To talk it not to talk?

[GCC2012]

Hey All, have you guys taught your birds to talk or are you planning to? I love Perseus little natural noises and would love to keep him from learning human words and just being himself. Also the only birds I have met that talk seem to say the same thing over and over for years.
I may be fooling myself as we have decades together coming up but I kinda hope he doesn't try and learn English!
Love to hear your thoughts...

 

[Karigan]

You are probably the first person I've ever encountered that doesn't want a talking parrot! I get it though... GCC's aren't known for talking really, and what he'll probably say will be fairly unintelligible to anyone but you and your family. My Sennie's like that. I can point out both of her phrases, but hardly anyone believes me ;p.

 

[kellie]

You know, when I first got Lukah I thought I would want him to talk too but I don't really anymore. Mostly I think it would be cute if he imitated noises like kisses and stuff, but not words. So far he doesn't know any words but I'm with you! I love his little birdie laugh and ribbits and what not!

 

[GCC2012]

I'm glad to hear they aren't very talky. Percy definitely copies my tone and inflections etc when I speak to him so I wasn't sure if he is trying to talk. I keep mixing up my words any way so I'm not being so repetitive. But give it another decade and well see what he's picked up I guess!
My husband wanted him to talk at first.but now loves his little birdy mumbles etc too so he's on my side now!

 

[kiwiS]

Never planned to as it doesn't matter to me but Kiwi is picking up words like crazy. The other day I was vacuuming and she sat on my shoulder saying "I love you", "baby" and "kiwi bird" over and over in my ear...and it's not like I have those sentences repeated over and over on a tape recorder..she's just picked up on my "calls" I guess!

 

[MikeyTN]

They will pick up words and phrases on their own even if you don't intentionally teach them to talk or not. Like Lola, since she's been here she's picked up soooooo many things from me and I never taught her. She just catch what we say around her and she would say it. She even know what she's saying sometimes as she calls for the dog's names and looks at each one directly. She says her name, calls Willie's name, laughs, and several other words. They enjoy doing what they do sometimes without even being taught, they just want to do it. As we never purposely teach any of them anything, they just catch on and do it. Some things they say and do keeps us very entertained, sometimes we're laughing so hard our tummy hurts....lol

 

[antoinette]

Some birds choose to talk other not.
Birds are very intelligent animals and listen to our daily conversation daily, even though not uttering a word.
When a bird begins repeating things over and over for years the bird has not been stimulated enough, thus repeating all the time.

One of the biggest mistakes a guardian can make it to get a bird THAT WILL TALK.
It takes hours teaching a bird to say practically one word, many many more hours to say a few more.

 

[Kalidasa]

Hey All, have you guys taught your birds to talk or are you planning to? I love Perseus little natural noises and would love to keep him from learning human words and just being himself. Also the only birds I have met that talk seem to say the same thing over and over for years.
I may be fooling myself as we have decades together coming up but I kinda hope he doesn't try and learn English!
Love to hear your thoughts...

Lol I feel kinda the same way, I don't care if they talk, I love their natural sounds. But they do pick up. My budgies make kissing sounds. My GCC spoke a little Russian when I got her. She has picked up my laugh, her name, and the words "Neekster" (nickname), "no", and "hey" . But I don't train them to talk, it's unimportant to me. I don't train them to do parlor tricks either...it's cute when other birds do it, but I've never found it to be important. I train flight recall and basic manners, and that's all.