These birds mimic the voices they hear, and this bird mimics a weird FURRIN language!
Jaw-dropping! Amazing! Mindblowing!
My 4-year-old speaks Japanese. Because she lives in Japan. Like this bird
Well, maybe I’m just more easily impressed than you, but I’d be impressed to hear a bird speak English that well, too.
Translation, anyone? I can catch a word or three, but no soy Japonese.
The woman is trying to teach the bird to answer the phone, and critiquing its timing. The bird is responding by saying “Got it. Understood.”
The point is that this bird could convincingly be a human speaking Japanese. The intonation and finesse of pronunciation and natural timing is there, whereas a parrot speaking English sounds like a parrot speaking English.
We all know parrots copy whatever they hear. Haven’t you seen dubstep parrot?
Bird:
もし もし? 小野 ですけど。(Moshi moshi? Ono desu kedo.) / Hello? This is Ono.
(Phone rings)
ど した の？ (Do shita no?) / What happened?
Woman:
ぱべた（？）(Bird’s name.)
ちょっと はやい。 (Chotto hayai.) / That was a little to fast.
ちゃんと 電話 が かかって切ったら もしもし を するん だ よ。 (Chanto denwa ga kakatte kittara moshi moshi o suru.) / Wait until the phone rings, then you say hello.
Bird:
わかりました！(Wakarimashita) / I got it!
Woman:
本当に わかった？ (Honto ni wakatta?) / Do you really understand?
たのみます よ。(Tanomimasu yo.) / This is what I want you to say.
もしもし。ぎふ の 小野 です けど だ よ。(“Moshi moshi. Gifu no Ohno desu kedo,” da yo!)
Bird:
はい。わかりました！(Wakarimashita) / . I got it!
“Hello, this is Ono but…” (Ono is probably a last or business name)
“what’s the problem?”
then the owner tells the bird “you’re a bit too quick”
the bird says “yes”, as people do in Japanese to show they’re taking in what you’re saying
the owner says “so you have to be careful to wait until the phone has rung before saying ‘hello’”
parrot says “Yes, I understand”
owner says “do you really understand? you gotta say it like this ‘hello, this is Ono in Gifu but…’”
parrot says “Yep, got it”
We had a Myna Bird. Yes, they do a great ‘call and response’ mimics. Completing phrases and even mimicking the sound of a motor bike–and answering phrases they learned with sounds or other phrases.
The one we had would build a little tent out of the news paper to get some privacy at night…and if you disturbed him by walking by the cage and making too much noise he would hop out of his tent and bark like a dog at you.
Amazing birds, indeed…but I’ve certainly heard them speak English convincingly.
The emphasis on Japanese is still annoying. “Bird holds amazingly convincing phone conversation” would have fone just as well. But it’s all about the clicks, and “Japan” is exotic clickbait here.
I kind of agree except I didn’t click at first because I figured it would be boring (I don’t know Japanese so no matter how smart the bird sounds I wouldn’t be able to understand). That being said with the translation provided it’s actually pretty impressive how much it seems like the bird understands.
I don’t see what is interesting about a bird that mimics sound using Japanese vs English if that is what the human speaker is using 
The video’s title starts with「あべちゃん」, which I’d presume to be the bird’s name.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo”… I’d be more confident this wasn’t redubbed if it wasn’t so appropriate a set of responses.
I had an apartment and i wondered what bird stayed up all night imitating the ringing of a telephone, waking me up. It turns out mockingbirds are active at night. Friend of a friend had a parrot and it would imitate the answering message that it heard all the time, including the telephone ring and beep.
There was a touching NPR story some years ago about a woman who inherited her mom’s African Grey when her mom died. It kept her mother company for years, so when she got the parrot it spoke to her in her mother’s voice, saying things like “Are you OK? it’s awfully quiet in there” and “Everything’s going to be all right.”
Damn, another hen-pecked husband . . .
Having lived with a talking bird (Slender billed corella) for 10 years I can attest that it is more than mimicry. There is an understanding of language and it’s uses going on. Not very complex maybe more like cause and effect but nontheless its learned and used. For instance I have used the words “be careful” whenever he approaches anything that might be dangerous. The other day when I am vacuuming and I hit the coffee table and knocked the glass onto the floor he said “Be Careful”. They also understand much more than they can speak much like a dog or when you learn a new language. They also have a high level of musicality and dance to the beat even if you are not. In terms of cause and effect he will also ask for things that he wants (i.e. “Headscratch”) and can be very persistent and even use tonality to invoke a sympathetic response. Something more along the lines of “Pleeeeeease” as compared to “please” if he does not get an immediate response or even a “no” response.
Yes, but could she imitate a chainsaw this convincingly if she lived in the jungle?
Damn, I was hoping for the creepy talking raven from Another. But it’s adorable when he says, “Hai! Wakarimashita!”
