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my irn oliver is 6 months on tuesday and i was wondering

do i need to start doing anything to help him talk

or will he pick it up on his own ????

is this the age they might talk i think it is 8 but i was just curious as to this

just talk to them alot. What ever you want them to pick up keep saying it over and over, you will get sick of it yourself before they begin to say it. They will begin to make sounds of words and then form them into clear voice, sounds begin early 6 - 8 months usually and are clear by 1yr, at this point they begin to add new words every week. It's quite amazing.

Remember also they copy tone, so they will say things exactly in the tone and manner you do.

I started off by saying hello/hello indie when I walked into the same room as indie. Angie is very right about the tones, indie copies the lady next door, copies me. They also pick up things you may not want them too aswell.

It took my bird Tajj a year to say anything. Then one day he looked at me and said "hi". He's been a big talker ever since. He also taught my other IRN to talk but it was a different learning curve. Tajj learned one word at a time to build his vocabulary. Wallis, my other male would literally talk in his sleep. He would be sleeping and start making noises and I could hear the words in there. But he did not speak when he was awake. Then, quite suddenly he started talking when he was awake and he had a whole vocabulary at his disposal.

I think this is b/c Tajj tutored him very well, much more than I could have since they were together all day. Wallis was sorting it out in his sleep. It is quite amazing.

My guess is that each bird may be unique in how they learn. Also in what they learn. Taj says the things he likes. Some things I did directly teach him and others he just decided on for no known reason.

I have a new bird, a female, and she was already 6 months old when I got her. I do wonder if there is any chance for her to talk. I am working on it. She is making sounds but no english words yet.