talking, it is not guaranteed that every single one will learn to mimic your words.  If you find that it is taking a substantially long time to get a word out of him, it may be time to try teaching him to whistle instead.

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6 COMMENTS

  1. Basically, you can’t teach a parrot to talk. How do you teach a kid to talk? You don’t. Parrots. like kids, pick up language (and other sounds) from daily use. You can repeat words till you’re blue in the face but you won’t get our Hyacinth to talk, because Hyacinth’s aren’t big talkers. However, say a word or phrase two or three times that our Congo African grey likes, and she’ll pick it up right away. Additionally, my girlfriend can repeat words and phrases continuously and the grey just ignores them. If I say them two or three times, she’ll pick them right up. It all depends on the parrot’s language skills and inclination.

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