It's not Just Mimicry! Simple Ways to Teach Your Parrot to Talk

Contrary to popular belief, birds are capable of learning real speech. Most people believe that talking birds are simply practicing mimicry—repeating the sounds that they've heard on a regular basis, but not making any connections between those words and actual objects, actions, or people.

This is simply not true, as any parrot owner can tell you. Parrots are intelligent creatures. It requires time and effort, but you can teach your bird to make the connection between a learned word or phrase, and the corresponding object or task. The easiest way to accomplish this is to begin early in your training.

A great way to kick start your speech training is to begin with a word that is easy for your parrot to enunciate. Birds have different vocal abilities than humans, so certain letter sounds are more difficult for them to pick up, like "M" and "S" sounds. Hard sounds, like "P", "D", "T", and "B" are more easily repeated. Start off with something with a lot of hard sounds, to get the bird talking. Once your parrot begins to speak, reward him profusely.

Rewards are an amazing tool. Anything can be used, from praise to food treats to new toys. Try out different techniques, and find something that works for you and your parrot. Each bird has different likes and dislikes, so spend some time finding rewards that your parrot enjoys. Once you've found what works for you, stick with it. Birds learn through repetition and consistency, so it's important that you not vary things too widely.

After your parrot is talking, you can begin to train him to correlate words with objects. You do this in much the same way you would when teaching a child. When feeding your bird, be sure to say the word "food" or "seed" or "eat". When speaking to your bird, use his name. When rewarding, use phrases like "good bird" or "pretty bird". When using food treats as reward, say "fruit" or "nut". Use these words only when handling these items or performing these tasks.

Before you know it, your bird will request what he wants! If you come into the room and he wants attention and time with you, he may shout "good bird". If he's hankering for a particular treat, he could ask for it with "nut" or "fruit". It's a wonderful feeling of pride and accomplishment to hear your parrot speak, and know that he's learned how to ask for his needs because you took the time to teach him. Be proud of yourself, you've earned it!