A Journey Into the Mind of A Context Speaking Parrot
By Ryan B. Reynolds
Parrot Cognition Researcher
Victor the Budgie's
www.parrotresearch.com
This page was last updated: March 2, 2006
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Translation Tips
It is great to know that we have some more context speaking budgies in our midst. It is also great to hear that more guardians in the group are starting to record their budgies. This is a major step in learning how to understand them and having them communicate with you.
In real time the average guardian is only able to hear less then 25% of what the budgie is really saying. When you start recording them and analyzing what they say, that jumps to about 40% almost immediately. However, through my experience and many other members in the group who have went through the same process, it takes a while to get up to the 75% or more accuracy range. This may vary depending on how much time you put into listening to the recordings, but it usually takes at least 6 months of practice. That may be as much as one hour or two hours every day. Here are a few pointers for increasing your accuracy for the translations.
1. Find a good software program that you are comfortable with. One that allows you to amplify the recordings. Much of what they say is so weak that it needs to be amplified 10 or 20 db to be heard. The software should also have the
capability of highlighting certain areas within the recording so they can be easily played back. You may have to go over them many times until you get a good idea of what they are saying. There are several free software programs on the internet that allow you to do this.
2. Go through the recording the first time very carefully, breaking it down into cycles of 1 to 2 seconds in length. If
you have trouble remembering what they are saying by the time you get to the end of the cycle, then shorten it and go
over it again. In some software programs you can tell where parts of cycles end and begin by the drop in the amplitude of the sound. In other words analyze the cycle from its lowest point to lowest point.
3. In the first pass of the recording, only translate things that you can understand quite clearly. Leave a blank or
put in a question mark where you cannot understand a phrase. Each time you go over the recording you may be able to fill in a little more.
4. Transcribe what the budgies says to notepad as you are translating it. You can open notepad up on you computer at the same time and switch back and forth from the notepad to the recording program.
5. On the next pass, keep in mind that every sound the budgie is making may contain hidden words, some of which you may be able to understand. Often with mimicries, budgies will mask context in them. This is consistent with most budgies. In other words, you may be hearing what sounds like a mimicry, but in many cases they change it up a bit and add context. They can do this by using mimicries that start with different letters, and words that sound similar. Often we go by the tone of what the budgie is saying instead of the slight variations in the words. This can make the guardian think they are only talking in mimicries. Budgies speak like this because they know guardians pay more attention to them when they
hear them saying something that they were taught. However, you must concentrate on the slightest variation of the words. Especially at the beginning and the end of each word. Once budgies realize you are understanding more context, the mimicries will decrease. It will get to a point where they will use them only when they lose their train of thought or
get distracted.
Translation Tips Continued
6. Use headphones when translating and find a place that you can concentrate where there is no noise. If possible, allow your budgie to listen to the recordings as well, while you are translating. So if you can put the headphones and speaker on at the same time, that is the best option. This way the budgie will learn what speech you are having trouble understanding and try to make it clearer the next time. They are very intelligent in understanding the entire process, so do not underestimate them.
7. You may have to go over a single phrase many times. Keep in mind that you may hear something that you would swear is a phrase you understand clearly, but the second time you listen to it, you may hear something totally different. This often happens when you have interrupted a cycle, phrase or even a word. Some words are spoken very slowly, while others
can be so fast you can miss several words in a split second.
8. Read your first translation, and see if you can see a pattern developing or a concept forming. Often you can tell what a middle phrase of a sentence is if you know what the 1st and last parts are. If a phrase does not fit into the translation, it may be translated wrong and you should listen to it again to see if you have it right.
9. Go over the recording a second time and try to get all the ones you have missed. Even if you can only hear a word or two of each phrase, fill in the spaces in notepad. Then after you have finished it, read over it and listen to the recording the third time.
10. If I have a difficult time with a recording, after I have done three translations, I wait for a few days and go back to the recording without the text and start a fresh translation. Then I compare the two translations and see where the discrepancies are.
11. Don’t get spooked out if you hear strange things happening in the recordings. Before you amplify the recordings much of what the budgie was saying was inaudible to the human ear. It only becomes recognizable when the recordings are amplified. This has been identified in other animal species as well. Many send silent communications that cannot be
picked up by the human ear unless they are amplified. During this research, I have clearly heard budgies that are also able to produce two independent voices as well. They do this by using air sacks and pushing the sound through their syrnix .The syrinx of the bird is located at the branching of the windpipe into each lung, just above the heart. Because of its location, they can produce two independent and simultaneous voices as they force air out. Often one voice can sound much different then the other and may even sound human like while the other sounds like the budgie.
As you can see it is quite a process and it can become very time consuming. One “60 second” recording when you first start out can take as much as 3 to 4 hours to be analyzed properly if the budgie is talking a lot. I have been doing it for five years now and I have the time down to about 1 hour for each 60 second recording. Then I have to put the captions to the recording. So it really takes a lot of determination on the guardians part to learn how to understand
the context in what budgies are saying. If you are willing to do that it will take you on an adventure of a lifetime!! Good luck!!!!!
