When teaching a parrot to talk, you have to teach them to say what you want to hear them say.
Here is an example: when I hand Kilo a treat and he takes it nicely, my inclination in conversation is to say, "You're welcome". If I repeat this every time he takes a treat he will learn to say, "You're welcome" everytime someone hands him a treat. That isn't really what I want - I want him to say, "Thank you". So, everytime I hand him a treat, I need to say, "Thank you".
Saying "thank you" is the behavior - the cue is receiving a treat.
In some cases, like "Step Up", the behavior is also the cue. I say "Step Up" and he steps up. He says "Step Up" and I pick him up - he can request the behavior by using the cue himself (and he does).
Before I hand Kilo a treat, instead of saying, "Do you want a bite", I say, "Is it good?" When Kilo learns to say "Is it good", the behavior will be to give him a bite of whatever I am eating at the time. I would not want to hear him saying "Do you want a bite" - it might make visitors nervous
. He will say, "Is it good?", I will give him a treat, he will say, "Thank you".
My wife says to Kilo, "You're Clever". That is what she wants him to say - not "clever bird". This is the trouble with his current phrase, "Pretty Bird" - it would be much more conversational for him to say, "You're Pretty". Wouldn't it be nice if every time you came in the room and several times a day your parrot said, "You're Pretty"?
This isn't a matter of manipulating your environment just to build up your ego - the parrot can use these phrases as cues to train you to do specific behaviors. My dog rings a bell when he wants to go out - I have taught him to ring the bell and that when he cues me in that way, I open the door. Think about this when you talk to your parrot.
