Are Dogs Bilingual

[Neeranam]

Just wondering about training my dog. 

My wife is Thai and therefore speaks Thai to our dog.  I speak Thai but feel more comfortable speaking English to my dogs. 

Will this be negative to our dogs if they are hearing two different languages?

 

[Excel]

They are even better than that as they are multilingual 

 

https://www.wsls.com/news/2022/01/10/dogs-know-when-youre-speaking-a-different-language-study-says/

[transam]

Woof, woof, Thai and English, hmmmm, clever mutt's....????.....????

[chuang]

Speak Thai to your dog ????

[2baht]

Ask the dog!

[KhunLA]

Mine is, and understand American & Thai, along with hand gestures, head nods.

[Excel]

Just now, 2baht said:

Ask the dog!

He possibly has done so already but as the dog replied in Hungarian he didn't understand the answer ????

[Neeranam]

My friend has a PhD in Bilingual Language Acquisition and I know what to do with kids - mum speak ONLY Thai and dad speaks ONLY English.

 

Maybe this doesn't apply to dogs?

[Neeranam]

1 minute ago, Excel said:

He possibly has done so already but as the dog replied in Hungarian he didn't understand the answer ????

I learned Hungarian once, very hard language but helped when I worked in Finland. 

[anyone]

For a dog, it's just a set of sounds that he remembers. She might just as well follow Martian commands if she remembers

[chickenslegs]

Alsatians speak German and Dalmatians speak Dalmato.

Yorkies speak a form of English.

Scotties and Westies are only understood by each other.

 

[CharlieH]

Dogs dont understand language at all. They understand and react to the tones.And yes, they can learn multiple tones.

[stoner]

9 out of 10 dogs prefer milkbone. 

Edited July 29, 2022 by stoner

[Neeranam]

9 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

Dogs dont understand language at all. They understand and react to the tones.And yes, they can learn multiple tones.

Interesting, but this could complicate things in a tonal language. 

 

For example the word for sit in Thai 'nang' as said by my wife is a low/falling tone. When I tell him to sit, I use a higher/rising tone, which means 'movie' and he jumps up on the sofa looking for popcorn. 

[CharlieH]

5 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Interesting, but this could complicate things in a tonal language. 

 

For example the word for sit in Thai 'nang' as said by my wife is a low/falling tone. When I tell him to sit, I use a higher/rising tone, which means 'movie' and he jumps up on the sofa looking for popcorn. 

The dog is capable of learning more than one command for the same action. ????

[CharlieH]

9 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Interesting, but this could complicate things in a tonal language. 

 

For example the word for sit in Thai 'nang' as said by my wife is a low/falling tone. When I tell him to sit, I use a higher/rising tone, which means 'movie' and he jumps up on the sofa looking for popcorn. 

 In our house, we have 4 dogs, its not so much what is being said, its whose saying it. They will often ignore the wife if I am around, but will do exactly as she says if I am not. I use both Thai and English, she uses only Thai (mostly) so they have learned what noise comes from who and whats asked of them. If that makes sense. ????

[Gecko123]

If the dog's tongue is hanging out, it may be a sign you're overdoing the language lessons.

 

Edited July 29, 2022 by Gecko123

[flexomike]

I have four dogs, wife speaks Thai to them and I use English, no problems, sometime using hand gestures when you are talking to them, sit, come, stay, with a little training it will work, remember they are only as smart as their owners.

[Callmeishmael]

My cat was bilingual.

 

 

 

She would ignore me in Thai AND English!

[Crossy]

Our two Chihuahuas definitely understand Thai and English commands and act upon them when they can be bothered (if there are treats involved).

 

As above, the cat ignores us both (and the dogs, which she teases from the safety of her favourite tree).

[pomchop]

I learned that my dog understood almost every word i said in any language as long as it involved her getting some kind of food treat.

[Neeranam]

16 minutes ago, flexomike said:

remember they are only as smart as their owners.

Reminds me of a joke - 

After a talking sheepdog gets all the sheep in the pen, he reports back to the farmer: “All 40 accounted for.” “But I only have 36 sheep,” says the farmer. “I know,” says the Sheepdog. “But I rounded them up.”

[Iamfalang]

All dogs come from one particular breed, 8500 years ago in Egypt.  The "programmed" language was a mix of Egyptian over the period of 8500 to 7385.   This has been found in 99.99% of all dogs, fact.  

 

Test.   Give your dog a steak.  If he eats it, I am correct.  

[VocalNeal]

When my wife speaks to me in Thai I realize how it sounds to the dog!

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Just don't listen to David Berkowitz's dog.

[anterian]

All my cats are bilingual they also know sign language and body language.

[chickenslegs]

12 minutes ago, anterian said:

All my cats are bilingual they also know sign language and body language.

They sound like purrfect pets.

[vandeventer]

3 hours ago, chuang said:

Speak Thai to your dog ????

It doesn't matter whether you speak Thai or English to my cat as he always does the opposite.

[1FinickyOne]

3 hours ago, Neeranam said:

My friend has a PhD in Bilingual Language Acquisition and I know what to do with kids - mum speak ONLY Thai and dad speaks ONLY English.

 

Maybe this doesn't apply to dogs?

Its fine. They will get any sounds especially if it comes with a treat. 

 

There is not muxh i need to say but they will know what i want from them even if i grunt

 

 

[Gillyflower]

No one has mentioned that they also speak DOG, that makes them tri-lingual.  How do you think that they communicate with each other?