Budgie Bird Talking | HOW TO TALK?

Think about a talking bird and the first name that pops in our mind would be none other than a parrot. Mimicking voices is an exceptional quality of almost all parrot species and our little budgie is also not immune. He catches words and sounds around him extremely well. It is something which he is adept at inherently. But if a budgie doesn’t know the art, it doesn’t mean he wouldn’t ever. All one needs is simply to help his little budgie polish the talking skills. Pour in your time and effort in your little bird and who knows your budgie might become a pro like Disco or Puck.

Preparing the ground

To teach your budgie to take his first steps in the world of speech, you must start with the basics. Just like when we want to educate our kids, we enroll them in a school or make them familiar with teachers and books at home; to teach your budgie how to talk would require you to make your budgie introduced to its prerequisites.

Exposing him to human voices

An amateur can become a professional only if he gets access to the learning place of his discipline. Similarly, if you want your budgie to talk, give him that learning environment. Instead of placing his cage in an isolated space, keep it in the most lively part of the house. It will serve as a learning place for him. Owing to his inherent social nature, your budgie would work hard to hone his language skills to be a part of the flock.
Turning some music on would also do wonders since Budgies are known to be the music lovers of the bird fraternity and are enchanted by the classical and jazz. Not only this, but they also love singing them back once they get a hold of it.

Bonding with your pet bird

A strong bond is imperative between a teacher and his student if a positive result is an ultimate aim. If you want your little birdie to be a good student, strike a bond with him first. Nurture that bond and see him clearing all his lessons with flying colors. If your bond is in that phase where your budgie is not comfortable with your presence, do the base work of making him comfortable with you being around. Just keep his cage while you do your work like reading newspapers, watching television, and more. Then move onto the next step of playing with him and teaching him techniques like step-up. Once he trusts you completely, he can be taught speech. Try reading him a bedtime story to start with. This isn’t as crazy as it sounds. If you keep your intonations consistent, he’ll surely start picking the punch words up.

Budgie Teaching words

Till now, we were only teaching our little budgie everything in a subtle manner. Once, the ground has been prepared well and he has become familiar with human voices and words, let’s get it all started proactively.

Start with salutations

Salutations are always the first thing to start our conversation and happen to be the last one too. And it is never a bad idea to teach them to little budgie as they are short and simple to understand. Start greeting your budgie with a ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’ each time you enter the room and leave the room with a ‘Bye’ or ‘Goodnight’. Don’t forget to stick to a single salutation until he responds with that word. That would mean moving onto another word. Always try to name things while talking to your budgie like when feeding him fruits, take the name of the fruit each time, say ‘apple’ each time until he gets it, and says it back. This way he’ll learn using those words with a context only.

Teaching short phrases

Once he has successfully learned to pronounce single words, it is the perfect time to move onto the next step of teaching him short sentences or what we call them, ‘phrases’. For instance, saying ‘Good bird’ when he steps up or does any task successfully, telling him, “You look great” when you see him after coming back home. Such phrases would be apt to start with.

Working on jingles

When teaching your little budgie the basics of speech, having a rhythm is always better than having none. Try making your phrases in the form of jingles with a similar rhythm each time for a particular phrase. Sooner than later, your little birdie will start copying you. Simply pay attention whenever he makes an attempt as his spoken words can be unclear in the beginning. It would mean that you are going in the right direction.

Interacting back with your budgie

Now when you have heard your little birdie mumbling something softly, you need to polish it to make him perfect. Encourage him so that he can say those words clearer each time. Repeat his words back to let him know you heard him. This will instill the courage in him and learn them accurately for the next time. Another important thing to note here would be his body language. Say, you made him say ‘I’m hungry’ when he wants an apple, he might not be able to say it clearly but might look towards the kitchen. Then ask him consciously ‘Are you hungry?’ and get him an apple. This would let him attach meaning to the phrases.

Repetition is the key

Revision is what helps us all learn our lessons well. The same technique fits well here too. Keep your budgies abreast with each word until he learns well and keep using them all in the appropriate situations. This way he’ll never forget his speech. It is all about revisiting the vocabulary whenever and wherever it makes sense. So, repetition will be your best key to unlock the magical voice box of your little budgie for never to be locked again.