How To Teach Parrots To Talk? 14 Easiest Tips

Species like parrots have an anatomy essential to mimic the human voice. You might have bought a parrot since they have different vocalization abilities, and you love to have the fun of verbal interaction with the feathered mate. But do you know how to teach parrots to talk?

As a parrot parent, you should be patient, make a strong bond with your pet, start with easy words, repeat them often, love them unconditionally to gain trust and offer them food, perches, or treats weekly to make them mimic your words. Spend a significant amount of time, like months or years, training to have a talkative parrot friend.

Whether it’s Macaws or African Grey parrots, teaching your bird to talk can be challenging, but following our tips will guide you to make them talk. However, ensure you feed yourself by noting all the tips we included in this article.

RELATED: What Do You Feed Parrots

Can A Parrot Talk?

People often get confused if parrots really can talk or not. But the truth is it depends since your parrot buddy might be a camera-shy animal or don’t like to talk.

However, a few bird species, particularly parrots, songbirds, and mynah birds, commonly mimic human speech and learn to talk with proper training. So, yes, parrots can talk with humans by following their words and other sounds, and they can be taught how to understand and respond to any particular words or phrases.

How Do Parrots Talk: 5 Common Facts About Birds

The ability to mimic human speech and words can be done by parrots, parakeets, cockatoos, blue jays, European starlings, and commonly mynas. But how does their voice come?

• The physical structure, nerve systems, and possible learning and memory capacity help them learn any speech to imitate.
• The sound they make won’t be the same as humans since they lack vocal cords, lips, tongues, and other speaking organs, but they can communicate better if trained ideally.
• Parrots make sounds by blowing across the bifurcated trachea’s mouth.
• You’ll notice medial tympani-form membranes that regulate airflow through the throat for having developed syrinx in green parrots.
• Regular contact, repetitive words, and supportive behavior help the bird learn new words or phrases to speak out.

Why Do Parrots Talk?

Since parrots are sociable and friendly-natured bird species, they enjoy interacting with their owners by following their words. They have built up a form of “Talking” similar to how other animals, like cats, say meow or dogs bark to communicate with us.

Parrots are regarded as mimicry masters because they love mimicking their owner or hearing other sounds. They try to repeat the surrounding noise and don’t try to understand the language. However, you can search “why do parrots talk on Reddit” for more information about parrots’ talking habits.

At What Age Do Parrots Start Talking?

We often search to know how to train green parrots to talk. But can you tell us when they learn to talk?

Parrots usually start to talk any language or imitate any words within three months to twelve months or one year at best. But it’s not guaranteed that they will talk since the training or learning ability will say when the parrot will communicate. However, the time will vary based on some facts, such as:

• Parrot species
• The personality of the birds
• Training Level
• The bird’s gender
• Ability to understand the language or words.

How Long Does It Take To Teach A Parrot To Talk?

Trying to teach the bird to talk is like surfing in the sea, which is problematic. Typically birds like parrots learn to talk early, just after they fledge. However, you can count several weeks to teach your feather friend to talk. 

Whenever you hear a mumbling sound, prioritize teaching them simple words like “Hello.” Your bird will love to mimic your words if they get proper training and practice sessions.

Generally, the species, age, and bonding with the owner will say how fast your bird buddy will learn to speak. Most significantly, your time and effort will determine how long it takes to teach the feathered friend.

Which Parrot Is Best For Talking: 12 Talker Parrot Species

A few species of parrots can talk and imitate sounds. Among all, the best talkative parrots are

Talker Parrot	Scientific Name
African Greys	Psittacus erithacus
Macaw	Ara macao
Quakers	Myiopsitta monachus
Eclectus	Eclectus roratus
Cockatoo	Cacatuidae
Tame Cockatiels	Nymphicus hollandicus
Budgerigars	Melopsittacus undulatus
Jardines	Poicephalus gulielmi
Amazon	Amazona
Alexandrines	Psittacula eupatria
Indian Ringneck Parakeet	Psittacula krameri
Derbyan Parakeet.	Psittacula derbiana

How To Teach Parrots To Talk – 14 Followable Tips

Suppose you’ve noticed your parrot buddy does speak, especially when the bird feels lonely. Since the bird was an adopted pet, he rarely spoke when other people were around. Or you’ve African Grey or Quaker parrot, and you want them to understand your language.

Usually, the flock creatures engage in vocalization and group activities. As a result, they try to adjust to being in a human group by communicating or mimicking them. Although they don’t even understand the language, copying is their hobby!

However, if you want to teach your parrot some new words or phrases, you’ll need to be persistent, gentle, and cordial in front of your parrot. Here are some tips to help you deal with your bird’s talk.

Understand The Species First

In nature, imitation is frequently observed, particularly among parrot species. And in the wild, parrots mimic other birds’ sounds sometimes. On the other hand, pet parrots naturally mimic their owner’s voices when they get taught to talk.

As parrots are gregarious birds of nature, they often talk, and some of them prefer silence. As a result, you should know about the specific type of parrot. Commonly the best talkers are:

• African Grey
• Amazon parrots
• Cockatoos 
• Cockatiels 
• Small parrots, such as budgerigars, Quaker, and lovebirds ( If properly taught language or words).

This bird creature has advanced brainpower to catch a lot of terms, words, phrases, or sentences if trained with proper attention. In addition, macaws, Senegal parrots, caiques, or pionus birds can be good pets who are less talker but can be taught words to imitate you.

SEE MORE: How Many Words Can A Macaw Learn

Knowing The Bird Personally

Suppose you have noticed yellow-shouldered Amazon in a pet store where birds talk when they get food and water. Even you may have seen a parrot that enjoys saying words such as hello, and pretty birdy, and they are frequently sneezing, coughing, laughing, kissing, burping, and other noises similar to human beings. 

But how do you make your bird talk about such extraordinary things? Making a good bonding with your parrot bird is an essential part of teaching vocabulary. 

Then, if your bird shows signs indicating they want to talk, immediately do a little research or watch YouTube videos by searching how to teach the parrot to talk on YouTube. Besides that, You should get to know your bird, its nature and characteristics to understand whether it can talk or, if it can, what’s vocabulary learning capacity.

Start With Easy Words

If you’re starting to teach words, choose a short, simple, and straightforward term or phrase that will be easy to enunciate. But don’t get upset if the birds only whistle back rather than talk since they are not talking birds.

However, starting with simple words can be easier to catch in their brain. You can teach them food names, greetings, birds’ names, or other easy words to imitate. For example:

• “hello,” 
• “bye-bye” 
• “good-bye”
• “night, night”
• “bird”
• “come in”
• “ouch.”

When becoming a master bird of learning easy words, you can teach multiple phrases, words, or even sentences. And don’t forget to be always happy with a positive tone and give proper attention to catch their mind.

Clear Speaking

When a word is pronounced clearly, parrots can catch it more easily. They will listen to you talk and observe you because they are interested in sounds usually.

Therefore, the teacher must adequately express while maintaining consistency in tone without stumbling over words. So, using the same tone and clear pronunciation is crucial!

Repeat The Word Or Phrase

Your parrot friend constantly searches for terms that capture their interest. Repetition of words constantly enters their minds, and they start to imitate them eventually, and it’s an essential fact of learning how to teach birds to talk. 

You may also repeatedly sing or say verses or lines to get their attention. Parrots prefer high frequencies due to a more comprehensive pitch range than humans. So, clear repetitive loud sounds will help them to catch your training to become talkative pets in the house.

Rewarding Treats And Teaching Words

Giving treats to the parrot will help teach them how to talk words. Every time you give your bird a reward when they try to copy your speech or words. Encourage the bird with treats and passion, motivate them to try your words even if they can’t talk, and influence them to try again.

As you teach the bird, repeat the command frequently and reward it with small treats for the imitation. However, you can offer them small foods such as grape, sunflower seed, almond slivers, or items they prefer to consume with excitement. But give them time and space to attempt to say the words. 

Have Patience 

Speaking birds take some time when it comes to IMITATING phrases and words. Although some birds can quickly catch human speech, others may not speak for months or years. 

Therefore, your love, patience, and training time will eventually train them to copy your speech. You can also teach them to whistle first if they don’t speak within the expected time. 

Don’t discourage your parrot from remaining quiet. And please schedule daily training time. So, your attention to the bird’s vocalizations throughout the day is vital.

DVDs Can Help To Teach

Plenty of DVDs are available to educate and train pet animals like parrots. Such DVDs can offer some sound guidance for reinforcement, and you’ll also have speech instructions. However, if you choose to have to talk parrots, Congo Greys or yellow-naped, double yellow-headed, or blue-front amazons will be the best choices to learn talking among Amazon species.

Watch YouTube Videos To Teach

Many experienced breeders and pet owners have posted videos on how parrots should learn to communicate on YouTube. They also offered tips on how to teach birds to be friendly and social. Besides that, watching birds talking in the video on YouTube will help the bird to imitate the tv.

We are taking an example from a forum site where a yellow shoulder Amazon enjoys watching and listening to BFA on YouTube, particularly Indian Ring Necks. From watching videos, they have already started to say phrases such as

• “What Cha Doing”
• “Pretty, Pretty”
• “Pretty Bird” 
• “Peek a Boo”

As a result, you can follow by showing videos to your parrot to learn to talk.

Motivate For Long Phrases

Increase or develop phrases or words after discovering that your parrot friend has already learned simple words. They can string phrases together. For example, if you have taught saying “hello,” you can also include your name to say in a way like “hello, Sarah.” And they will eventually be able to say both words together.

Take A Break During The Training Session

It’s crucial to take breaks while instructing the bird. Since the birds have the mastery of mimicry, your bird will repeat the words or sound they notice. Also, as parrots cannot learn numerous words and repetitions in a single training session, the break is vital during the training time.

Avoid instructing birds to repeat five or ten words in a row because their memory cannot hold it. Give your bird time to learn the words.

The pet owner should identify the bird that is not interested to learn. The way we have bad days, parrots may have the same. Therefore, if your bird seems uninterested, take a break and attempt to teach them another day. But finding the bird cheerful and lively can be the opportunity to teach them to talk.

Never Pressure Your Parrot

Birds usually can learn or utter words when in training with you. And you shouldn’t expect the bird’s pronunciation like human beings.

Every bird has a unique language and way of communicating. Therefore, even if your bird makes a mistake, you should still appreciate its efforts to communicate when they try to speak and be friendly with you. And occasionally rewarding them with food, toys, perches, or treats can make them friendlier to talk.

Accept Their Word Limits

Everything is based on the training and species of birds to understand whether they talk or not. We have even met quiet African Greys and verbose Moluccan cockatoos. Also, your bird may pick up on the sounds of creaking entrance when you visit the house.

Giving Unconditional Love

Social interaction is much more critical to teach talking than simply letting the media broadcast repetitive phrases. Instead, it would help if you give your parrot a lot of affection and care. And the feathered bird parents should always be cheerful and appreciative when they try positive efforts such as whistling, mimicking, or behaving amiably. 

FAQ

Teaching parrots to talk is a sweating job since it requires a lot of patience. The tips we included will help you talk with the beautiful parrot species. Besides all the tips, we have included some frequently asked questions for the pet owner’s convenience.

Final Words

Let’s summarize the entire training time of how to teach parrots to talk. So, we have included some tips where making bonds, using easy words, showing videos, and rewarding and encouraging them to talk with patience will teach them to talk. Plus, give priority to simple and easy words to teach them since they cannot keep many words in their mind quickly. 

Besides that, understand their nature and ensure you have a parrot species that can mimic or talk almost like humans. With proper training, your bird will follow your words within six to twelve months.