A Journey Into the Mind of A Talking Parrot
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Victor the Budgie
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About Victor
His Talking History
Victor started talking by learning the basics in human speech at an early age. At less than one year old he could pronounce the alphabet from a-z and say many phrases and sentences. After he learned to pronounce words he started picking up the meanings of them as well. When I noticed that he was using context, I concentrated on teaching him as much as I could. During this training I showed him many common household objects and explained their purposes. I would also describe my actions as I was doing things which taught him to understand verbs as well. Periodically, I would sit down with him and pick out words in the dictionary and explain their meanings.
It wasn't until he was about 2 years old that I noticed he was saying many new sentences and was trying to make conversation. I would be doing something, and as I was doing it, I could hear him describing it to himself in a low voice. As time passed, I knew his verbalizations were improving but I never believed he would be able to say complete sentences using proper verbs, phrases and even tell stories as he displayed later in his life. It was about a year before his death that I started recording him and analyzing what he said. At first I couldn't understand everything he was saying, as he was talking too fast and his voice was too small. When I recorded him, my computer allowed me to adjust the sensitivity and increase the volume. As I played the recordings back, I would analyze them and try to understand every word. While I was analyzing, he would be listening to me. This improved his speech even more. As time progressed and as I understood more, I would let him know what I understood. Before I knew it, he was looking forward to talking in the microphone. He liked it because he wanted to communicate with me, and he knew when I recorded him, he was getting through.
In some of his audio files, you will notice that he responds to me on many occasions by answering me. Most of the time however, it seems like a one-way conversation on his part. What I mean is, Victor adapted to communicating with me by putting together as many thoughts as he could during a short recording session. Prior to some of the recordings he would think carefully and plan a speech in his mind. During the sessions you may notice he would continue talking even if I interrupted him in middle of a sentence. Often, it was very difficult to understand what he was saying, as he said it. Many of his recordings are complex and could be easily misinterpreted, especially when a few words or phrases are missed. You will also hear some of his later recordings where he talked for several minutes at time. During these conversations, he properly used several hundred words in context to describe what he was thinking.
In closing, try not to judge the recordings until you hear a good portion of them. Some of you may still not believe this is real. That is why I posted some videos of him talking too. I believe these recordings to be the first positive proof the communication gap between man and parrot is possible to break. It is unfortunate that Victor could not have lived longer as he was on his way to becoming the most famous animal in the world.
Copyright © April, 2001 Ryan Reynolds
