How to Make Parrots Talk

Parrots "talk" for the same reason humans do: to communicate. In the wild, a baby parrot learns to speak by copying the sounds its parents make. A pet parrot views the humans it lives with as its social circle, and its natural instinct is to mimic their sounds in order to communicate with them. Certain species of parrot are more likely to talk than others, such as the African gray parrot, Amazon parrot and quaker parrot. Learn the best ways of talking to encourage them to answer you back. Both you and your parrot will get a lot from the experience.

Instructions

    • 1

      Create a stimulating environment for your parrot, with plenty of interesting toys and colorful objects. Place its swing, perch or cage close to the television or in the busiest room of your house, so that they hear as many different words and conversations as possible.

    • 2

      Talk to your parrot all the time. Use the same tone and manner as you would when talking to a baby; repeat the same words over and over, but always in a whole sentence so that your parrot will learn how the word is used. Enunciate your words clearly. Hold your parrot close to your mouth so that it can see how you are forming the words.

    • 3

      Copy any sounds your parrot already makes, and lavish praise on it when it repeats the sound. The more you reward your parrot for mimicking you, the more likely it is to carry on doing so.

    • 4

      Listen for your parrot mumbling or babbling; this may be a sign that it is trying to speak. Reply to it to encourage it to carry on talking.

    • 5

      Sing or whistle when you perform your parrot's every day routines like washing and feeding. This will encourage it to respond with sounds of its own.

    • 6

      Play word association games to help your parrot identify objects, such as saying "food" while you are feeding them, then repeating the word "food" within a sentence.

    • 7

      Use exciting, attention-grabbing words around your parrot, such as "Wowzer" and "Oh boy."

    • 8

      Conceal yourself in an adjoining room and talk; try to get the parrot to draw you out of your hiding place by talking.