The key to teaching your bird to talk, is to talk to your bird. Don't just repeat one word over and over again, but really talk to him. Tell him what you are doing - ask him what he is doing - say hello when you enter his room and say good bye or bye bye or see you later when you leave. Tell him you are going to work when you leave for work, telll him you're home when you return and ask him if he wants an apple when you are giving him an apple.
Your bird is not going to start talking in a day, or a week, or a month - but he will be listening and learning every time you talk to him. One day, possibly several months later, he may start to try to say some of these words. He may not say the words that you want him to say, but he will pick the words that he likes.
Some birds prefer to make sound effects instead of using words. These birds will be able to sound exactly like your microwave oven beep, or your telephone ring, or the squeeky door that you should have oiled several weeks ago.
After my African Grey Parrot Jewel started talking, I decided that I wanted her to say "aaawww, aren't you adorable". I repeated those words every time I approached her cage for weeks. One day she repeated "aaawww", and a few days later, this became "aaawww, aren't". I continued saying the phrase for a few more weeks and she slowly added more words until one day she said "aaawww, aren't you ador". I thought that was so funny that I laughed and as I laughed, Jewell did too. When Jewel laughs, you can't help but laugh too, so both of us laughed for quite awhile over her calling me a door. Although I continued to say the whole phrase, Jewel kept it at the part that had made both of us laugh for several more weeks. Finally, she added the "able" onto the "ador" and she said the whole phrase for me. I made sure to give her a much bigger response to that by clapping and laughing and shouting "yippee", so she would continue to say the whole phrase to me in the future. Later on, she dropped the "aaawww" so it just became "aren't you adorable".
Click here to hear Jewel say "you bird you".
