His slightly younger brother, Toto, sat warm in his basket (which they take turns fighting over) next to my bed. I turned to him and spoke to him in Spanish. He gave me the same look. "I have no idea what you are saying, but I know your voice, and your tone is friendly, so I'll try to listen."
At that moment, my fianceé reappeared in the bedroom. It was now his turn to look at me blankly. "Are you REALLY speaking Spanish to the cats?" It was then that I made the decision to teach my cats Spanish.
I woke up this morning with the thought in the back of mind.: CAN they learn another language? All my educational implications pointed to "YES". I KNOW they have the ability to learn English. With the tone of my voice to help, they have the ability to learn words like "food", "mouse", "are you hungry?" "yes" and "no". Well, we THINK they know the word "no". The goods news is "NO" is the same in English and Spanish...so there's no way they can pretend to not know what I'm saying, no matter which language I choose to speak.
In reading the article below, it says that cats even have a language of their own. They have a certain language in which they speak to one another, feline to feline, and they also have a language in which they to speak to us as humans. If they have the ability to differentiate HOW to talk to one another, versus speaking to us, then they certainly can differentiate two different languages spoken to them.
"Adult cats, living apart from humans, have very clear communication with one another. It is spoken mostly through scent, then through facial expression, complex body language, and touch.
Vocal communication involves caterwauls for mating, chattering upon spotting prey, hissing to ward off an intruder, or shrieking when hurt or terrified. Meowing is not part of this language. Meow-ese, it would seem, is a language developed exclusively for humans.
The only meowing in the cat world is done between mom cat and her young kittens. A kitten's tiny "mew" is a cute, endearing sound, used to solicit attention and care from mom cat.
So why do cats have two "languages?" Because meowing is unnecessary in a cat's world. But in your world, your pet cat is dependent on you, and quickly learns that you are clearly not picking up the scent messages she leaves on your things, and you are not completely fluent in cat body language.
The disarming "meow" however gets you to do what she wants and so that develops into a second language. Some scientists would go so far as to say that cats have refined their meows specifically to manipulate people. We have to admit it works.
Cats have dozens of meow sounds that vary in pitch, length and volume. Most cat owners learn the language easily. A short, high-pitched meow is a standard "Hello!" Several of those strung together mean "You're home! Yea!!!"
Cats use pleasant meow sounds to solicit requests for food, to go outside or to simply get attention. Your cat learns which meow is going to get the results he wants. You may find that the meows that tug at your heartstrings the most are the ones your cat is using for pleas such as, "pet me."
Cats use unpleasant, harsher, louder meows for demands, reprimands or to express annoyance. These meows have a lower pitch and are not all that cute. Cats know not to use ugly meows to seek a favor–because you're unlikely to comply with such rudeness.
Meow-ese seems to be generally understood by "cat people." Dr. Nicholas Nicastro, Ph.D., who did his thesis on humans' ability to understand meows, found that people who own cats were far better at understanding the meaning of meows than people that don't. Dr. Nicastro recorded hundreds of meows cats used in real settings with their owners. He had people listen to the meows, then asked what they thought the cats were conveying.
Part of the experiment asked general interpretations (Does the cat sound angry or pleasant?) and part were more specific translations (Is this cat asking for food or does he want you to go away?).
Not surprising, the more experience the people had with cats, the better they were at understanding meows – those who had no cat experience scored very low. People who owned cats could correctly translate 40% of the meows. That's pretty remarkable considering the respondents did not have the benefit of seeing the cat. Normally, when a cat meows, we get more clues to its meaning from the context in which the cat is speaking (by the door, near a dirty litter box, time of day, etc.) and from body language.
It's kind of nice to think your kitty has gone to the effort to learn a second language to communicate with you. Sure, she did it mostly out of necessity, but also out of affection. She wouldn't meow just for your attention if she didn't enjoy a relationship with you.
The Meaning Behind the Meows
Your cat uses the basic meow in several variations in many situations. Even though there is a distinct "demand meow" for example, your cat may have separate variations for each of his regular demands. If you watch what your cat is doing when he meows, and listen carefully, you may learn to distinguish the demand meows, and eventually know the difference between his "let me out" demand and his "give me food" demand by sound alone.
Short meow or mew: Standard greeting. "Hello!
Multiple meows or mews: Excited greeting. "Great to see you!"
Mid-pitch meow: Plea for something. "I'd like to eat."
Drawn-out mrrroooow: Demand for something. "Open the door NOW."
Low pitch MRRRooooowww: Complaint of a wrong you have done. "Hey – my bowl is still empty!"
High-pitch RRRROWW!: Anger or pain. "That's my TAIL you just stepped on!"
"Do cats understand English? Yes, they can learn some words over time. "NO" seems to be understood in my house but then it's usually said somewhat loudly and as I said before, cats do relate to nuance. I would assume they can learn the meaning of some words in languages other than English as well."
http://www.gomestic.com/Pets/What-My-Cats-Have-to-Say.289699
Despite popular belief, cats are intelligent creatures. Their intelligence doesn't stop at learning multiple languages, they also possess the intelligence to figure out how to open boxes, doors, latches, and use their paws to figure door knobs.
Much like dogs, clearly they can pick up your mood, or when they did something wrong, by the tone of your voice. But, UN-like dogs, they can react to it. They know that if they did something wrong and you are pissed, they will leave you alone. Dogs will immediately feel sorry, and bow their head with their tail between their legs.
I don't really know too much about their brain capacities, or how they differ from humans, other than size and the ability to reason, or think critically. But, as mammals, our brains MUST be similar. In a human brain, we have the "Broca's area", which is where we store knowledge and use language. I have yet to discover how a cat attains language knowledge. But I DO believe they can do it and performing simple research proves they really can.
In the meantime, I plan to enrich my kitty brains with as much Spanish I can...then the REAL experiment begins...
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