But repetition can't hurt. If you want to try to teach your bird to talk, you must first decide on a simple word or phrase to start with. The bird's name is a good starting point. Don't expect the bird to clearly pronounce a word which contains letters which require lips to pronounce, like "B" or "P"-guess why! One person should be chosen as the voice teacher, as different voices teaching the same word will confuse the bird. Just sit near the cage, or hold the bird in front of you, and repeat the word every few seconds for about ten minutes. Do not attempt this if the bird has just been allowed out of the cage-an excited bird won't pay any attention to learning anything.

Try speech training when nobody else is in the room to compete for the bird's attention, and have all TV's and stereos off. Do this twice to three times every day, and at the end of each session, give the bird lots of praise and a treat, even if it doesn't speak right away. Some birds will take years, some learn quite fast. If the bird begins to attempt to mumble (most practice quietly before they say anything out loud), encourage it by repeating the word(s) for it. Don't try to teach more than one word or phrase at a time, for this will only confuse it. Wait till you hear the bird say the word several times clearly at times other than "lesson time" before moving on to another word. There are tapes available which you can play to help teach your bird, some even made by other talking birds! You can usually find these at pet stores. Never teach your bird to say anything which others might find offensive. Remember, this bird could live a long time. Aside from being embarrassing in public, if the bird happens to outlive you, cursing and swearing might make it hard for the bird to get another home.