How to teach a cat to talk? Rules for teaching animals human speech

Many pet owners strive to teach their pets something unusual, extravagant, that the wards of other owners cannot do. One of these amazing skills is the ability of a domestic cat to talk.

True, the speech apparatus of felines, unlike humans, has a completely different structure. It is unlikely that anyone will be able to teach a cat to have intimate conversations with its owner, but long training and a lot of patience of a persistent owner will help teach his pet to pronounce sounds a little similar to human words. Before you start teaching your cat to speak human speech, you need to have an idea of ​​the language that the pets themselves speak.

Can all cats talk?

Anyone can learn the language of cats. To do this, you need to study the meaning of gestures, facial expressions and sounds made by the animal. For translation from cat language to human, such nuances as movements of the tail, limbs, ears, postures taken by the four-legged pet, and the expression of its face are important. By the tone of the meow, you can also determine what the pet is trying to convey to its beloved owner.

The facial expressions of these animals are varied and very expressive. Unlike vocal signals, it is innate and can say a lot about the pet’s mood. Newborn kittens instinctively recognize the meaning of the expressions in the eyes, smiles and grins of their relatives. People need a special dictionary for this. What does a cat’s smile or grin mean:

• grin - study of smells;
• closed or slightly open mouth - calm;
• a closed or slightly open mouth with the tip of the tongue protruding (sometimes bitten) - bliss;
• lips raised in a grin, bare teeth - a threat, readiness to attack;
• yawning – complete relaxation;
• rapid licking of lips and nose - anxiety, confusion.

Vaska, voice!

Dictionary of cat sounds:

• quiet and soft - a great mood;
• loud uterine or strangled sounds - dissatisfaction, resentment;
• piercing - pain, request for help;
• very loud, sharp - readiness to attack, fear, anger.

Typically, cats express pain, aggression and fear with lower sounds, while positive emotions, on the contrary, with higher sounds. Detailed interpretation of sounds made by kittens or adult cats:

• purring - pleasure, calmness, the highest degree of pleasure;
• rumbling - dissatisfaction, warning;
• hissing - readiness to attack, irritation;
• howling - anger;
• short cry - fear;
• meowing - a greeting, a request (cats meow when they want to eat).

How to teach a cat to talk if he shows no interest in human words? Under no circumstances should a pet be forced to learn speech. Cats are capricious creatures, and forcing them can only cause them to react negatively. Classes make sense only if the animal shows interest in them.

Not all animals are able to imitate sounds. Many cats are simply not interested in human speech. If the pet does not respond to words over the course of several lessons, then training should be stopped. It is possible that your pet will show its abilities in something else.

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Cat language

To understand how to teach a cat to talk, you need to study the language of furry pets. After all, they are capable of more than just meowing. Zoologists identify about 16 different cat sounds. Just a few of them can be cited:

1. Purring. This sound is an expression of pleasure. The cat also purrs when greeting its owner or communicating with its cubs.
2. Screams. Animals make such sounds when they are in heat and ready to mate.
3. Snorting, rumbling, hissing. These sounds are a manifestation of aggression.

How to teach a cat to speak like a human? When teaching speech, it is necessary to rely on the sounds that your pet most often makes. Through long training, you can transform meowing and purring into sounds that resemble words. So, for example, “meow” can be converted into “meat”, and “mur” - into “eat”. It is necessary to identify sounds in your pet’s speech that are similar to human words and work on their pronunciation.

Sometimes you can hear cats making sounds on their own that are very similar to human speech. The owner should be alarmed if this happens involuntarily and is not the result of training. This usually indicates fear or extreme dissatisfaction of the animal. An example of such sounds can be heard in the video below.

Animal sounds

Evolving, each species invented its own sound signals. Some of them are understandable to all representatives of the animal world. For example, in many languages, hissing means dissatisfaction, and a trumpet call means a call for mating. But in most cases, the sound code is understood exclusively by related species. For example, the meaning of a horse's neighing is clear to another horse, but does not carry a semantic load for a cat.

• frog - 6;
• chicken - 13;
• cat - 16;
• rooster - 15;
• dolphin - 32;
• fox - 36;
• monkey - 40;
• tit - 90;
• raven - 300.

These numbers do not mean the number of letters, but the number of sound combinations used by animals.

Even the fish are not silent. According to recent research, they use sound signals to transmit information, and also sneeze, cough and wheeze.

In some species, such as vervet monkeys, phonetic signals have a wide associative range. For many predators they have an individual sound code. The alarm call that announces the approach of an eagle is different from that of a leopard.

Vervet monkeys are quite inventive in their use of sound signals.

What animals imitate human speech?

Science knows of many cases of successful imitation of human speech by representatives of the animal kingdom. Birds turned out to be the most trainable.

Animals that can imitate human speech:

1. Feathered. Some species of parrots can remember and pronounce about a thousand words. Crows show good results. They are considered even more talented than exotic cockatiels.
2. Monkey. Due to their physiology, they can pronounce 5 vowel sounds. However, in imitation of speech they are significantly inferior to birds. So far, the trainers have only managed to achieve an imitation of the speech of a one-year-old child.
3. Dolphins and seals. Particularly gifted individuals can imitate simple words and even small phrases while exhaling.
4. Elephants. In a zoo in South Korea lives Kosik, who can clearly pronounce 5 words.
5. Cats. These furry creatures can do more than just meow. Masi from Azerbaijan gained worldwide fame for learning to pronounce more than 10 words.

Dolphins can speak short phrases

Imitating human speech and communicating are different concepts. The exception is the parrot Alex. As part of Dr. Irene Pepperberg's research, he showed the ability to perform basic analysis and logical reasoning using simple verbal structures.

How to understand what a cat wants?

To understand the wishes of your beloved pet and respond to them correctly, you can use the following tips:

• The cat stretches out its paw to the owner’s face - a request for affection and attention.
• The animal stares straight at you - a call to play.
• Rubbing your head on the legs of family members and guests is a manifestation of love and devotion, a request for affection, leaving a mark. Cats have scent glands on their faces that they use to mark everyone they care about.
• Meowing is a request, for example, for a pet to be fed or let out.
• The animal looks intently, after which it slowly closes its eyes - an expression of love.
• Intermittent meowing is a response to your nickname or mention in conversation.
• The restrained rumbling of a nursing pet is a warning against approaching the cubs.
• Quickly running away from the owner with his head pulled into his shoulders - the pet has caused trouble;
• Dancing in place with the front paws off the floor is a greeting.

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Scientists have long proven that these animals correctly perceive our speech. Of course, they do not have the innate ability to perceive the meaning of the linguistic structures with which people communicate with each other. They begin to understand the owner’s speech only after a certain time has passed. Cats read the emotions, desires and moods of family members thanks to their gestures, facial expressions, and tone of voice.

It is not for nothing that representatives of the cat family are considered subtle psychologists. It takes them very little time to learn to speak the same language with their owner. Most of them are able not only to respond to their nickname, but also to follow instructions.

Cats are much less amenable to training and education than dogs, due to their independent and stubborn nature. However, what they lack in training, they more than make up for with their sharp mind, incredible intelligence and insight. If desired, these animals are able to carry out commands with impeccable accuracy.

From gestures to words

Speech refers to the way people communicate using complex linguistic structures. An obligatory moment of its formation is human society. For a child to learn to speak, he needs to be around talking people.

Scientists still disagree about the origins of language. According to one of the leading versions, words arose during the period when ancestors picked up the first tool. The palms, which were the main communication tool, were occupied, and people had to invent a new method of communication.

Labor turned out to be the trigger for speech development

Anatomical background

A speech apparatus is required for intelligible articulation. When pronouncing words, the diaphragm, larynx, lungs, nasal cavity, bronchi, epiglottis, trachea, small uvula, pharynx, palate, lower jaw, teeth, tongue and velum are involved.

The following organs play a major role in articulate speech:

1. Diaphragm. During the conversation, you need to supply air to the ligaments in portions, which helps to separate words into syllables. Otherwise, an inarticulate scream will come out of your mouth. This is possible thanks to the muscular septum.
2. Larynx. In humans it is lower than in apes. This position of the organ makes it possible to clearly pronounce sounds used in phonetics.

In addition, a wide spinal canal is needed, through which impulses will flow from the brain to the respiratory organs. The more spacious it is, the more neurons capable of receiving information.

In children under 3 years of age, the larynx is located high, just like in chimpanzees. Then it lowers, which allows the baby to fully master the sound side of speech.

At what age should you start classes?

You need to start learning from infancy. You can start training as early as 2-3 weeks. It is better to teach the male to talk. In cats, the speech apparatus is structured differently, and it is difficult for them to imitate human words. In addition, female pets are less amenable to training.

Is it possible to teach a cat to talk as an adult? This is very difficult to do, and in most cases almost impossible. After one year of age, animals have great difficulty mastering new skills. Therefore, it is better not to delay learning speech.

Why don't animals talk?

Representatives of the fauna cannot maintain a conversation for several reasons. In addition to the fact that they do not have such a need, there are also physiological obstacles:

1. Pronouncing words clearly requires a well-functioning organ system. In mammals it is not provided.
2. The ability to speak and understand language is formed as a person develops logical and associative thinking skills. Animals do not have such talents.

One of the important human qualities is the ability to invent new terms. In the communicative practice of animals, this occurs only among especially gifted monkeys who use sign language.

Is it possible to teach a cat to speak like a human?

No matter how strange it may sound, these animals can be taught our language. Of course, they are not able to clearly pronounce words and make sentences from them, but what a cat trained in our speech is trying to pronounce will be quite understandable. To achieve the desired result, you need to start training your pet from an early age.

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If there are other pets in the house, they must be isolated from the four-legged student during the learning process. Teaching should begin with simple food-related words, the most popular of which is “meat.” It can be easily reproduced by cats, because it is similar to their usual “meow”. Some owners who have successfully taught their pets human speech advise saying this word during or after eating. Others recommend repeating the “meat” for an hour and only then feeding the animal.

Step-by-step instruction

The most famous talking cat in the world is the Azerbaijani Masi. He is able to pronounce several dozen words both in Russian and in his “native” language. The pet's vocabulary includes such etiquette expressions as “thank you” and “goodbye.”

Table 4. Teaching a cat to talk

Meowing with a cat should be gradually replaced by pronouncing the necessary word

Before you start training, you need to arm yourself with patience and be confident that the pet living next to you is unique. Without these components it is impossible to achieve success in such a complex process.

Training rules

How to teach a cat to talk in a short time? In order for training to progress successfully, you need to follow some rules:

1. If you have several kittens living in your house, then it is better to isolate the animal during training. During training, the trained pet must be alone with the owner. Nothing should distract him.
2. Initially, the animal is taught only one word. Training should be done during feeding. For example, the word “meat” needs to be repeated several times when the kitten eats. Such classes should be carried out until the baby remembers the word and begins to reproduce it.
3. The word you teach your kitten should be repeated as often as possible throughout the day.
4. If your pet tries to imitate this word, you should definitely reward it with a tasty treat.
5. You can teach a cat a new word only after he has completely mastered the previous one.

Don't be too demanding of your animal. After all, a cat will never learn to pronounce words as clearly as a person. The pet will only imitate the sounds of speech, but at the same time reproduce them “with an accent.”

In the video below you can hear the animals talking. The cat says the phrase: “Open to me.”

There is also no need to rush to demonstrate your cat’s talents to guests. In the presence of many people, animals often become confused and embarrassed. This can negate all learning gains.

General rules

To teach your cat to speak, you need to listen to the following tips:

• Training can only be done alone. There should be no other cats or people in the room, because extraneous noise will prevent the animal from recognizing words.
• In order for your pet to quickly learn to talk, it is better to choose words related to food, which are often spoken by the owner himself.
• You need to exercise every day, preferably at the same time, so that the cat develops a habit.
• Training should not last longer than a few minutes, as cats quickly get tired and lose interest. The optimal duration is 3-4 minutes.
• It is impossible to force a pet to do something it doesn’t want to do. Therefore, you should not put unnecessary pressure and exercise when the cat wants to sleep, eat or play, as this will not give results, but will cause irritation in the animal.
• When an animal speaks, you should not laugh, but, on the contrary, you should always praise and encourage the cat. A treat is best.
• When choosing the desired vocabulary, the owner needs to pay attention to the sounds usually made by the cat. You need to start from the most frequently pronounced sound. If a cat loves to meow, it will quickly learn to pronounce the consonant word “meat,” and purring creatures will respond to “eat.”
• Swearing and punishment are prohibited. Cats are extremely touchy and vindictive, so if the owner shows the slightest aggression or irritation, the animal will no longer obey any commands.
• Until your pet learns 1 word, you cannot try to include others in its vocabulary. The cat will become confused due to the abundance of new information and will cease to understand the wishes of the owner.

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When is the best time to start training?

Felinologists emphasize the need to start training from infancy, since it is impossible to train a cat older than 1 year. The optimal age to start classes is from 3 weeks to 11 months. However, veterinarians do not recommend overloading kittens, who are simultaneously learning to use a litter box and eat complementary foods. A baby who has barely learned to walk quickly gets tired of the influx of new information. If a kitten is overloaded, it will become irritable, cry often or avoid its owner, but will not learn to speak like a human being.